Kids Halloween Craft: Make Jack O'Lantern Placemats

Halloween is a great holiday for crafts. Kids love to get creative and imaginative. Here is a craft that is easy to do and little ones can do this craft with some supervision. It does involve cutting out objects and gluing things, so you may want to take over these duties depending on your child's age. Use your best judgement.

For this craft you will need:

8 x 14" white paper
(tip: you can get single sheets of 8 x 14" at your local copy store. You need one sheet for every child and it is adviseable that you have a couple of extra sheets handy in case your child needs or wants to re-do the craft)

orange construction paper
green construction paper
crayons or markers
non-toxic glue
clear contact paper
(tip: contact paper can usually be found at your local hardware store. You will use this to "seal" the placemats. Bring a sheet of 8 x 14" paper with you and measure exactly how much you will need, get a little extra so you have some "breathing room" when you cut the placemats.)

If you have young children begin this project by cutting a large orange circle (for your pumpkin) and also a small green rectangle (for the stem of the pumpkin). Make a set of these for every child that you have doing this project. If your children are old enough to handle scissors and they are learning about shapes, trace the shapes lightly with a pencil and then have them cut them out with safety scissors.

Glue the pumpkin and its stem down to the 8 x 14" white placemat. Give it a little time for the glue to set.

Then it is time for children to draw the face of the pumpkin using markers or crayons (your choice). You could also have your children write "Happy Halloween" and their name and the year 2006.

Once the glue has dried you can cover the placemat with clear contact paper. The goal is to have contact paper on the front and the back of the placemat. This step is for a parent or babysitter to do. Before removing the protective backing on the contact paper, cut two pieces that are slightly larger than the placemat. Then stick one onto the top. Next stick the other onto the back. Once the back side is on, trim the excess contact paper off with scissors.

Your placemats are now ready to use. Please keep in mind that these placemats with stand up to gentle wear and tear, especially now that they are covered with plastic. You can dry them with a slightly damp towel if they get sticky. But they still need to be treated gently.

Happy Halloween!