Frankenstein Halloween Bucket

I wanted to make a bucket for D's first trick-or-treating Halloween...originally I wanted to make a pumpkin, but when I sat down to do the craft I realized I was pretty much out of orange tissue paper...but I had plenty of green, so I decided to make a frankenstein!! It was pretty simple...all I did was glue a piece of tissue paper onto an ice cream pail, I drew on a mouth and some scars with a permanent marker, and I made the eyes out of white construction paper by using a foam letter Q to trace for the eyes to make the pupil.

I also cut a hole in the lid to put candy in. In this pic I don't have the lid on because I had covered the lid using a piece of garbage bag, but the glue was still drying. :)

Making a pumpkin bucket would be even easier, just cover the pail with orange construction paper and cut out and eyes, nose, and mouth out of black (or yellow) construction paper and glue on. You could also make a mummy bucket using white crepe streamers, or a witch using green and black tissue paper...just use your imagination!! :)

I tried to have D glue the eyes down, but today he wasn't in the mood to do a craft so I did it for him :)

Handprint Spider!!

Handprint spiders are one of my all-time favorite crafts!! Super easy and super cute!!

I didn't have black paint though, so I made a dark purple color and hoped for the best :).

Paint the fingers and palm of your child's hand (do not paint the thumb). Press down on white paper.

You can either paint your child's other hand to make the second half of the spider, or just turn the paper over. Whichever you prefer! I used the same hand to make both sides (you may have to add more paint to the hand first!!)

Voila! A cute halloween decoration!!

If you want to make a spiderweb to go with your spider, there are a few options. You could take a piece of black construction paper, and put a blob of slightly watered down white paint in the middle, and either blow with a straw to make the web, or you can place the paper in a tray, and use a marble to roll back and forth through the paint to make the web. :)

Handprint Turkey

I usually don't do too many Thanksgiving crafts, but I've always loved the handprint turkeys! They are super cute and super easy to make, and this one D made I glued onto a piece of cardboard that was twice the size of the turkey and bent it over to make a centerpiece.

All you do is paint the palm and thumb of one hand with brown paint, and each of the fingers a different color (I used red, yellow, blue, and orange...but after I painted D's fingers he squished his hand together so his whole hand was pretty much brown LOL). Make a handprint on a piece of construction paper. I used orange, and when the paint dried I cut out the handprint and glued it onto a yellow piece of paper.

Take a crayon and, if your child is older, have them draw a beak, legs and a gizzard (I think that's what it's called LOL). For the eye, I just used a white and black crayon, but googly eyes work too. If you're feeling extra crafty, have your child glue different colored feathers on each of the fingers, or add some colored glitter!

Voila! A fun, cheap, cute, and easy Thanksgiving craft!! :)

Leaf Wreath

One of the best things about Fall is all the leaves on the ground!! And...one of the best/worst things about me is I hate bugs...so I don't do much with leaves from outside LOL...BUT that doesn't mean you can't make fun fall crafts!!

If you google Easy Fall Crafts, one of the most common results is a leaf wreath. It's simple and fun...but I like to make them a little more personalized. Instead of using leaves...I traced D's hands and feet onto red, orange, yellow, and brown construction paper and cut them out. I put glue on a cardboard wreath I cut out and D put the "leaves" on the glue. Note: I taught D to hit the shapes when he put them on the glue. He has a blast smacking his crafts and when he's done they are all stuck down LOL.

D's wreath is hanging on our front door now and I point it out whenever we are coming in from outside. It's soooo cute! And...we look festive :).

Cake Decorating!

Got a birthday coming up?? Make a cake and let your kid(s) decorate it!! It's super simple, and the kids have a blast doing it...and it makes them feel pretty proud when their cake comes out all lit up with candles!!

For my mother's birthday, instead of baking one rectangle cake I made 2 circle cakes and had 2 of my neices, K and B, decorate it. Each girl got their own container of frosting, and a huge assortment of sprinkles to decorate with. They had a blast decorating, and when the time came for cake they made sure that each person knew who had decorated what cake (although by that time neither one could remember which cake they decorated and they actually pointed out the other girl's cake as their own LOL). The bigger people at the party told the girls how awesome their cakes looked and tasted...you should have seen their smiles!!

Handprint/Footprint Ghosts!!

I LOVE Halloween!! I love making Halloween crafts and decorations! It is one of my favorite holidays :)

I have been making Halloween crafts with D since the beginning of September. Mostly the crafts are pretty simple...for example, I cut out a pumpkin shape in white paper and D painted it orange, or I cut out a pumpkin shape in orange paper and cut out black shapes for him to glue on to make a Jack-o-Lantern.

Buut! One of my favorite crafts we did together was the handprint/footprint ghosts. It's super simple and super cute!!

Paint one hand and one foot with white, washable, paint. Make a handprint and a footprint on a piece of dark paper (I used black for this one), or you could use 2 different pieces of paper. If you use the same paper, make sure that the fingers and toes are pointing in the same direction!

When the paint dries, use a black marker to draw a face on the ghosts...if your child is older then have them do it!

You could use glitter to embellish your picture if you want. I chose not too because D is pretty young, and with the paint I had a pretty big mess anyway LOL.

Walking Painting

This is one of my FAVORITE art projects to do. Basically, I take a huge piece of paper and tape the corners down on the floor (otherwise the paint will stick and the painting will be smudgy and baby will fall)...I always put a tablecloth on the floor and tape it down too. Take your baby (he/she doesn't need to be walking on their own yet!) and paint their feet. I painted one of D's feet blue and the other red. Then I let him walk all over the paper leaving footprints. I also painted his hands to make handprints. Super messy but super fun! D was 11 months and already walking when I did this with him, but again you don't have to wait until baby is walking to make a fun picture. :)

Homemade Finger Paint

I love using finger paint with kids because, just like the pudding paint, they can squish it..it feels goopy and fun LOL...and if you don't want to spend the money to buy finger paint, you can find simple, and cheap, recipes online.

The one I use most is:

3 cups water

1 cup cornstarch

food coloring

Boil the water and add to cornstarch in a separate bowl. Stir until clear and smooth. Divide into separate containers and add food coloring. Leftover paint can be stored in air-tight containers also. :)

This paint is simple and easy to clean...the only problem with it that I find is that when the paint dries the paper curls up and the paint starts flaking off. I still use it for rainy days and such when I just need D to be quiet!!

In this pic, I have my two neices finger painting. Note: Don't be silly like me...make sure that the kids are wearing smocks!!