Halloween Crafts

Rattling Skeletons - Use white paper to form 5 paper chains, and then connect to make a skeleton -- one chain is the body and the other four are arms and legs. Trace children's hands and feet on white paper, cut and glue to the ends of the arms and legs. Cut an oval shape and draw on the face.

Black Cat Hat - Use these directions from Enchanted Learning to create a cute black cat hat that you can wear or use for decorations.

Spaghetti Cobwebs - Cook some spaghetti and let it cool completely. Dip strands of spaghetti into white glue and arrange the pieces onto waxed paper. When the spaghetti dries, carefully peel the "cobweb" off the waxed paper.

Paper Bag Masks - Cut eye holes in large grocery store paper bags. Turn the kids loose with crayons, markers, yarn, stickers, scrap paper, etc. to create any kind of mask they want.

Bat Treat Carton - This makes a wonderful container to send home treats after a Halloween party at school, daycare or your home. Or make a few of these special treat containers for your good friends and deliver them while you are trick or treating!

Lighted Halloween Pictures - Use Q-tips to paint designs on manila paper using small amounts of tempera paint. Let dry. Lightly paint salad oil over the picture with a paint brush. Let dry as much as possible and hang in a window. Light will show through the picture.

Ghost and Jack-o-Lantern Wreath - This project is a bit complicated for younger kids and takes some time to complete. It's a nice project if you are looking for a 'real' Halloween decoration for your child to make that you can keep year after year.

Ghost Magnet - Make a ghost cut out of black construction paper and place in an old oatmeal canister with one teaspoon white paint and marbles and shake. Makes a really cute spooky ghost. Mount them on fun foam and add glitter and a magnet for a spooky fridge magnet.

Transparent Ghost - If you ever ironed leaves between pieces of wax paper, you'll enjoy creating this ghost with your little gobblin!

Rattling Skeletons - Use white paper to form 5 paper chains, and then connect to make a skeleton. Trace children's hands and feet on white paper, cut and glue to the ends of the arms and legs. Cut an oval shape and draw on the face. These work best when made with small groups of children.

More Challenging Crafts

• Halloween Frame - Here's a cute Halloween picture frame made from Fun Foam. The directions call for tacky glue, but I like to use glue dots when I work with foam... it's quick, easy, and there's no drying time.

• Halloween Shrunken Apple Heads - It's not too late to make these scary little shrunken heads out of apples. Simply peel it, cut out a face, and put it in the oven to dry. You can even add hair, eyeballs, etc. to make them really scary and hang them in a tree for the trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.

• Balloon Spider - This scary spider decoration is great for Halloween. Each spider is made from a balloon and four pipe cleaners. You can line your porch with these huge arachnids or perch them on your living room curtains. This project may not seem very challenging, but it's very easy to pop the balloons when you're making it. That's why this project made it to this section of the newsletter.

• Black Magic Cat - This spooky kitty can actually slink through a closed window -- making him the perfect Halloween window decoration.

Halloween Recipes

Put a scoop of chocolate ice cream in the center of a bowl. Poke 8 pieces of black licorice along the side of the scoop to make the legs.

Bake a round cake according to package directions. (I suggest that you don't stack the layers because it is just too messy for kids to eat. You can make two spider web cakes that way. Another alternative is to just bake your cake using a sheet pan. That is what I did.) Frost your cake with white frosting. Make 4 concentric circles on top of the cake using chocolate frosting so that it looks like a bull's eye. Starting at the center of the bull's eye, pull a dull knife through the frosting to the outer edge of the cake. Do this about 6-8 times, making sure to space each pull evenly around your bull's eye. This will create a spider web design on the cake. (You can also use decorating frosting that comes in tubes at the grocery store to make a spider web.) Add spiders to your "web" using gumdrops or any other candy you want. You can make this as simple or elaborate as you want. It also makes a great cake for a Halloween Party!

It's not too late to send in your kid recipes! We're accepting the kind of recipes that kids like to eat, the kind that they can craft with, and the kind that they create edible projects. All your ideas are welcome!

Halloween Games

Great Halloween Books for Kids

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

On Halloween

Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pies

Angelina's Halloween

Halloween Craft Books

The Halloween Book

Illegally Easy Halloween Costumes for Kids

In a Pumpkin Shell: Over 20 Pumpkin Projects for Kids

Halloween: The Best of Martha Stewart Living

FamilyFun Parties

Or Search Amazon for More Resources...