Halloween Fun

There are many ways to enjoy the Halloween Holiday. Many children love to decorate their home in preparation for the spooky day. Here are three ideas for Halloween decorations that are fun to make and use.

Potted Pumpkins
Decorating outside for Halloween can be a lot of fun for the  whole family. Use this easy craft to create some decorations that can be used year after year.

Items Needed
Orange Potting Plants (terra cotta or other)
Pencil
Scissors
Card stock paper – any color
Yellow paint, green paint
Mod-Podge Outdoor
Short Stick

Step 1: cut the card stock paper so it is the same height as the planter pot.

Step 2: Sketch the ‘face’ for the pumpkin onto the card stock paper. Cut out the eyes, nose and mouth – or whatever pattern is desired.

Step 3: Inver the pot on a flat surface. Tape the cut card stock tightly around the pot. Paint over the template with the yellow paint and allow it to dry.

Step 4: remove the template and touch up any areas as needed with the yellow paint. Insert the stick into the hole in the ‘top’ of the pumpkin and paint it green. Paint the top of the pot green also if desired. This represents the stem of the pumkin.

Step 5: Paint the entire pot with Mod-Podge Outdoor to seal the paint and weatherproof the pot.
Set it outside for decoration.  Save the finished pots from one year to the next.

Halloween Door Hanger
Make a scary door hanger with glowing paint and scary stickers for Halloween.

Items Needed
Black Foam Board
Glow in the dark paint
Paint brushes
Eye stickers or googly eyes
Glue
Letter templates

Step 1: If the foam board is not precut for a door hanger cut it into a rectangle approximately 5 inches wide by 14 inches long. Cut a circle three inches down from the top end for the doorknob and a slit in the side so the hanger will slip easily onto and off of the door knob.

Step 2: Design the hanger. Trace letter templates to create words and phrases. Decide where to place the eyes or other scary stickers available.

Step 3: Carefully paint the letters with the glow in the dark paint. Paint other decorations also if desired. Use your imagination to create the perfect door hanger for you.

Step 4: Use glue to apply any additional items such as google eyes, scary faces or Halloween stickers. Set the finished hanger aside to dry completely.

Many more creative crafts, games and other activities are available at www.creativekids.thingstodowithkidsmn.com

Ideas to Keep Kids Creative

National Keep Kids Creative Week during the last week of September is commonly attributed to writer and illustrator Bruce Van Patter who became concerned about the loss of creativity in children’s lives. With heavily scheduled lives and very busy parents many children simply don’t have time to do creative activities very often. Here are some great ideas:

 Circle Glider
Most kids are familiar with standard paper airplanes, even if they don’t know how to make them on their own. This is a new kind of paper glider that is formed with circles of paper and a straw. It may not look like it will fly, but you will be amazed at how far it will go.

Items Needed
Paper 8 ½ x 11
Scissors
Ruler
Tape
Straw

Step 1:
Measure a strip of paper 8 inches long by 1 inch wide. Measure a second strip of paper that is 6 inches long and ½ inch wide. Cut out each strip
Step 2:
Form a circle with the larger strip and tap in place. Repeat with the smaller strip.
Step 3:
Place the larger circle at one end of the straw and tape in place. The straw should be inside the circle.
Step 4:
Place the smaller circle at the opposite end of the straw and tape in place. The straw should be inside the circle and the two circles should line up.
Step 5:
Toss the airplane first with the small circle facing forward and then with the large circle facing forward.

This simple design can be changed by changing the size of the circles or by adding additional circles to the straw.




Evolving Picture

This activity can be done with kids of any age. Everyone should sit in a circle so they can’t see what the other players are drawing and the first person is given a piece of paper and a pencil. They should draw three lines, straight or curved on the paper. They should not try to make a picture, just draw the lines randomly on the paper. Pass the paper to the next person who should draw three circles on the paper. The other players should not watch what is being drawn. The next person should add three squares and the next three triangles. Each person who draws a shape should try to make a picture. Keep passing the paper around until it gets back to the person who started and they can add three more lines. Show the paper around so everyone can see what was drawn.

This game can be modified by giving each player a specific color of marker and asking them to add something to the paper that would normally come in the color of marker they are given. An example would be grass for green, apple for red, basketball for orange, sky for blue, sun for yellow etc. Give the players a theme if desired to help guide their ideas.  Be creative and combine the two games for added fun.

Topple the Towers
This game will require some light stakable items These could be plastic containers, plastic glasses, blocks or anything else that can be easily stacked and light enough to be knocked over by a ball. Divide into teams of two or more players and give each team the same number of objects to stack. Draw a circle in chalk on the pavement where each team will build their tower. Once the tower is completed each team must stay within their circle. At the word “go” each team throws their balls at another teams’ tower in an attempt to knock it down. They can try to block incoming balls from knocking down their tower. Once their tower is knocked down they must stop throwing balls. The last team with a tower standing wins. This game is fun when the towers are big and the circles are close together. The more teams with towers the better. An alternative is to allow teams to rebuild their towers as they are knocked down and allow the teams to throw balls at each other for a specific time limit such as 2 minutes. The team with the tallest tower still standing when time is up.

If you are interested in additional ideas there are many more available at Creative Kids.