Halloween Crafts

Halloween is probably the most fun holiday there is when thinking of crafts and the endless number of simple things you can use to make great Halloween scenes and props for the season. This is an especially good activity to participate in with children.

You can search around your house for almost anything that would be great to use; things like jars, construction paper, glue, scissors, and a host of other items and tools you can gather together for your Halloween projects.

Items like paper cups in a variety of sizes and shapes; buttons and glitter; or ribbon and bows; all of them can be combined for terrific creations you can make with even very young children who can be slightly in charge of the glue or something like that, where they can just dab a little and feel they participated in a big way.

And if your at a loss of items you can use, taking just orange and black crayons or markers and coloring some paper that can then be shaped or cut into any number of Halloween designs and figures is very easy and quick to do with children.

Next are a few Halloween craft ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

First I'd like to show some simple and easy to make Halloween masks, which while the children may or may not want to wear, would be great as bragging pieces or to show their friends or grandparents.

You can see how you can take almost any size paper and cut out any design or shape. Just cut a couple of holes for the ribbon to go through to hold the masks in place and you're just about through. Then it's just a matter of coloring in the desired shapes and colors to complete the look.

One thing you could do there is to get some stencils to make them look even better.

The nice thing about using pipe cleaners in making crafts is they can be shaped easily and quickly into almost any type of critter or character you want, and with a variety of colors easily be made into a lot of fun things.

With just this spider below you can see how you could easily put a bunch of these together and make a group of little spiders which you could place strategically around the house. Your children or grandchildren would love the fact that they were part of creating them. Ownership is everything with children, and they'll take it if you empower them with easy things like this to make.

After all, it's the memories created that are the most important thing with crafts when doing it with children, and they'll long remember the times you spent together.

Beads are another great craft tool to use to make some compelling Halloween crafts, as you can see from the spider and spider web below. Just make sure you have a strong line or wire to use to place the beads on, as you don't want to do this type of detail work and have it fall apart when you're nearing the finish line.

To me this Halloween spider is a good example of taking a few simple things in the house and creating a fun and easy to make Halloween decoration the children would love to participate in.

I picture a little spider family with cute smiles and expression in a host of different colored cups and legs. Great fun and the kids will love it.

While most of us enjoy carving a pumpkin, here's a really fun and quick idea you can use to make - not only a man's head - but just about any type of head you want at Halloween time. You can imagine the various things you can do with a pumpkin by taking a hat, fake hair, or any other type of craft accessory to add to a pumpkin.

With this pumpkin the decision to draw the face rather than carve it was made, providing the opportunity to use the cotton for his hair and mustache. The inclusion of the hat is a great way to complete the design.

Looking at these Halloween craft ideas, you can see how easy it is to bring together a few household items, or accessories you already have, and make a large number of Halloween themed figures that everyone can enjoy making and looking at.

Most of these were shown with the idea of doing it together with children, but it's a great way to start learning Halloween crafts if that's your goal as well.