With every passing festivity the year brings, I make a point of getting crafty with the boys as much as I can. Sometimes the thought of taking out a load of paint is harrowing, and cleaning up the aftermath, which at times can resemble a nuclear explosion, is less than appealing. That said the look of excitement on Luke’s face when I mention the words ‘arts and crafts’ and ‘painting’, makes it just about worthwhile! A few months back I put together a craft trolley that I keep under the stairs, and wheel out into the kitchen when we’re doing some good ‘ol make and do. I have it stocked with whatever Dealz/Poundland and EuroGiant have to offer, along with markers, pencils, crayons and washable paint. I keep it well stocked and when I see nice things I throw them in for a rainy day (literally). This week we’ve been hard at it, getting ready for Olly’s Halloween themed 1st birthday party on October 30th. So here are 5 relatively painless Halloween crafts for kids. These ideas can be done with even the tiniest of humans to mark the Halloween festivities.
1. Pumpkin Carving
What would Halloween be without some good old fashioned pumpkin carving! We picked up a pumpkin at the weekend in Lidl and Luke has been hauling it around the house ever since. So yesterday was D-Day for Mr.Pumpkin and Luke was absolutely fascinated by the inside of the pumpkin, the fact that it felt ‘wet’ and that it was filled with seeds. He helped to spoon out the inside, picked out all the seeds and was fixated watching the eyes, nose and mouth being cut out.
2. Scary Spiders
It’s amazing what you can create with a few paper plates, paint, pipes cleaners and felt or plastic googley eyes. These literally took about ten minutes to make (great for kids who get bored quickly!) and look great dangling from just about anywhere in the house! We got the plates, eyes and pipe cleaners from Dealz.
3. Paper Plate Pumpkins
Some orange paint, paper plates and random pieces of card cut out to make a face (we used the cardboard from an empty Kleenex tissue box). Luke spent a good 40 minutes painting these plates….I kid you not. I got the dishwasher emptied and prepared the dinner in that time – winning!
4. Masking Tape Mummies
These blank men cutouts can be picked up in a pack in Dealz/Poundland. They are a firm favourite in our house no matter what the occasion is. I literally cut strips of masking tape and hung them from the side of the table and let Luke go wild. When he was done, I just folded over any excess pieces. We then added a pair of eyes and a few black lines using a marker. Again I cannot stress how much enjoyment he got out of sticking masking paper to card. It doesn’t have to be overly complicated to be fun!
5. Hand-print Halloween Cards
Needless to say Olly at the tender age of 1 is somewhat limited in his artistic capabilities! But in fear that his second child syndrome would flair up, we made these adorable handprint cards, a set for Nana and Grandad and another set for Grandma and Pops. They are a lovely way of remembering how tiny hands grow up to be big ones and are a lovely keepsake!
