How2Day: Fun Halloween Crafts for Kids

Children can use bouncy ball eyeballs to make a wreath. Marcy Maloy/Photodisc/Getty Images
Take inspiration from Halloween to interest and involve your children with a craft activity. Halloween crafts range from decorations to masks and can provide children with a chance to develop their creativity. Use mostly common art supplies to create fun items that your children can use for several years after putting them together.

Draw oval shapes on card stock and help children cut them out, adding two holes for the eyes. Provide markers, colored pencils, stickers, glue, glitter and other art supplies that the children can use to decorate their masks. When the masks are finished, tape or glue some elastic to the back so the children can wear them.

Wrap a foam wreath form in black ribbon, fabric or tulle, adding a loop at the top to hang the finished wreath. Cut leaf shapes out of plain or glitter black felt. Use a flat-headed pin to poke a hole in the back of a bouncy ball eyeball, then reverse the pin and push the head of the pin into the hole to create an eyeball-headed pin. Repeat this process with all the eyeballs. Push a felt leaf onto each pin, behind the eyeball, and arrange the eyeballs on the wreath form. Supervise the children closely as they work with the pins to avoid injury; for younger children, you might want to prepare the eyeball pins yourself in advance.

Cover the outside of a mason jar or a plain glass votive holder with a few layers of tissue paper, using thinned white glue or specialty decoupage glue. Cut eye, nose and mouth shapes out of black construction paper and attach them to the tissue paper, creating spooky faces. Insert a small candle or tea light into each jar and light it. Place the spooky lanterns on a windowsill or in the garden.

Alternatively, tear a sheet of black construction paper into small rectangles and add two eyes to each rectangle using a hole punch. Attach the rectangles to the outside of the mason jar or votive holder, then add pupils inside the eyes using a fine point permanent marker.

Wrap a disposable ballpoint pen with a layer of white air-dry modeling clay, leaving the tip exposed. Shape the clay into a finger and draw wrinkles and creases on it with a toothpick to mark the knuckles. Glue a fake fingernail on the tip, leaving enough space for the pen to write, and paint it with nail polish. Alternatively, shape the clay into a bone, or use olive-green or bluish clay to make a monster's finger. Allow the clay and nail polish to dry fully before using the pen.

Line a piece of cardboard or sturdy baking tray with waxed paper. Cut eight 4-inch pieces of black yarn and dip them into a bowl containing a mixture of two parts white craft glue to one part water. Remove the excess glue mixture and place the yarn pieces on the waxed paper. They will form the legs of the spider. Bend each at a 90 degree angle in the center to form the knees, then bend a smaller piece at one end to form the feet. Make two yarn balls, the first 1 inch in diameter and the second 2 inches in diameter. Cover both balls completely in the glue mixture and set them on the waxed paper to dry. When all the pieces are fully dry, glue the smaller ball to the larger one to form the head and body. Poke holes into the sides of the body with a toothpick and insert the legs, four on each side, securing them with a drop of glue. Glue googly eyes on the head and cover any remnants of waxed paper with black paint. Place the spider on a desk or shelf, or tie a piece of fishing line around it and hang it from the ceiling.

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