Halloween Silhouettes for The Classroom

        These silhouettes (cut from black paper for decorating windows or cut from white paper for decorative borders) are made by folding a sheet of paper into three sections as show below. The folded sections are then folded once more to make three sections of equal size. Sketches for the silhouettes should be made twice the width and exactly the height of the paper in its final fold. When satisfactory sketches are completed and after care has been taken to have them symmetrical and with no cutting to be done through the lefthand folds of the paper, one half of the sketch (vertically) should be sketched or traced on the folded paper and cut out.

Students will need either black, white, or orange construction paper and a pair of scissors to assemble this paper Halloween craft.

Halloween Lantern Designs for The Classroom

       Illustrated below are two simple methods for cutting and assembling paper Halloween lanterns for the classroom. Included also are a few simple silhouettes that students may copy to emphasize the theme: a black cat, a black bat, a witch with a cane and Jack-o-lantern.

Students will need black construction paper, scissors, a ruler and glue to complete these projects.

5 Simple Halloween Crafts: Templates Included

       Some of the following crafts need adult supervision while a glue gun is in use. Please read through the instructions entirely before making the crafts with very young children. The crafts below are intended for decoration excluding the spider puppet. The spider puppet is for children five and up because of the stick. If your students or child can be responsible when playing with something pointy like this, it may be given to a 3 or 4 year old.

My version of this craft has an inner support and a stand.

A Shredded Paper Pumpkin Craft: My version of this old craft includes tubes and a stand for support so that it may be stored and kept from year to year without it getting smashed. Just wrap it in tissue and store it alone or with things light weight in nature. If you've measured the necessary lengths of the tubes in advance, this project can be made for students in first grade and up.

Supply List:

• orange, brown and green construction paper
• wooden or cardboard one inch diameter circle shape
  
• black marker
• white school glue

Step-by-Step Instructions for The Pumpkin:

1.  Roll lengths of tube using paper or cardboard to make both the inner support of the pumpkin shape and the stem of the pumpkin. You can do this step before or after you cut the strips for the pumpkin. The inner tube for the pumpkin should measure a couple of inches shorter than the length of the strips, so that the tips of the strips can be bent and glued to the top and bottom of the inner tube. This is how the shape of the pumpkin will be kept in place.
   
2. Cut strips of orange construction paper 1/2 inch wide, all equal in length. 
3. Cover the inner tube with orange construction paper to "hide" it from view.
   
4. Glue each strip's ends to both the top and bottom of the inner tube.
   
5. Glue the wooden or cardboard circular disk to the bottom of the woven pumpkin. this will help the pumpkin to stand on it's own.
6. Glue on the stem, after covering it with brown paper. 
7. Draw vein details with a fine tip marker, onto the stem.
8. Cut a small green leaf to glue to the top of the pumpkin. Add veining on this if you prefer.
   

Left, pictured are the tubes rolled from cardboard to give the "shredded paper pumpkin support.
 Right, see the gluing process. I'm firmly pressing the paper ends on top of the tube.

Left, I bent a few of my strips without the tube between in order to determine the length of tube
 that I would need for support between my strips of orange construction paper. Right, here you can
 see the end result after I have randomly "woven" the orange strips above and below the inner cardboard tube.

A cute little ghost peers through the window.

The Ghost In The Window Craft: A simple preschool/kindergarten level craft for Halloween.

Supply List: 

• 6 wooden craft sticks all the same length
• two googly eyes
• white school glue
• white and black construction paper
• brown acrylic paint
• ghost template below
  

Step-by-Step Instructions for The Ghostly Window:

1. Glue four wooden sticks together in the shape of a square.
2. Glue a cross piece on top of the square and wait for the glue to dry.
3. Print out the ghost in the window template, cut it out and then trace around it on top of white construction paper.
4. Glue the little ghost on top of black paper and paste on it's google eyes.
5. Then paste the ghostly view to the back side of the wooden window frame.
6. Paint the window frame brown.
   

A Black Batty Candy Container: You will need the following supplies for the bat: black construction paper, two googly eyes, the paper template for it's wings and one recycled toilet paper roll. Any child in Kindergarten through third grade will enjoy putting this project together for friends and family.

The back side and front sides of the cardboard tube candy container shaped like a bat for Halloween.

Left, recycled cardboard tubes. Center, painted tube for the bat body of the candy box.
Right, tracing around the wing template for the black batty candy box.

Step-by-Step Instructions for the Candy Holder:

1.  Paint a recycled paper toilet roll solid black.
2. Print out the template for the batty wings from below.
3. Cut the template and then trace around it on top of a black piece of construction paper.
4. Cut out the wings.
5. Pinch one sides' end of the paper tube shut. Use glue to make this permanent. You may need to use a clamp to hold this in place till the glue dries.
6. Hot glue the googly eyes in place near the top of the candy container where the bats head would be.
7. Pinch together the bat's pointy ears on opposite ends of the tube. This will create a crease in the cardboard while you are working. 
8. Apply a bit of shaping along these creases to "make" the closure for the candy box. 
9. Slip in some candy corn or wrapped candies into the tube shaped box if you prefer. Searve up this super sweet, batty box treat at a Halloween party!
   

The assembled recycled ghosts with curled paper trim.

Recycled Paper Ghosts: Paper recycling craft intended for early learning students through second grade. They will learn how to cut, trace, curl and paste!

Supply List:

• white school glue
• white recycled papers
• black marker
• small scissors 
• two ghost templates (below)
  

Step-by-Step Instructions for The Paper Ghosts:

1. Print the templates from below on white paper.
2. Cut long white paper strips and glue these to the backsides of the cut ghost bodies.
3. Take a pair of child scissors and curl the ends of the strips.
4. Use a black marker to make silly faces on the ghosts heads.
   

A Pom Pom Spider Stick Puppet: The supplies you will need for this craft are: two pom poms- one larger than the other, two googly eyes, one 6-12 inch wooden dowel, hot glue and gun and black construction paper. If making this with a young student, use store bought pom-poms. If your students are older, have them manufacture the pom-poms themselves.

Steps for assembling a pom-pom spider puppet.

Steps for making your own pom-poms.

Step-by-Step Instructions for the Spider Puppet:

1. Cut cardboard disks like the ones pictured above and wrap black yarn through the hole and around the shape.
   
2. Trim the pom-pom off the card.
3. Knot the clippings together tightly according to the illustration.
4. Make two pom-poms, one slightly larger.
5. Glue a wooden or cardboard disk to the end of a dowel or chop stick. 
6. Then glue on eight tiny paper spider legs equally distributed about the disk.
7. Hot glue the larger pom-pom on top of the disk and legs.
8. Hot glue the smaller "head" pom-pom to the end of the larger.
9. Hot glue on the google eyes.
   

Above are five ghost templates and one bat candy container wing. Three of the ghost patterns are
shown above. The templates for paper ghost chains will be covered in a later post and linked
back to this sheet of patterns.

Pets Tell Halloween Stories for Kids:

• Trick or Treat! Topi the Corgi Halloween Special
• When wiener dogs go trick or treating...
• Spooky, Sneaky Arlo the CAT!
• Dust Buddies by Mad Artist Publishing CGI & Films

How kids can quill a jack-o-lantern picture...

The finished Halloween picture, with quilled
3D jack-o-lantern.

        Learning to quill with construction paper is much easier than it looks. This cute little jack-o-lantern is made up of dozens of rolled construction paper strips glued within a pumpkin shaped outline. I've featured him here on top of his own construction paper fence. Little ones may also add more "spooky'' spider webs to their Halloween picture once the paper quills have dried.

Supply List:

• ample supply of orange, construction paper, shredded
• white acrylic paint or white pencil
• black marker
• black paper for background, brown paper for fence, green for leaves, brown for stem, red for pumpkin background
• white school glue

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. You can either cut strips of construction paper by hand or use a paper shredder for the craft if a large number of students are making this project. In either case you will need to make the strips of paper approximately 1/2 inch in width and the remaining length of the paper you have on hand. Not all quilling is regular, especially when teaching little kids. I intentionally made this sample using irregular cuts of paper and I think is looks very cute.
2. After cutting the paper in strips, wind it around a pencil, remove it and then roll it between your finger tips. Squeeze is tiny bit of glue onto the end of the paper roll in order the get then ends to stick and hold the quill in place. Now repeat this step many times until you have enough quills to glue on top of a larger picture and make a design. 
3. An important thing to remember while working on this project is that it takes some time to complete and that the glue must dry before the quills will even remotely adhere to the background. Be Patient!!!
4. I cut out strips of brown construction paper for the fence and also used brown strips for the quilled pumpkin stem. 
5. Use a black marker to draw "wooden" veins in the fence if you'd like.
6. I quilled green for the leaves, pinching the ends to make an oval shape. (see details below)
7. Then I quilled jack-o-lantern facial features using black paper and glued these on top of the orange quills.
8. After the construction paper dries, use a white pencil or paint to add spider web details to make a scene like the one show here.

Details showing what the rolled or quilled construction paper looks like when finished. 

• Quilled paper snail craft by Crafty Morning
• Easy paper quilling turtle made with construction paper by Twitchetts
• God's Rainbow Promise Quill Craft from the thinkingkidsblog

Craft Old-Fashioned Lantern Silhouettes

Crayon flames glow behind silhouettes of antique lanterns cut from black construction paper.

        These little paper lanterns hang from a black paper chain, decorating our family cupboard during the Fall holidays. The patterns for the flat lanterns are based upon antique tin versions and the crayon colored flames are drawn on separate pieces of white paper that are glued to the back sides of the black paper cut-outs.

       For this craft you will need the following supplies: crayons, white school glue, a white pencil, stapler (optional) white paper, black construction paper, a ruler and a pair of scissors.

Step-by-Step Directions:

1. Cut strips of construction paper 1/2" wide and 5-6 inches long. Loop these inside one another using either white glue or a stapler to tack the ends of each loop shut. Make the paper chain long enough to drape onto a cabinet or to hand across a window.
   
2. Decide what size you want your lanterns to be. Cut out the proper length and width of a black construction paper rectangle. 
3. Fold this rectangle in half lengthwise. 
4. Use a pencil or white crayon to draw your lantern's design, either the left or right side only if you want the pattern to have equal window designs on both sides of the lantern. 
5. Then cut the window design and the outer shape of the lantern out on one half of the pattern. 
6. Unfold the lantern to reveal a pattern that has a symmetrical design.
7. If you want a lantern with an asymmetrical design you will need to draw a silhouette directly on top of a unfolded, rectangular paper to cut away every negative shape slowly and carefully.
8. Color the faux flames of your lantern on bright white paper and glue these paper fires to the backside of your paper lanterns to make these look as though they are lit.
9. Cut an additional construction paper loop to attach the lanterns to your paper chain.
10. Now you can hang up some vintage looking lamps to decorate for Fall or Halloween.
    

Above are the silhouette patterns I cut from black construction paper.

 

Links to Old-Fashioned Lamps:

• A variety of old-styled lanterns and lamps still made by craftsmen
  
• How to make an old tin can lantern

Paper Cuts for Halloween of Black Cats

       These little black cats may be used in the classroom and in personal crafts.

A jack-o-lantern maze

Find your way in and out of this spooky Jack-O-Latern maze!

A Jack-O-Lantern Dot-To-Dot

How To Draw a Halloween Cat

How to draw a Halloween cat by E. G. Lutz. Printable instruction sheet.

Once you've mastered drawing the simple cat above, why not try drawing a black cat on top of black paper like the one shown in the video below?

Draw Even More Black Cats:

• Draw black cats using vectors
• Time Lapse video of black cat using pastels

Feelings Faces Game for Halloween

      My little Jack-O-Lanterns are full of all kinds of emotions! Teachers will need to print two copies each of every sheet attached to the post below in order to play this Halloween matching game with their class.

      For younger students turn the cards face up on a carpet or table so that all of the emotions can be seen. Now ask each player taking a turn to match up one Jack-O-Lantern with it's twin and then talk about "how" the Jack-O-Lanterns are feeling. Ask the student about the incidents that make him or her feel angry, disappointed, frightened, sad, happy, excited or anxious etc...

      If your students are a bit older, in 1rst or 2nd grade, turn the cards face down during the game so that your students must also identify the matching abstract shapes of the pumpkins. 

      Let your students identify the feelings of the pumpkins on their own. Younger children will give general descriptions of their faces, older students may be more specific about the expressions. What is important about the game is that a students is able to actually match the identical facial features and shapes.

Teach young learners about emotions with these fun little free Jack-O-Lantern faces by Grimm.

Crying Jack-O-Lanterns shown crying. Print out the patterns twice to make this feelings face game by Kathy Grimm.

      Learn more about how to use facial expressions in order to develop social emotional skills watch the video below by Childswork Childsplay. You can purchase their game, "The Understanding Faces Game," here.

Craft an Edible Jack-O-Lantern Bingo Game

      Students or teachers can draw a Jack-o-lantern on the inside of a paper plate with a black marker. Don't forget to give him a large toothy gin and number or letter each tooth as well. Color in the spooky pumpkin with bright orange and green markers. Then use candy corn to mark off the numbers or letters called randomly by the teacher. The first Jack-o-lantern to have his teeth restored is a bingo!

More Edible Games for Kids:

• Edible Bingo Game using Cheez-It Scrable crackers
• Sight Word Bingo
• Edible Valentine Cookie Tic-Tac-Toe 

More Candy Corn Crafts:

• Tear and paste a candy corn picture for preschool...
• Doodle a candy corn turkey, landscape, birds, butterflies etc...
  

Craft with old-fashioned Halloween silhouettes . . .

      Use these stencils to trace around with a white lead pencil onto black construction paper. Then hang them in your windows or cut them out for cards and stationary.

A black cat with glowing eyes peers into the darkness.

An old hag, witch, flies on her broom at night.

An owl perches on a fir branch with the moon behind.

More Vintage Fall Silhouettes:

• Paper cuts for Halloween of black cats here
  
• Vintage paper cuts for fall
• Paper cuts of more black cats... 
• Halloween silhouettes for paper treat bags
  

Two red-eyed owls perch in a tree in front of a big red moon.

Wise - Owl

At Night the Owl comes out
To sit and look about.
His wife and he 
Live in a tree-
Like other owls, no doubt.

 

At night he's very wise,

But he's blind in the bright sunrise,

And he turns his head

Clear 'round, 'tis said,

As he stares with his owlish eyes. 

 

by George Cassard