Why spend money on premade Halloween decorations when you and your toddler can work on your own special (and spooky) art projects? Making homemade decorations, toys, and paintings is a good idea for playdate, too, so don't be shy about inviting your child's friends over for an afternoon.. Here are a few scarily brilliant ideas for creating Halloween crafts with your toddler.
Pumpkin-Seed Art
What you'll need: pumpkin seeds, acrylic paint, plastic freezer bags, sheets of paper, child-friendly glue
- Save the pumpkin seeds from your pumpkin carving. Rinse them and let them dry.
- Put a little acrylic paint in a plastic bag and add the pumpkin seeds. Let your child squish the bag to cover all the seeds with a coat of paint.
- Lay the colored seeds out on a thin baking sheet or cardboard to dry. Take a few A4 or A5-size sheets of paper and have your child (or do this yourself) draw a big tree, some flowers, a dog, a dragon . . .
- Once the painted seeds are dry, let you child apply small bits of glue to the seeds and stick them onto the drawings. Hang the final product in a place of prominence!
Watch-out: Keep children under constant surveillance to avoid any choking hazard with the seeds.
Witch Hats
What you'll need: paper plate, construction paper, child-friendly scissors, tape, black paint, elastic string, sequins, stickers, ribbons
- To make the top of the hat, roll the paper into a cone shape and tape it shut.
- Cut wedge-shaped holes into the center of the paper plate. This will be the rim.
- Fold the triangular shapes in the center of the plate upward, and tape them to the inside (bottom) of the cone. You should now have the shape of your hat.
- Paint the hat black and let your child decorate it with ribbons, sequins, or stickers — whatever she likes.
- Cut a piece of elastic string to tape to the opposite sides of the hat (long enough to fit under your child's chin). Now take your scary little witch out on a quest for candy!
Ghost Footprints
What you'll need: washable white acrylic paint, sheets of paper, black thick tipped marker
- Have your child sit on a chair or a kitchen counter top.
- Coat his foot with white paint.
- Have him step onto the sheet of paper and make a good print of his foot.
- Use the marker to draw eyes and an open ghost mouth in the heel part of the print.
- If you make enough prints, you could either cut out the footprints and place them in a trail around the house, or make a poster to welcome trick-or-treaters at the door.
