8 Spooky and Fun Halloween 2023 Craft Ideas for Kids

From apple bobbing to pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating to telling tales, there’s nothing better than celebrating the spooky season. To save money and get your kids all revved up, why not get together and create some super cool yet eerily frightening decorations?

Stay tuned as we look at eight fun Halloween craft ideas that anyone can do using minimal supplies…

1. Paper garlands 

Paper garlands are a classic DIY decoration and are so easy to make. Because they are so lightweight, you can hang them up all around the house worry-free. This craft is perfect for kids of all ages, but make sure you help the younger ones when it comes to using scissors. You will need:

• Black, orange or green paper
• Scissors 
• A pencil
• String or twine

First of all, decide on what designs you want to use for the garlands. Choose from pumpkins, ghosts, spiders, and zombie heads – or let your kids design their own monsters. Use a pencil to create a simple-to-cut-out template and repeat the design to create as many as you need. Cut them all out carefully, decorate them as you like, then connect them with string or twine. Easy peasy! 

If you fancy creating some garlands that are a little more sophisticated and can double as autumnal decor for your home, check out this quick guide to creating tissue paper flowers – just opt for seasonal colours instead. 

2. Sock puppets 

Not only are sock puppets a super easy and fun craft, but they can also help to ignite your child’s imagination as they create characters – and they could even host a spooky puppet show. To create yours and exchange some spooky tales, you will need:

• Clean old or odd socks
• Coloured card or yarn
• Scissors 
• Glue

Any type of glue will work for this, but a hot glue gun is best – just ensure you do the hot glueing for your youngsters. As an alternative, you could also sew it all together, but again, it’s probably best to help the little ones out for safety.

Start by cutting out pieces of card or yarn to create features for your sock puppet characters, such as fangs, eyes, ears and hair. Let their imagination run wild and help them bring it all to life. 

Decide that they are happy with their creations and glue everything on. Let the glue dry and then create magic with your puppets.

3. Paper pumpkins

Whilst pumpkin carving is fun, you may soon be left with an increasingly squishy decoration in your living room. Paper pumpkins are a fab alternative, plus they are a lot cheaper (and they don’t come with all the mess). You will need:

• Thick orange & green card
• Scissors 
• Glue or stapler

Begin by cutting out 10-20 strips of orange card. For a smaller pumpkin, use fewer strips and make them thinner and shorter. For a larger pumpkin, use tall, thick strips. Once you’ve cut out the strips, lay them on the table in a big starburst shape, with one end of the strips overlapping in the middle.

Next, use glue or staples to fix all the overlapping ends together. Then connect all the top of the strips together too. Finally, using the green card, scrunch a small bit up to form a stem and secure this to the top of the pumpkin. It should naturally create an oval pumpkin shape when standing up. 

4. Party hats

Party hats might be the easiest thing to make, yet they lend themselves to tonnes of creativity and will help get the spooky party started. You will need:

• Pieces of coloured card
• Felt tip pens or markers
• Scissors 
• Black elastic 
• Sticky tape

Help your kids to cut out the shape of a cone ready to be decorated. Then use felt tip pens to create spooky designs such as haunting characters or creepy crawlies. When your kids have finished decorating the card, secure the cone shape using sticky tape, and add black elastic to complete the hat. 

5. Spooky artwork

There are no rules when it comes to creating Halloween artwork. You could paint a spooky scene complete with ghosts and a haunted house or invent your very own creepy characters. Trick or treat signs are a great option too. You can also simply provide your kids with lots of materials and let their imagination run wild! It’s up to you what you use, but a few ideas include: 

• A4 or A3 pieces of paper or card
• Pens, pencils and markers
• Acrylic or watercolour paint
• Stickers, stamps or stencils 
• Crayons or chalks

Once your kids have finished creating their masterpieces, you can either hang them up on the fridge, frame them as seasonal decorations, or use the back of the paper to create unique Halloween party invites – you decide! 

For more tips on creating artwork in a flash, check out this easy guide to making abstract art – follow the instructions but go for designs that either lean into Halloween or autumn, using vibrant orange paints. 

6. Salt dough

Salt dough is a fantastic alternative to clay – it’s less messy, easy to use and can be made using just a few household ingredients. The following recipe provides one ball which should be enough for each child but make as much as you like. You will need:

• 1 cup of plain flour
• Half a cup of water
• Half a cup of table salt 
• Paint

Before you make your dough, pop the oven on to preheat at its lowest setting, and line a large, shallow tray with baking paper. Mix the flour and salt, then add in the water until the dough comes together as a ball. 

Once the dough is ready, you can begin making your decorations. Create shapes either by hand or using Halloween cookie cutters and pop them in the oven once they’re ready. Bake them until solid, it depends on your oven, but at the lowest heat setting, it will take around three hours. Once they are cooled down, it’s time to get painting!

7. Pipe cleaner spiders

Pipe cleaner spiders are so easy and satisfying to make using bendy, fuzzy pipe cleaners, and they are a perfect eerie decoration! All you will need is:

• Black pipe cleaners
• Googly eyes (optional)
• Clear string (optional)

Firstly, use one pipe cleaner to form the spider’s body by bending it into a little black ball. Then use 8 other pipe cleaners to create the legs by securely twisting them into the body. Add a few googly eyes to finish, and if you fancy suspending them from the ceiling, you can also tie some clear string to the centre of the body. 

8. Halloween crackers 

While Christmas crackers are the norm, Halloween crackers are a perfect party gift and can also be a fun addition to a cosy night watching scary films. You can decorate them however you want and use whichever types of sweets and chocolate your children love. If you’d rather avoid sugar highs, you can replace the sweets with small toys instead. You will need:

• Cardboard toilet paper tubes
• Tissue or craft paper
• String or pipe cleaners
• Sweets or small toys
• Marker pens or stickers

Start by placing the toilet paper tube on a sheet of tissue paper and roll it around until it’s completely covered, then secure with some tape. Close one end by twisting the tissue paper, then carefully fill the centre through the other open end with a selection of sweet treats or small toys. Once you’ve filled the cracker, twist and close the open end, then secure both sides using string or pipe cleaners. 

Once your crackers are ready, your little ones can create spooky designs to decorate them. You could make little patterns by drawing on spiders with a marker pen or use Halloween stickers to make them extra jazzy. 

9. Spooky Ghost Lights

Yes, you get a bonus one! These spooky lights are so easy to make. Simply wash out your milk carton (any size) and draw a face on it with permanent marker pen. Then add some pebbles into the carton to hold it down in case it is windy on 31st October. Add either glow sticks or battery powered lights and away you go.

Super quick and easy and great for kids and adults to make together.

So…

Now you have loads of fun, easy Halloween craft ideas to help keep you and the kids entertained this Halloween – question is, which one will you try first? 

Let us all know in the comments below!

Remember to pin this to your Halloween board on Pinterest so that you can find it next year too!