Which Halloween decorations can children make themselves?

Among the classics of autumn and Halloween decoration are of course hollowed-out pumpkins with a candle, which already announce on the doorstep that you're celebrating Halloween. If your children are still too small to carve the large carve the pumpkins themselves or if you want other Halloween decorations to create an eerie atmosphere, you of course have many other options. And the best part: Most decorations you can already make with little material and effort make yourself. With our instructions and crafting ideas it's very easy.

Materials for crafting spooky Halloween decorations: What you need to make them

With a little support, your little ones great fun at the 'terrible' craft projects and together you can make your home eerily beautiful with the new Halloween decorations. For that you of course need the right craft materials and tools. What exactly you need always depends on the decoration you want to make.

Still, we've listed the most important craft materials for you:

• Scissors

• Construction paper

• craft glue and paste

• pencils, felt-tip pens, colored pencils and wax crayons

• acrylic and watercolor paints

• pencil sharpener

• hole punch

• craft templates

• stamps and ink pads

• googly eyes

Garlands for the walls: easy Halloween decorations to craft with children

To decorate the walls or the entrance area for Halloween, garlands are particularly suitable. They are quick to make, the children can help eagerly and with the right Halloween motifs crafting becomes real spooky fun!

This is what you need to craft Halloween decorations:

• printer

• construction paper in black or dark gray

• pencil

• craft scissors

• craft glue

• felt-tip pens in black and white

• napkins

• balls made of Styrofoam or wood (about 2 cm diameter)

• twine

Here's how:

Bat garland: A bat garland not only looks spooky, it is also easy to make with children. It's best to make the bats from black construction paper, because it can be easily folded and is still relatively sturdy. On the internet you will find many bat templates that you can use to draw the motif onto the construction paper. Of course you can also draw the outline of a bat freehand. Once you've drawn several bats onto the construction paper, the little mammals can be cut out. To make the bat's wings nice and fluttery, fold the body and then bend and glue it at the end. Finally, paint a face on the bat – friendly or with creepy fangs – and hang it together with its fellows on a string across the room.

Ghost garland: Ghosts bring the desired fright to the home at Halloween. For a ghost garland you only need a few napkins, balls (e.g. ping-pong balls), a black felt-tip pen and twine: unfold the napkin and place the ball in the middle. Then gather the napkin around the ball again and wrap it with a string. Don't cut the string too short so you can still hang the ghost from it later. Then draw a face on the ghost and carefully pull apart the individual paper layers of the napkin. The first ghost for your Halloween garland is done. Make as many ghosts as you like and hang them together on a string – ooh, how ghostly.

Make use of dark evenings: eerie Halloween decoration with lights

In autumn and at Halloween, of course all decoration ideas are particularly suitable, that glow in the dark and thus create an eerie atmosphere. For example, a windowsill is eerily lit with a few lights and the Halloween party is cast in a gloomy light. Discover here our ideas on how you can create Halloween decorations with string lights and candles conjure up:

What you need to make decorative lights:

• string lights

• hole punch or hand punch

• brown paper lunch bags

• small jars

• tea lights

Here's how:

Spider string lights: For many people, spiders and cobwebs are a particularly gruesome decoration idea. A normal string of lights becomes wonderfully creepy when you decorate it with spider motifs and use it to decorate the room. That way you can not only create lighting effects, but the spiders also plunge the room or window into an eerie atmosphere. Find a suitable spider template online or draw a creepy spider and cobwebs yourself that you can copy and cut out with your child. Then punch a hole in the ornaments with a hole punch or hand punch and attach them to the string lights with a thin thread.

Ghost lights: The light becomes especially atmospheric with flickering candlelight, of course. To have the candles cast frightening shadows, you need various creepy Halloween motifs. Whether spider, haunted house, ghost or cobweb – look for suitable templates, draw the motifs yourself and cut them out. They can then be attached to a brown paper bag with a little craft glue. When everything is dry, a small rinsed-out jar provides the necessary support for the candles. Place a tea light in the jar, light it and place it in the bag. It will then flicker eerily on the windowsill or at the Halloween party.

Halloween table decorations: dining in a ghostly atmosphere

If the Halloween party includes a seated meal at the table, the spooky table decoration must of course not be missing. That way at your spooky feast the Halloween recipes the right mood and the little ones can chat merrily about the Halloween decorations. The decorations can also be placed on other surfaces and cause frights!

What you need to make Halloween table decorations:

• small decorative pumpkins

• gauze bandages

• googly eyes

• craft glue

• pine cones

• paints

• brushes

• pipe cleaners

Here's how:

Mummy pumpkins: The small mummy decorative pumpkins look especially good as Halloween table decorations and are also easy to make. Take a gauze bandage and wrap it around the small pumpkin so that it looks like a mummy. Secure the end with a little liquid craft glue. Now only the eyes are missing. For this, glue two funny googly eyes onto the pumpkin – and the sweet yet spooky pumpkin table decoration is ready.

Pine cone spiders: In autumn and at Halloween you can do great crafts with pine cones that you can collect with your child on a walk in the woods. Among other things, you can make frightening spiders from them that crawl around on the table. First paint some pine cones with colors of your choice, for example with acrylic or watercolor paints, to create the body of the spider. The spiders look creepiest in black, but they also look pretty nasty in toxic green or bright red! Next, take colored pipe cleaners and bend a 90-degree kink in them. Attach four pipe cleaners per side to a pine cone and the spider is already standing on its eight legs. Finally, glue on two creepy googly eyes with a bit of glue.

Image credits

Illuminated carved pumpkin decorated with cobwebs, spiders, and bats © Syda Productions - stock.adobe.com

Handmade invitation cards with scissors and paper on a table © fedorovacz - stock.adobe.com

Child stands in front of someone dressed as a ghost © Maria - stock.adobe.com

Table decorated with illuminated pumpkins, garlands © JenkoAtaman - stock.adobe.com