Easy Cake Decorating Ideas For Kids To Make In The Summer

There's lots to love about Halloween—dressing up the little ones in costumes, trick or treating, finding Kit Kats in the leftover stash…But among our favorite things to do this time of year is making Halloween crafts. Who can resist those pipe cleaners, black felt or googly eyes? Halloween crafts is where it's at. Add to that the fun of seeing your child's imagination run wild, and we're talking about a bewitchingly good time. That's why we've scoured the internet for some of the best Halloween crafts for kids around. Whether your child is prolific with tempera paint or thinks it's a snack, you'll find a spook-tacular Halloween craft ideas that'll have you both under a creative spell.

Halloween crafts in this article:
Cool Halloween Crafts for Kids
Easy Halloween Crafts for Toddlers

Cool Halloween Crafts for Kids

If your child has mastered scissors, markers and mixing spoons, they've got the skills to conjure up a big fat cauldron of ghoulish things. From spine-tingling decorations to clever scary-smart classroom gifts, these fun Halloween craft ideas bring out the spirit of the season.

Halloween Garland

Is there a place for warm 'n' fuzzy on Halloween? Sure, there is! Just check out this adorable pom-pom Halloween craft, from Growing Up Gabel.

What you need: orange, black and white yarn, twine, fishing line, green and black pipe cleaners, scissors , a chair

How to make it: Wind yarn around the back of a chair (this will make sense once you see the images on the blog), tie it off and cut it into the shape of creepy critters or a pumpkin. Attach to a piece of twine and start decking the halls.

Witches Broom Halloween Class Treats

One of the simplest Halloween crafts for kids, this project from Exploring Domesticity will transform those trusty Number 2's into a spellbinding sweet treat.

What you need: Dum-dums lollipops, pencils, brown kraft paper, masking tape

How to make them: Cut fringes into strips of paper and wrap it around a new, unsharpened pencil and Dum-dum. Put it all together with masking tape.

Halloween Spider Slime

Halloween crafts for kids don't have to be just about paper and glue. Why not brew up some spider-specked gooeyness too? Lucky you, the folks at The TipToe Fairy have masterminded a super- simple potion.

What you need: glue, water, liquid starch , glitter, halloween confetti

How to make it: Mix all ingredients together for a Halloween craft oozing with fun.

A Patch of Paper Pumpkins

Say that really fast three times. You'll have an easier time creating these elegant Halloween crafts, thanks to One Busy Wahm.

What you need: construction paper in Halloween colors, scissors, green pipe cleaners, clear tape, hole punch

How to make it: Fold sheet in half and cut into strips. Punch a hole at both ends (click on the blog post to see exactly how this is done). Thread the strips through the pipe cleaner and top off with a leaf.

Cupcake Liner Owl

A Little Pinch of Perfect designed a project that's a piece of cake even for the littlest hatchling. With minimal cutting required, it's a hoot for kids of all ages.

What you need: standard and mini cupcake liners; orange, brown and black construction paper; scissors; glue; brown pen; googly eyes

How to make it: Cut out a paper branch from brown paper, and a half moon out of a standard cupcake liner. Glue to a black sheet of paper, then create your owl, making it look as eerie or as friendly as you like.

Silly Ghost Balloons

Lift anyone's spirits with these cute Halloween crafts for kids from Balloon Time. These goofy ghouls are a breeze to make and add a fun dose of silliness to any not-so-spooky celebration.

What you need: white balloons, ribbon, white tissue paper, scissors, double-sided tape, black marker; optional: pink vinyl

How to make them: Secure tissue to white inflated balloons with tape. Decorate with funny faces; cut and attach tongue and other nutty features, if desired.

Glowing Eyes

These eerie eyeballs are watching you! Make your own glowing pair with help from the Red Ted Art. Then place them in a dark entryway to freak out trick or treaters.

What you need: stones; white, green and glow in the dark paint; black and red markers; brushes; a sponge

How to make them: Paint pairs of stones with glow in the dark paint; then draw on the gruesome details.

Pumpkin Treat Pouch

Treat your kids to this one of a kind candy bag from Hello Wonderful. It's a terrific introduction to hand sewing.

What you need: orange, light green and dark green felt; green yarn, hole-puncher, glue

How to make it: Cut pumpkin and leaves out of felt, punch holes at the pumpkin's perimeter and thread yarn through. Tie the ends together and pull to close.

Trash Bag Spider Webs

Setting the stage in a big way for trick or treaters doesn't have to be expensive. With these spooktastic spiderwebs from The Sway, you and your kids have got Halloween in the bag.

What you need: black heavy duty trash bags, scissors, command hook refill strips

How it works: Cut away the bag seams; fold and create holes, just like as you would to make paper snowflakes (see blog post for helpful hints). Then hang around your house. Add fake spiders, if you like, for ghoulish good measure.

Cat & Pumpkin Paper Plate Masks

Mask Halloween craft ideas are a classic. These, from Oh Happy Day, sway more cute than creepy, and they're as easy to make as pumpkin pie from a can.

What you need: paper plates, cat and pumpkin template (provided on site), colorful cardstock, glue, scissors, rainbow-striped straws

How to make them: Cut out the template, arrange on your paper plate and glue. Finish by adding the straw handle.

Vampire Wooden Spoon Puppets

Mwa-ha-ha! Easy Peasy and Fun brings Transylvania straight to your home with these vamped up Halloween crafts for kids.

What you need: wooden spoons googly eyes, purple and black paint, white puffy paint black fabric, red ribbon, scissors, paint brush, glue, black marker

How to make them: Paint spoon purple and draw on a face. Then wrap your puppet in a cape. Put on a puppet or simply use them to scare up your Halloween table spread.

Easy Paper Spiderwebs

Because you can't have enough spider webs on Halloween, here's another, courtesy of This Heart of Mine. And they're just as pretty as their wintry-white counterparts.

What you need: black paper, scissors, ruler, twine, glue stick, binder clips

How to make it: Accordion fold paper, and cut rectangles out of one side. Repeat on another sheet of paper, then glue them together as explained in the post. Add twine and toy spiders if you like, then hang them liberally around the house.

Painted Pumpkin Acorns

Bring the outdoors in with these painted pumpkin acorns from Giggle Hearts. These Halloween crafts for kids It will have your munchkins exploring nature in a whole new light.

What you need: acorns, orange and green acrylic paint, paint brush, hot glue gun

How to make them: Gather your acorns and paint away!

Halloween Rock Magnets

Halloween rocks!—as does this cool craft from This Heart of Mine proves. Show it off on its own, or use it as an assist to spotlight other crafts on the fridge too.

What you need: smooth rocks, paint, paint pens, magnets, glue

How to make them: Paint your rocks a solid color, let dry, then add any details you wish. Glue on magnets.

Paper Plate Monster Masks

Have a ball—or even a masquerade ball—with these whimsical Halloween crafts for kids from Oriental Trading. The more doodads you have to stick on, the sillier the mask.

What you need: white paper plate, glue stick, markers, construction paper, scissors, paper straws, hot glue gun, 1" circle punch

How to make them: Cut a plate in half and decorate with marker, paper cut-outs, pipe cleaners and other easy-to-glue household items. Then punch out the eyes and glue on the straw handle.

Puffy Ghosts

These jolly plush ghosts, courtesy of the folks at Thriving Home are super-kid-friendly. It's mom-friendly too—you'll find all your materials at the drugstore, or your own closet.

What you'll need: White cardstock paper, scissors, glue, cotton balls, black paper

How to make it: Cut out the ghost, add a layer of glue, unleash the cotton balls, and have your child go to town. Top it off with silly facial features you've cut from the black sheet of paper.

Pumpkin Handprint

Let's see a show of hands if you're a sucker for a keepsake. Keep 'em up if you melt if said keepsake involves a pint-sized hand print. Squee! We heart the pumpkin-themed one over at Teach Me Mommy.

What you need: 1 cup salt; 1 cup flour; half-cup water; knife; small drinking glass; photo of your child

How to make it: Use the first three ingredients to create dough according to the included recipe, roll it out to about a 1-centimeter thick, and cut into the shape of a pumpkin and stem. Have your kiddo press his or her hand—not too hard—into the dough. Use a drinking glass to gently twist out a hole in the palm of the print. Bake in the oven at 160°F for 3 hours. Once out, leave overnight to dry out more. The next day, paint, let dry, and add your photo.

Mummy Lace-up

Work those fine motor skills and bring on some Halloween-inspired fun with this lacing craft from Our Kid Things.

What you need: Sturdy white paper plate, white yarn, extra-large googly eyes black marker, hole punch, scissors, glue

How to make it: Create a face on your plate with the big, ol' googly eyes and black marker. Next, punch holes around the perimeter of the plate, each being about a half-inch apart—then start lacing! Go up and through and across in every which way until your mummy is all bandaged up!

Fuzzy-wuzzy Was a Spider

While spiders are supposed to be scary at Halloween, they can sometimes be cute and cuddly. Case in point: These not-so creepy-crawlies from My Home Based Life.

What you need: Large and small wooden craft sticks in assorted colors, small and large googly eyes, medium and large black pompoms, hot-glue gun
How to make it: Dot glue in the center of a green stick and press another green stick on top, making a very wide X. Repeat three more times, turning the sticks slightly so that the four sticks look like eight legs coming out from the center. (Repeat with different-colored sticks so that you have multiple spiders.) Glue large pompoms on the large sticks and medium pompoms on the smaller sticks. Finish off with the googly eyes.

Easy Halloween Crafts for Toddlers

These Halloween craft ideas are such a cinch to pull off, even a toddler can do them with a just wee bit help from Mom or Dad. Older kids may want to pull these off by themselves but because of small pieces (drat, those googly eyes!) it's always good to ask.

Toilet Paper Roll Bats

It's no secret that toilet paper roll Halloween crafts are extremely popular. We love this useful idea by Jessi from Practically Functional that your kids will go batty over.

What you need: empty toilet paper roll, black paint, construction paper, googly eyes, glue, scissors, paintbrush

How to make it: Fold in the ends of toilet paper roll (so it turns into a container), paint and let dry. Now add wings and googly eyes, then tuck in a tasty surprise.

Colorful Skull Luminaries

Welcome—or freak out—trick-or-treaters with these eerie lanterns, cooked up by the folks from Crafts by Amanda.com. If your kid loves stenciling, they'll proudly take their skills to the next level with this project.
What you'll need: glass jars, Con-Tact paper, pen, scissors, cosmetic sponge, skull pattern, acrylic paint, tea light candles or LED tea lights

How to make it: Paint the jars, trace and cut out the skull pattern onto the contact paper, use it as a stencil to create the frightening faces, then light them up with tea lights.

Craft Stick Halloween Puppets

Let your little gremlins' imaginations run wild as they tackle this puppet craft from Creative Family Fun. With a bundle of sticks, they'll spend a good part of the afternoon creating gaggles of creepy-cute puppets and then putting on a show.

What you'll need: jumbo craft sticks; white, black, and orange craft paint; small self-adhesive googly eyes

How to make it: Just pick up a brush and paint. Use the googly eyes on the mummy when the paint dries.

Mummy Fruit

OMG. So simple. So hilarious. Dress up the residence of your fruit bowl this Halloween with the help of a little gauze, a little tape, and a lot of fun. (Meaghan from The Decorated Cookie, you slayed it with this idea.)

What you need: Fruit, like a banana, apple, and orange; roll of gauze; Scotch tape, self-adhesive googly eyes

How to make it: Wrap gauze around fruit, securing withsmall bits of tape. Stick googly eyes to the gauze. And, well, that's it!

Homemade Haunted House

Peek a BOO, indeed! This is super-fun take on a flip-the-flap craft from Sarah Jane can be put on repeat: Open and shut the windows and doors over and over again to the delight of your giggly little goblins.

What you need: Haunted house template; scissors; craft knife; black marker; crayons; black, blue, and yellow construction paper

How to make it: Use the house template and black paper to create a haunted house. Cut out the windows and doors with the craft knife, leaving a "hinge" so that they'll flip open. Glue the yellow paper to the backside of the black; then glue both onto the blue paper. Open the windows and doors so your kiddo can add spooky characters with crayons and markers to peek out.

Spirit Jugs

Here's one way to get your kids to drink milk: Show them the bright fab Halloween lantern they can make once the jug is empty. Make one or make a bunch to light up your porch or walkway for candy-seekers. (Thanks to Jodie and Jen of Eighteen25 for inspo!)

What you need: empty,clean gallon milk jug; black permanent marker; craft knife; low-wattage holiday lights

How to make it: Draw a spooky or silly ghost face onto the milk jug. Use a craft knife (Mom, that's on you) to cut a hole in the jug's lower backside so it's big enough to stuff lights inside.

Dryer Vent Pumpkins

These pumpkins (courtesy of Jessi at Practically Functional) never ever rot and they're pretty fun to make. Hit the hardware store for a few supplies and you'll have these decorations for years to come.

What you need: Flexible dryer vent hose, scissors, wire cutter spray paint, hot-glue gun, thin dowel, cardboard box, stick

How to make it: Cut a piece of dryer vent (at least 2 feet long) and hot-glue the ends together to make a circle. Slide a dowel through a cardboard box and set the pumpkin on the other end so you can paint every bit of your pumpkin. When it dries, adhere a stick onto the center, call it a stem, and you are good to go.

Tissue Box Monster

Stop tossing your empty tissue boxes in the recycling bin. Instead, get crafty with the kids to create a silly-not-spooky monster family, just like Mariah did at Giggles Galore. You can leave them as is, or stuff 'em with Halloween candy.

What you need: Empty tissue box,; egg carton, white paper or craft foam, paint, googly eyes, glue, scissors

How to make them: Paint and decorate your tissue box as you like. Cut out jagged teeth on either white paper or craft foam and glue the flat side just inside of the box opening. Cut egg-carton eyes (use one, two, three or more); secure googlies to them, and glue on the top of the box.

Spiderweb Wreath

Who says wreaths need to be welcoming? We love this spooktacular version of the front-door tradition from My Sister's Suitcase.

What you need: 14" wooden embroidery hoop, plastic spiders, ribbon, bagged spiderweb, black acrylic craft paint, hot-glue gun

How to do it: First, paint the embroidery hoop black. Once dry, stretch the cobweb over the inner hoop, then snap the outer hoop into place. Trim the excess web and hot- glue spiders to the hoop. Wiggle the rest of the spiders into the web—no glue required. Add a ribbon (Orange? Black? Shocking green? Up to you!) to the top to hang your creepy creation.

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Halloween Mummy Jar

Cast a spooky light on Halloween night with these mummy jars featured on the Creative Ramblings blog. It's great for little monsters on the go. Only two steps and it's a wrap!

What you need: gauze, jar, googly eyes (and a few other household items)

How it works: Just drape your jar in gauze and add on googly eyes. (Check out the blog for details and—bonus!—how parents can help make it glow.)

Spiderweb Art

You won't be the only one getting caught up in these beautiful spiderwebs created by our friends at I Heart Arts N Crafts. Your toddler will be spellbound too.

What you need: watercolor paper, Elmer's rubber cement, watercolor paint

How to make it: Draw a web with rubber cement, then paint over the entire paper with watercolors.

Candy Corn Bunting

Sweeten up any wall with this Halloween craft for toddlers rom Sweet Charli. Plain paper plates never looked so appealing.

What you need: orange and yellow nontoxic acrylic paint, white paper plates, paint brushes, hole punch, twine

How to make it: Paint paper plates, punch holes at the top and string through the twine for decorations that look good enough to eat.

Fingerprint Spiders

Get in touch with your spooky side with this thumbprint Halloween crafts for todders. With this one from Tinker Lab, you're likely to have everything you need for this project on hand!

What you need: paper, black ink pad, paintbrush, fine tip marker, googly eyes

How to make them: Create the spider's body with a fingerprint, draw on legs and add googly eyes.

Googly Eye Sensory Bag

Tickle your tot's senses with this no-mess sensory bag. The folks at Clare's Little Tots will show you how.

What you need: sandwich bag (or freezer-grade plastic bag for especially tough toddlers), googly eyes, shower gel, tape

How to make it: Pour the gel along with googly eyes into the bag, seal it up securely—and watch your tot poke away.

Beaded Pumpkin Pipe Cleaner

A simple pipe cleaner craft gets a Halloween makeover over at Creative Child with beads. They're a perfect choice for older toddlers who love to decorate and play with them (and won't put one in their mouth).

What you need: orange and green pipe cleaners, orange and green pony beads, scissors
How to make it: Shape your pipe cleaners then string on matching beads to create a fun, flexible bracelet.

Spooky Wood

For this cheap Halloween crafts for toddlers, check Craftulate's spooky wood, which gives a hair-raising spin on a typical walk in the woods.

What you need: black paper, glue, googly eyes, sticks

How to make it: Glue twigs and googly eyes onto the paper to create a frightening forest.

Edible Eyeballs

For incredible edible Halloween craft ideas for toddlers check out Fun at Home with Kids's project that's bound to make them roar with laughter. This is one instance in which it's a-okay for kids to stick their fingers in the eye!

What you need: unflavored gelatin, food coloring, raisins, cooking oil, plastic easter eggs, empty egg carton

How to make it: Pour gelatin into egg mold, add a raisin, then chill in the fridge. Once they're set, the fun begins!

Halloween Hand Soap

Here's a Halloween project from Little Bins for Little Hands that's not only easy and fun—it's also an ingenious way to get kids excited about hand-washing, especially before devouring those Halloween treats.

What you need: hand wash or sanitizer, small plastic halloween items like these or these

How to make it: Collect your favorite Halloween items and have your tot plop them into the bottle.

Haunted Halloween Hands

For Halloween crafts that double as cool science experiments, let your toddler create a freaky phantom hands with objects of different shapes, colors and sizes. The best part? Making it vanish! The folks at Happy Hooligans show them how.

What you need: surgical gloves, twist ties, small plastic Halloween items like these and these, food coloring, water, salt, spoons, a shallow plastic container

How to make them: Place plastic pieces into the gloves, add water and food coloring, seal, then freeze. Take them out when solid, marvel at them, then sprinkle with salt and watch them disappear!

Tea Light Witches

Hocus-pocus! This bright idea of a decoration, from Smart School House, will cast a spell on grown-ups and little ones alike.

What you need: green flameless tea lights; googly eyes; black, purple and yellow felt; glue; ribbon; purple and black rhinestones

How to make them: Cut out a felt hat, and have your little ones attach it to the light along with eyes and mouth and (if they want to) other embellishments. Add a ribbon to hang and you're ready to light the way for trick or treaters.

Construction Paper Monster Montage

Play Dr. Frankenstien and create a monster of your very own with just a few materials. Our creative friends at Paper and Glue provide inspiration for endless combinations.

What you need: scissors, construction paper, glue, googly eyes

How to make it: Pre-cut different shapes out of construction paper, then let your child's imagination run wild.

Yarn Pumpkins

Grow a pumpkin patch of your very own with these charming Halloween crafts for toddlers from Design Improvised. The easy to follow instructions makes this project the perfect pick for kids of all ages.

What you need: orange yarn, green pipe cleaners, twine, scissors

How to make it: Wrap yarn around fingers and tie off into a ball of yarn (check out the site for helpful pictures), add a pipe cleaner and attach to a strand of twine to make a garland or display your mini patch around the house.

Witch's Potion

Your little gremlins get to stir up their creative juices with this magical Halloween DIY from The Craft Train.

What you need: Dishwashing liquid, water, liquid watercolors, salt, clear cups, spoons

How to make it: Set out the materials and allow your witches and wizards (and potential scientists!) to brew up their own potions. They'll have fun watching them bubble up, while also learning what happens when different ingredients are mixed together.

Updated September 2017