For times when spooky season is right around the corner, get your little ones to try out these 5 halloween crafts for kids!
Halloween is always a lot of spooky fun for little ones, but if you can add in some creepy crafts, scary shading and pumpkin printing, then that’s an extra level of entertainment! Give our Halloween crafts a whirl with your children, and join in with the fun! We also love a seasonal book rotation to help get us in the Halloween spirit too!
5 Halloween Crafts for Kids
Candle Dipping
This activity, whilst not the quickest, is always one that blows the kids’ minds.
You could of course opt for the easier candle making with moulds, but for a truly ‘Haloweeny’ twist on candle making, we love to do candle dipping, as the candles often turn out a little lumpy and bumpy, full of the Halloween spirit!
What you will need:
- Pure Beeswax Blocks or Soy Wax (Vegan option)
- Candle Wick
- DEEP Double Boiler (You can either use a saucepan with a deep tin in the water, or buy a double boiler pan)
- Cold water in a bowl.
- Somewhere to hang the candles to dry (clothes airer/ clothes hanger/branch balanced)
How to make the candles
IMPORTANT: The wax will of course be HOT. You could use heat protection gloves for little little ones, or you should help them! NEVER leave children unattended around hot water/wax.
- Bring your double boiler to a boil. If you’re using a saucepan, fill it with water and bring to the boil. If you’re using a double boiler pan, fill the outer boiler with water and bring to the boil.
- Once the water is boiling, turn down the pan to a simmer, add your wax of choice to either the tall tin (and place the tin in the saucepan), or to the inner part of your double boiler.
- While you’re waiting for the wax to melt, start to cut LONG pieces of wick for each child. Longer wick will protect their fingers a little more, but will also mean you can dip both ends to make a candle on both sides, which will then mean while drying you can hang them over your drying devices.
- Making sure to hold the wick in the middle, start to get your kids to dip each end of the wick into the wax.
- After a dip in the wax, you then need to get them to do a dip in the water to set the wax.
- You will repeat this process over and over again, until you have the desired thickness of candle!
- Once you’re happy with the candles on both ends of your wick, hang them to set completely on whatever you’ve set up as a drying stand.
These candles are fun for Halloween, because not only do they themselves look Halloween-esque with their lumps and bumps, but if you make them short enough, you can also use them in your carved pumpkins!
Why not check out these Free Fonts for Commercial Use?!
Creepy Silhouette Pictures
This one is a super easy, and easily made unique craft.
All you need is paper, watercolour paint (although any would work, you’ll just have a longer wait for it to dry!) and a black felt tip pen.
For Maya’s (above), she used watercolour paints to create an ombre, sunset sky. She then left that to dry for a while, and then used black felt tip pens to create a creepy, tree and crow silhouette on top!
What could you think of to draw that would be extra spooky?! A creepy witches house with a witch flying over?! Frankenstein?!
Clay Monsters
Since I originally posted this activity on instagram and our blog years ago, it’s been a firm favourite, and it’s possibly because of how versatile the activity is.
But it does of course lend itself to Halloween VERY well!
If you look in the photo above, all we used to make our Clay monster was Air Drying Clay and some foraged pine cones, sticks and leaves. That’s it! And of course, Autumn is the perfect time to go and forage these things!
Halloween Playdough
Homemade playdough!
Always a good idea! Always theme-able.
Try out the 2 ingredient playdough idea, but add Halloween colours, and character toys for extra fun!
Shadow Puppet Booth
Have you ever thought about getting your kids to create their very own puppet show?!
They may need help cutting, but this is a pretty simple way to give them hours of fun!
You Will Need:
- Card
- Scissors
- Lollipop Sticks (or similar)
- Glue/Double Sided Tape
- Large Sheet or Light Painted Wall
- Lamp/Torch
How-To
- Get your children to draw some character shapes on card.
- Ask them to cut out (or you cut out for them) their characters, and then either use glue or double sided sticky tape to stick the lollipop stick onto one side.
- That is your character puppets complete. You can also make props for the puppet show in the same way!
- Now it’s time to set the stage!! Turn all of the lights off, close the curtains and try and get the room nice and dark.
- Hang up your sheet, or get a clear wall, position the lamp to shine against the sheet/wall with enough space for the children to move their characters around in front!
- Watch the silhouette show take form!! Make sure you make them feel like you LOVE their show! Big applause is always a must!
Honestly there are so many Halloween Crafts for Kids out there, these are just some of the ones we come back to, time and again!
