Halloween Crafts & Activities!
Halloween Ghosts, Spiders, and Haunted Houses!
Clay Ghosts, Spiders, and Webs
This activity doubles as a fun craft to do and as Halloween decor to make for around the house! It is such a fun Halloween craft to do with kids and you don't need much.
Materials Needed:
I will be going over the clay ghosts and spiders, but you can get creative and do any Halloween related character!
This activity doubles as a fun craft to do and as Halloween decor to make for around the house! It is such a fun Halloween craft to do with kids and you don't need much.
Materials Needed:
- White oven bake clay
- Black oven bake clay
- Parchment paper (optional, but really helps prevent the clay from staining your table and can be used to bake the clay on)
- Oven, set to 275 degrees (I wouldn't even preheat until you are ready to bake)
- Toothpicks
I will be going over the clay ghosts and spiders, but you can get creative and do any Halloween related character!
|
Clay Ghosts:
1. Start off by making a small chunk of white clay into a ball 2. Gently rub the ball between your palms to elongate it into an oval-esq shape. 3. Lightly pull at the bottom portion to begin fanning it away from the center to create a draped look 4. Round out the "head" and smooth out any wrinkles or lines 5. Gently poke two small holes using your toothpick to put your eyes into. 6. Take a very tiny amount of black clay (think crumb size!) and roll into a ball using your finger tip and the table 7. Take your toothpick and cut that in half so that you have two very tiny eyes. 8. Round them out a bit if needed. Them put into the eye holes you created. 9. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees and depending on the size of your ghost bake 10-25 minutes (my very tiny ghosts only took about 10 min and my biggest ones took about 25 min. Be sure to check on any bigger ones every 10 minutes or so to see how they are doing. You don't want to over bake. |
|
|
|
Clay Spiders and Webs:
1. Start off by making a small chunk of black clay into a ball 2. Gently push the ball onto the table to flatten the base 3. Take a second chunk of black clay and rub against the table until it becomes a long "rope" 4. Fold your rope in half but do not connect. You are doing this to measure out two equal pieces. Cut the rope at the halfway point. You should now have two equal length ropes 5. Continue to repeat step four until you end up with eight equal length shorter ropes. These will be your spider's legs. 6. Using your toothpick, poke four holes on each side of your black ball base. You will not be able to fit your legs all the way into these holes, but they will help you keep your spacing equal between legs. 7. Connect all eight legs by gentle pressing the tip of each one against the holes you created in step six. You will need to then smooth the clay a little against the base to secure their connection. 8. Take one more small chunk of black clay and form into a smaller ball. 9. Attach your small ball in the front of your bigger base, so that it is centered between four legs on either side. 10. Use your toothpick to gentle make two eyes by forming two small holes. 11. To make your mini spider webs, take a small chunk of white clay and form into a ball. 12. Flatten the ball using the palm of your hand and press against the table. You will need to repeat this a few times until it spreads out as big as you'd like it to be. 13. Take your toothpick and lay it flat against your white clay. Pick it up and continue to repeat until you have as many lines as you'd like to form your web. You can get creative with how many lines to make and whether you'd like them centered or not! 14. Preheat your oven to 275 degrees and depending on the size of your spider bake 20-25 minutes. Webs are fairly flat and should only need 5-10 minutes max. Be sure to check every 10 minutes or so to see how they are doing. You don't want to over bake. |
Haunted Houses:
My oldest and I did this activity a few years ago now, but it remains one of my favorite Halloween crafts to this day and it's so easy to do!
And even though we made our houses a few years back, I've incorporated a family tradition that goes along with the houses that we now do every Halloween season!
Materials Needed:
My oldest and I did this activity a few years ago now, but it remains one of my favorite Halloween crafts to this day and it's so easy to do!
And even though we made our houses a few years back, I've incorporated a family tradition that goes along with the houses that we now do every Halloween season!
Materials Needed:
- Paper Mache House Box Set - I bought our set at Hobby Lobby. They typically run about $10-$15, but HL always has great sales, especially holiday ones!
- Black acrylic paint (PSA - make sure you use an art smock and newspaper to cover your work surface since this paint is not washable!)
- A spray adhesive - We used the Tree House Studio brand from HL
- Silver Glitter
- Googly eyes (optional) + Glue
- Slips of paper (nothing fancy, anything will do!) and a writing utensil
|
Craft Directions:
1. Make sure to lay newspaper or old shipping boxes out on your work surface! You will also want to wear old clothing or put on art smocks (we use old t-shirts here for our art smocks!) 2. Once your work surface is ready, separate all three of your house set. 3. Using your black paint, paint all three houses entirely. 4. Once you are finished painting, but before the paint dries sprinkle your silver glitter around your houses! You can do as much or as little as you'd like. I liked spreading the glitter so that it was not the same in all spots. Some areas have more and some have less! 5. Let everything dry! 6. Once dried, spray your adhesive all over the three houses to really secure the glitter in place. You may want to do this outside or in your garage. Make sure to put a cardboard box underneath to catch any extra spray. 7. Let everything dry once more. |
|
(optional)
8. Use your glue and add your googly eyes around the houses! We used different sized ones and they turned out so cute.
9. To display, feel free to add "cobwebs" and put color changing tea lights inside to give the perfect Halloween feel!
Yearly Tradition:
1. Ever since we made our houses, we use them to catch our favorite fall and Halloween memories.
2. When we first put out our Halloween decorations, we each share something we really loved from that past month! It can be a fun memory, an accomplishment, something learned, etc. Then we store our memories inside the houses. Make sure to put the date on the back of your memory card.
3. At the end of the Halloween season, before we put our decorations away for the year, we go around once more and we all share one Halloween related memory to add to our houses.
4. Then each year, before adding in any new memories, we read through all of the old memories from years past! It is such a fun (screen-free) way to reminisce together as a family and bond together over our memories!
8. Use your glue and add your googly eyes around the houses! We used different sized ones and they turned out so cute.
9. To display, feel free to add "cobwebs" and put color changing tea lights inside to give the perfect Halloween feel!
Yearly Tradition:
1. Ever since we made our houses, we use them to catch our favorite fall and Halloween memories.
2. When we first put out our Halloween decorations, we each share something we really loved from that past month! It can be a fun memory, an accomplishment, something learned, etc. Then we store our memories inside the houses. Make sure to put the date on the back of your memory card.
3. At the end of the Halloween season, before we put our decorations away for the year, we go around once more and we all share one Halloween related memory to add to our houses.
4. Then each year, before adding in any new memories, we read through all of the old memories from years past! It is such a fun (screen-free) way to reminisce together as a family and bond together over our memories!