Halloween crafts for kids: 12 easy, not-scary ideas

Halloween crafts do not need special supplies or a trip to the craft store. The twelve ideas below use paper plates, toilet rolls, paint and a few free printables, and each one takes under 30 minutes. They are friendly rather than frightening, so they work for toddlers, preschool classes and school Halloween parties where some children are easily scared.

What you need

Most of these crafts use the same small set of supplies, so you can set up one table and make several in an afternoon:

• Paper plates and toilet paper rolls
• Orange, black, white and green paint or paper
• Glue sticks, tape and child-safe scissors
• Googly eyes, yarn and pom-poms (for children over three)
• Battery tea lights (never real candles in paper crafts)
• A few printed Halloween coloring pages

Paper plate crafts (ideas 1 to 3)

Paper plates are cheap, sturdy and already round, which makes them perfect for pumpkins, ghosts and spider webs.

1. Pumpkin plate. Paint a paper plate orange, add a green paper stem and a curly vine from a pipe cleaner, and draw a happy face. Toddlers can use orange tissue paper squares and glue instead of paint.
2. Ghost plate. Leave the plate white, cut wavy strips of white tissue paper for the bottom and add two big eyes and a round "oo" mouth. Hang several from a string for a ghost garland.
3. Spider web plate. Cut out the middle of a plate, punch holes around the rim and weave white yarn back and forth across the gap. Finish with a pom-pom spider. This one is great for fine motor skills.

Toilet roll crafts (ideas 4 to 6)

Start saving toilet rolls a few weeks before Halloween. Each roll becomes a little character that stands up on a shelf or windowsill.

4. Bat roll. Paint a roll black, fold the top edges in to make two ears and glue on paper wings. Add googly eyes and two tiny white fangs.
5. Mummy roll. Wrap a roll in strips of white paper, masking tape or gauze and add googly eyes peeking out between the strips.
6. Black cat roll. Paint the roll black, cut two triangle ears and a long curly paper tail, and draw whiskers with a white crayon.

Printable crafts (ideas 7 to 10)

Printables give children a ready-made outline, so they can focus on coloring and building. Print on card stock if you have it.

7. Coloring page lanterns. Color the happy pumpkin page, roll it into a tube, tape the edge and stand a battery tea light inside.
8. Window gallery. Color several Halloween coloring pages, cut out the pictures and tape them to the window, facing out, for neighbors and trick-or-treaters to see.
9. Party place mats. Color a page, put it under clear contact paper and use it as a place mat at the Halloween party.
10. Pumpkin patch puppets. Color the pumpkin coloring pages, cut them out and tape them to craft sticks for a pumpkin patch puppet show.

No-mess ideas (ideas 11 and 12)

Short on time, or crafting in a classroom? These two need almost no cleanup.

11. Sticker pumpkins. Decorate real mini pumpkins with stickers, washi tape and markers instead of carving. They last longer and no knives are needed.
12. Spooky counting. Use pumpkin, bat and ghost pictures to count, add and take away. Our Halloween worksheets and the Halloween Activity Pack have ready-made counting and math sheets.

Halloween crafts by age

Toddlers (ages 2 to 3)

Choose crafts with big pieces and one or two steps: the tissue paper pumpkin plate, sticker pumpkins and coloring big, simple shapes with chunky crayons. Expect the finished craft to look abstract; the fun is in the doing.

Preschool (ages 3 to 5)

Children this age can manage the ghost plate, the bat roll and coloring page lanterns with a little help. Let them do the gluing and decorating while you handle any cutting.

School age (ages 6 and up)

Older kids enjoy the spider web plate, puppets and a full window gallery. Challenge them to invent a new Halloween character from a toilet roll and give it a name and a story.

Making it work for a class party

For a class of 20 to 30 children, set up three stations: a coloring station, a paper plate station and a toilet roll station. Prepare pieces in advance, such as cut-out wings, stems and ears, so each craft takes ten minutes. Put each child's name on the back before they start, and have a drying area ready for anything with glue or paint.

Safety tips

• Use battery tea lights, never real candles, in any paper craft.
• Keep small pieces such as googly eyes and pom-poms away from children under three.
• Supervise all cutting, and use child-safe scissors.
• Choose washable paint and cover clothes with an old T-shirt.

Keep the fun going

After the crafts, try a calm activity before the excitement of trick-or-treating. A coloring break, a Halloween maze from the maze maker or a not-scary story all help children settle. If you are planning the rest of the season, see our fall crafts for kids for leaf and acorn ideas.

Turning crafts into decorations

Once the crafts are dry, give them a job. Line up toilet roll bats and cats along a windowsill, string paper plate ghosts across a doorway, and stand pumpkin lanterns on the table for dinner. Children are proud when their work becomes part of the celebration, and you get free decorations that suit a home with little ones. At the end of the season, keep one favorite craft from each child in a box with the year written on it. In a few years you will have a lovely record of how their skills have grown.

Frequently asked questions

What is the easiest Halloween craft for toddlers?

The tissue paper pumpkin plate. Toddlers press orange paper squares onto a glue-covered plate, and you add the stem and face. It takes about ten minutes and there is nothing sharp or small involved.

How can I make Halloween crafts that are not scary?

Give every character a friendly face: smiling pumpkins, waving ghosts and bats with big eyes. Avoid blood, skeletons and monsters for younger children, and let them decide how silly or spooky their craft should be.

Can I use these crafts in a classroom?

Yes. Every craft here works with a class, and our printables are free for classroom use. Prepare the cut pieces the day before and use stations so children rotate in small groups.