3 Easy Halloween Crafts for Kids

If you're reading this post, it's very likely that it's the week before Halloween and you are scrambling to find a fun craft for the kids to make. Don't worry, we've all been there. Just this morning Roman sent me into panic mode when he asked to make a craft. You would think with my October preschool plan that I would have my ducks in a row. Well....not so much. So we ventured down to the basement and into the craft room to see what we could come up with.

All of these crafts can be made with things you likely already have in your house, or can be picked up with a quick trip down the craft isle at the dollar store!

Pop-up Ghost
Roman has wanted nothing to do with ghosts this entire pre-Halloween season. Not in a book, decorations, or on TV. He'll tolerate an inflatable ghost decoration but that's about it. I wasn't sure how he'd take to this ghost but I thought the fact that he was making the ghost would make it a little more acceptable.

I cut the ghost out of a scrap piece of card stock and let Roman glue on some googly eyes and draw on a mouth with a marker. Roman has always loved pink so I wasn't surprised when that was his marker of choice. Then we glued the ghost onto a popsicle stick. I cut up some black tissue paper and Roman glued it onto a paper cup with white glue. Cut a slit in the bottom of the paper cup and stick the popsicle stick into it so that the ghost is in the cup.

Paper Plate Spider Web
All you need for this craft is a paper or Styrofoam plate, ribbon and a couple pipe cleaners. Start by punching several holes around the outside of the plate; the more holes the more spider web you'll have. String the ribbon through the holes making sure to criss-cross the ribbon to make a spider web. Knot the ribbon on both ends to keep it from coming undone.

To make the spider, cut five 2" lengths of black pipe cleaner. Stack 4 of the pope cleaners together and wrap the remaining pipe cleaner around the centre of the bunch. Spread out the legs o the spider and bend them at the ends to make the feet. Slip the spider between the web and the plate.

Styrofoam Ball Spider
This was by far Roman's favorite craft. Probably because it involved getting messy. We started by painting a Styrofoam ball black with regular craft paint, then let it sit to dry a bit. I cut four pipe cleaners in half to make the 8 legs, then folded them in half. Roman stuck in each of the legs and then attached googly eyes with a glue gun.

If you wanted to hang the spider you could use a tack to attach some fishing line to the top of the spider and then hang him from the ceiling.

I have to say I'm pretty impressed with what we managed to whip together during the hour that Bianca was napping! Roman had a blast "ROARING" around the house today with his spider (because that's obviously what a spider says), and was so excited to show John when he got home for lunch. I have a strange feeling we could end up with a cluster of spiders in our house by the time Halloween gets here.