Halloween Crafts for Kids

Ghosts. Goblins. Witches. Scarecrows. Halloween is a fun time of year for children. What could be more enjoyable to children that dressing up in costumes, going to fall festivals and parties and best of all, getting lots and lots of candy? Let the fun of Halloween last the entire month of October by creating crafts that your kids will enjoy. Other than the typical seasonal coloring pages, here are some Halloween craft ideas that your children will have fun creating.

Make a gigantic spider by purchasing a large styrofoam ball from your local craft store. Use spray paint or tempura paint to paint the ball black and allow to dry thoroughly. Once the ball is dry, allow your child to insert eight, black pipe cleaners for legs. With adult help, use hot glue or styrofoam glue to attach wiggly eyes on the front of the ball. Hang your spider from the ceiling for a great seasonal decoration!

Turn an ordinary pumpkin into a real-life friend in a matter of minutes. Buy a small to medium sized pumpkin. Purchase Mr. Potato Head accesories and encourage your child to stick the pieces in the pumpkin where she would like for them to be. Yarn can be glued or taped to the top of the pumpkin for hair and a hat could be added to make a witch pumpkin.

Gather a white sheet of paper, two paper plates, green paint and orange paint. Pour a small amount of orange paint onto a paper plate and spread around. Do the same with the green paint. Have your child make a fist with their hand. Place your child's four knuckles into the orange paint and press down onto the paper. This is your pumpkin. Using your child's thumb, gently press it down into the green paint and use as a leaf. Use a brown marker to draw the vine to connect several pumpkins.

For this next craft, you will need a shoebox, white sheet of paper, black washable tempura paint, hot glue, marbles and a black spider ring. Put the white sheet of paper in the shoebox. Coat the marbles heavily in black paint and place on top of the paper. Shake the shoebox from side to side. The impression left on the paper from the marbles should resemble a spider web. Cut the ring pary of the spider ring. Hot glue the spider onto the web.

Paint a paper plate with washable orange paint and allow to dry thoroughly. Cut out three black triangles from black construction paper. Cut out a jagged-style mouth from the black construction paper as well. Once the paper plate is dry, glue the pieces onto the plate for the pumpkin's eyes, nose and mouth. An instant jack-o-lantern is created!

Create a not-so-scary ghost from balloons, tape and paper streamers! Blow up a white balloon in a round-oval shape. Cut size-proportionate strips from white paper streamers. Once your balloon has been inflated, draw a face on the ghost with a permanent black marker. Attach the streamers onto the balloon with rolled up tape.