How to Make a Poseable Halloween Scarecrow

It's easy to make a cute Halloween cardboard scarecrow out of scrap cardboard you have lying around. You can make this project as small or as large as you like by adjusting the size of the scarecrow template included with this article. For a large scarecrow, you'll need to save up cardboard boxes for several weeks to have enough material. If you like to do recycled projects like this one, it's a good idea to get in the habit of saving up recycled materials.

What You Will Need:

Chipboard (cereal or soda boxes)
One pair of scissors
One number 2 pencil
Brass paper fasteners (available in office supply stores)
Black thread
One needle
Colored pencils

Be sure to use chipboard boxes, and not corrugated boxes, for this Halloween scarecrow project.

Small Poseable Halloween Scarecrow

For a small scarecrow, simply print out the provided template. Feel free to toy with my design and make it your own. Cut out the sections of the Halloween scarecrow, and use the number 2 pencil to trace around them on the chipboard. Recreate the facial features, and the details of the clothing on the cardboard.

Draw on the cardboard with the colored pencils. I used a strong brown line to create the hay, and then went over this with yellow. I used cross-hatching to create the denim texture. Cross-hatching is when you create lines going in one direction, then create lines going perpendicular to the original lines. I used a light yellow for the face, neck and hands. You have a lot of freedom here to express yourself.

Use black to create an outline on the inner lines of the design, but don't create an outline on the outer lines of the scarecrow. If you do, you'll just end up trimming it when you cut out your pieces.

Carefully cut out the segments of your fully colored Halloween scarecrow. Then use a needle to poke holes at the points indicated by the black dots on the template. But instead of making just one hole, make two at each joint. Make three holes at the neck joint. Then sew the holes of one part to the holes of the part it needs to be attached to. Be careful not to put the holes too close together, or they will become one hole, and your Halloween scarecrow will fall apart. Don't sew him too tightly, or you won't be able to pose him.

When your small poseable Halloween scarecrow is finished, just use tape to pose him on a wall or door. You can also make him dance by simply bouncing him up and down.

Large Poseable Halloween Scarecrow

For a larger scarecrow, you can either use your favorite software program to blow up the template and print it out. I use Paint Shop Pro. Whichever program you use, be sure to increase the size of each segment the same percentage before printing it out. Also make sure that the entire segment appears within the page in the Print Preview window.

Or you can simply print the template out as is and refer to it, in order to draw the design on a larger scale. A straight edge ruler can help with this size increase. Get an idea of how long the different parts of the Halloween scarecrow are in relation to one another, and try to keep this ratio intact.

Draw directly on the unfinished, brown side of the cardboard, as in the small Halloween scarecrow project. You can try using real cloth to dress up your Halloween scarecrow. Rummage through your closet to see what old clothing you have that is no longer worn. Cut it up and paste it to your Halloween scarecrow. Or if your scarecrow is big enough, you can try draping clothing or accessories on it. Be creative, and don't be afraid to try out new ideas.

Use a hole punch out a hole in each place on the template where there is a black dot. Attach the segments together at the holes with brass paper fasteners. Again, don't bind the joints too tightly. If you've got some old manila envelopes lying around, you can pull the fasteners off of them and use the envelope for something else. Be careful, as you can cut yourself on these.