Imaginative Halloween Crafts to Make Preschoolers Giggle

Halloween is a holiday that is both mysterious and magical for young children, and some easy Halloween crafts can make it even more exciting. It is important, however, to ensure that the chosen activities are fun rather than scary and that the children have the manipulative skills and attention spans necessary to create a finished product. The following projects meet both of these criteria and will result in memorable keepsakes for Mom or Grandma.

Ghostly Feet

Materials needed:

• 12x18 Black Construction Paper
• Washable White Tempera Paint in Flat Bottomed Container
• Small Black Construction Paper Circles for Eyes
• Small Black Construction Paper Ovals for Mouths
• Glue Sticks
• Container of Soapy Water for Cleaning Feet
• Soft towel

Instructions:

Have children remove their shoes and socks. Then, dip one foot at a time into the white tempera paint and place side-by-side on the black construction paper to make an imprint of each foot.

In the prepared soapy water, immediately clean feet before the paint dries. Allow the footprints to dry and give the children containers of the construction paper eyes and mouths. Children may cut their own if they have learned to use scissors by this point.

Using glue sticks, children can then finish their ghosts by placing the facial features in the appropriate positions. They may even decide to make funny ghosts by attaching big ears, some type of strange nose, or using polka dots or stars to personalize their ghosts.

Boney Cotton Swab Skeletons

Materials needed:

• 9x12 Black Construction Paper
• Whole cotton swab and cotton swabs cut into halves and quarters
• Bowls of Elmer’s Glue
• White Tempera Paint
• Paint Brushes
• Black Magic Marker

Instructions:

Preschoolers should paint a white circle at the top of their sheet of black construction paper. Dipping the cotton part of the swab into the bowl of glue, the children can begin the body of their skeleton by placing one whole cotton swab running down from the center of the circle.

The children should use the halves of the cotton swabs to make arms coming out from this center swab, just below the head. By connecting three half swabs end to end, the shoulders and elbows are formed.

Underneath the arms, the children should use the shorter heads of the cotton swabs to form the ribs, with five on each side.

Finally, two half cotton swabs can be used to form the legs and two of the cotton swab heads can be attached as feet. Using a black magic marker, the preschoolers can make two dots for the skeleton's eyes.

Children are always delighted by their Halloween crafts, and parents or teachers can use them to teach about the importance of building strong bones.

When the supplies needed for these two simple Halloween crafts are prepared ahead of time, preschoolers should be able to finish these cute projects in less than thirty minutes. By next Halloween, the kids will be begging to make them again.

About the Author:

Simon Phillips runs Halloween Party Ideas, where you can read about more Halloween crafts for preschoolers and find lots of ideas for keeping children entertained at Halloween.