12-11
Features
Halloween crafts
Final
Hallo-green crafts
Eerily easy kid projects made from recycled materials? It’s not
a trick!
By Ellen Goldberg, photographs by Nicole Hill Gerulat
Wooden Spoon Mummy
When your kid’s in the mood to stir up some ghostly
Halloween mischief, here’s just the thing.
Materials
Old wooden spoon
Gauze or cheesecloth
Scrap wire, perhaps from a thin wire hanger
Small black buttons
Hot glue gun or nontoxic glue
Scissors
1. Cut or tear the gauze or cheesecloth into 5 or 6 strips, each
about 12 inches long and 1 inch wide.
2. Wrap the wire around the neck of the spoon and twist in
place to form the mummy’s arms.
3. To make the mummy’s body, begin wrapping fabric around
the base of the wooden spoon, pulling at the edges of the fabric
as you wrap to make it look worn and torn. Wrap the wire with
fabric, letting the loose ends hang for a spooky effect. Continue
until the entire spoon is covered.
4. To make the mummy’s eyes, tuck the black buttons into the
fabric and glue in place.
Walnut Shell Black Spiders
These festive critters are just the right mix of creepy crawly
and cute.
Materials
Whole walnuts, in-shell
Black felt
Nontoxic black paint
Paintbrush
Scrap wire, perhaps from a metal hanger
Wooden beads
Hot glue gun or nontoxic glue
1. Split a walnut shell in half. Remove the walnut and pulp
(save the walnuts for a snack). Trace the shape of the shell-half
on a piece of black felt; cut out the felt and set aside. Paint the
shell-half black and let dry.
2. Cut four pieces of scrap wire and bend each piece in half.
Push the center of each wire into the inside of the shell to give
the spider four legs on each side.
3. Glue the wires in place. Stick the black felt in the underside
of the walnut shell and glue in place to help secure the legs.
4. Glue black beads to the bottom of each leg and glue two
bright-colored beads for eyes.
Sock-Bottle Ghosts
Scared that plastic bottle will end up harming the environment
in a landfill? Let these spooky ghosts come to the rescue.
Materials
Scissors or utility knife
One-liter plastic bottle
White tube sock
Nontoxic glue, a stapler, or a needle and thread
Nontoxic black paint or dark-colored scrap paper
Paintbrush
LED votive light
1. Use scissors or a utility knife to cut the bottom ¾-inch off of
the plastic bottle.
2. Fold the toe of the sock into a triangle shape and sew, glue,
or staple to secure. Turn the sock inside out and place it over
the bottle.
3. Paint on spooky black eyes, or make some with dark-colored
scrap paper and glue them on. Place the LED votive in the
underside of the bottle to see the ghost glow.
R.I.P. Cereal Boxes
There’s a trick to these eerie mini-tombstones: they’re actually
boxes filled with treats!
Materials
Empty mini cereal box
Scissors or utility knife
Nontoxic black paint
Paintbrush
White colored pencil
Scissors
1. Arrange the cereal box’s top flaps so they all stick up. Cut off
the back flap and the two side flaps. Cut the top of the front flap
into an arch shape, so it looks like the rounded top of a
tombstone.
2. Paint the cereal box black and let dry.
3. Use the white colored pencil to write “R.I.P.” and add other
decorative designs. Fill the box with your child’s favorite treat.
Bottle Cap Eyeballs
It’s plain to see: There couldn’t be a gorier (or greener) use for
plastic bottle caps than this.
Materials
Plastic bottle caps
Nontoxic white, black, and blue paint
Nontoxic red paint or a red marker
Paintbrush
1. Paint colored bottle caps white and let dry. If your bottle
caps are already white, start at step 2.
2. Use the blue paint to paint the eye’s iris and let dry. Paint the
eye’s pupil with the black paint and let that dry, too.
3. Draw or paint squiggly lines with the red marker or paint to
make the eyes look bloodshot. Let dry, then scatter the eyes
across your Halloween table.