Halloween Crafts

Spooky Fun to Make with Your Child

By Kymberly Pratt

Monsters, ghosts and bats! Not only can dads protect their little ones from them on Halloween night, but why not also help your child create some this year? The following crafts are simple and fun and a great way to create lasting memories with your child. And Dad, don't be afraid to get dirty! Kids love for you to participate and be crafty with them. Have fun!

Frightening Frankenstein
Materials needed:

• Newspaper
• White, blue, black and green construction paper
• Green and black tempera paint
• Stapler
• Aluminum foil
• Paper plates
• Scissors
• White glue

Here's what you do:

1. Cut out a front and a back rectangle for your Frankenstein face. You can make this whatever size you want to work with. A good size is about 3 feet by 2 feet. Lay the rectangle down and paint the entire surface with green paint.

2. While your face is drying, work on the eyes. Cut out two large white circles using a cup or bowl to trace around. Next, cut two slightly smaller blue circles and then two smaller black circles. Then glue the blue circles on top of the white circles and the black circles on top of the blue circles. Set them aside to dry.

3. Now cut out two green ears. You can be as creative as you want to be. They can be big or small. You can use your ears as a design for them or use your imagination! Just make sure to cut out two.

4. Use the paper plates to cut out two bolts for the side of Frankenstein's head. Again, these can be as large or small as you want them to be. After you cut out two of them, cover both with aluminum foil.

5. When the green face rectangles are dry, paint on Frankenstein's hair. Paint the top portion of each rectangle with the black paint and allow it time to dry. You also want to paint on a nose and mouth to the front face and maybe even some stitches to make him look scary!

6. After everything is dry and ready to assemble, bring all the pieces together. Glue or staple the eyes in place. Staple the ears and bolts on to the front piece. The last step is to staple the head together. Staple the top and sides together and then use extra newspaper to crumple up and stuff inside the face to make it full and 3-D. When you are done stuffing and filling the two pieces with crumpled paper, staple the bottom of the face. This is a great Halloween accent for inside or out!

Want to see more?

• Halloween Headquarters
• Calling All Ghouls and Ghosts! Throw a Halloween Party Adults and Children Will Love
• Frightening Frugal Halloween Fun
• A Menacing Halloween Menu: Semi-Homemade, But Not Semi-Scary!
• Talk about it!