Homemade Halloween Decorations with Toddlers

If you're like me, and feel like the only way you could adequately decorate your home, given minimal skills in arts and crafts combined with a toddler hanging on you, it might seem just a bit too daunting to undertake creating your own homemade Halloween decorations. But it really doesn't have to be! This past weekend, I spent a couple of hours using my minimal skills and my toddler to create some really cute homemade Halloween decorations.

Handmade Ghost: Although I'm not particularly craft and art oriented, my daughter is. At not yet two, her skills are somewhat limited, but she really enjoys particular types of crafts, as do most small children. So for our first craft, we capitalized on this enjoyment by combining three of her favorite activities to create a handmade (you'll understand the joke soon) ghost.

For materials, you need a pencil, scissors, glue, white paper (we used computer paper, but white construction paper or oaktag would work better if you want something to hold up longer than a couple of weeks) and googly eyes. You can substitute googly eyes with black or red construction paper, or you could even draw eyes on.

First, I had her lay her hand down on the paper to trace it. The trick here is to align the fingers pretty close together, because the fingers are used as an outline for the bottom of the ghost. After tracing her hand, we cut the "ghost" out and glued on some googly eyes. This allowed her to help trace her hand (inexplicably one activity that comes up almost every day at her insistence), cut paper and glue on eyes, so it was a huge hit. The bonus is that, should the child get bored with tracing hands but you still want more ghosts, you can either use your own hand or you can use the first cut out as a model for subsequent ones. As a homemade Halloween decoration, you can place these throughout your home or, alternatively, hang them from a piece of yarn from hanging fixtures to create a spooky effect.

Handmade Spider:Our ghost was such a big hit that we decided to try a spider. It uses the same premise, but with a bit of a twist.

You'll need black construction paper this time, a pencil, scissors, glue and googly eyes. I actually used a white crayon in place of a pencil because part of the fun for my child is to see the outline of her hand when we're done, but the effect can get a bit messy, depending upon placement of this Halloween decoration.

Unlike the ghost, the child's fingers should be spread wide apart, as these will represent the legs. Keep his or her thumb close to the palm and incorporate it into the outline, since the thumb doesn't translate into any particular spider part very nicely. Trace two hands (or use the first as a model for the second, if you like a symmetrical spider). Glue the palms together, one on top of the other, fingers facing in opposite directions. Glue googly eyes in the appropriate location. You can add some yarn to hang the spider, if you like, but they also work as wall decorations.

Stained Glass Haunted House: Having accidentally purchased a roll of paper that was too thin awhile ago, we've had a lot of fun creating stained glass images as homemade decorations of all varieties. The best thing about this craft is that it comes out differently for everyone.

For materials, you need black construction paper, scissors, any type of thin or nearly see through paper, paint and glue.

First, we folded the black construction paper in half and cut out one half of a haunted house background, leaving the black where the house itself would be. You can do this in reverse to create a multi-colored house, but the Halloween effect is heightened if the house is dark. Cut a piece of white paper to the same size or slightly smaller than the black piece. Next, have your child paint the white paper as they see fit. We had very good luck with washable finger paints for this Glue the white piece to the black piece of paper and viola! Instant homemade Halloween decoration.

Pumpkin Snowman: Little hands really can't carve pumpkins very well, and I was looking for a way to spruce up simply coloring on a pumpkin with markers. We came up with the homemade Halloween decoration that helps demonstrate the coming of winter: a pumpkin snowman.

For materials, you will need three small pumpkins. Two can be roughly the same size, but the third should be a bit smaller (to represent a head). You'll also need toothpicks and various art supplies at your discretion for decorating the pumpkin snowman.

It's easiest to decorate the snowman first, if you are able to visualize the final project. Set one pumpkin as the bottom and decorate accordingly (buttons for the bottom of a coat, or just decorate broadly-sequins, markers, etc. could all work). The next smallest pumpkin is the midsection and should also be decorated. Securing arms to this section help make the pumpkin look more like a snowman. You can use sticks or pipe cleaners, or you could even use paper or nothing at all.

The smallest pumpkin is the head. Add eyes (our old favorite googly eyes were a big hit), a nose and a mouth. This can be spooky, fun, or realistic as you see fit. Now attach all sections together by sticking a couple of toothpicks into the top of each of the larger pumpkins, then pushing the next section into the one below it.

As you can see, making homemade decorations for Halloween does not need to be an expensive or time-consuming event. Just a few simple crafts will help decorate your home.