75 Easy Halloween Craft Ideas for Kids

It’s that time of year when all things orange, black, and purple come out! We’ve rounded up 75 of our favourite Halloween craft ideas for kids, from simple handprint bats for toddlers to this year’s most popular trends. Most use things you already have at home, and they’re all more cute than scary, so they’re perfect for little ones aged 1–7.

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Busy parent shortcut: no time to gather supplies? This Halloween kids’ craft kit includes foam shapes, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and pom-poms in one box. Add some glow sticks and orange and black cardstock, and you’re set for all of October. 

Trending Halloween Crafts for Kids in 2026

These are the ideas everyone is pinning this year.

• Pony bead ghosts and pumpkins: thread white or orange pony beads onto a pipe cleaner and bend it into a ghost or pumpkin shape. Pony bead patterns are one of the biggest craft trends on Pinterest this season.
• KPop Demon Hunters-inspired light-up wands: wrap a paper towel tube in foil, add stickers and pop a glow stick in the top.
• Squishy ghost stress balls: fill a white balloon with flour using a funnel, tie it off and draw on a ghost face. The squishy toy craze inspires them. [Adults only for the filling; balloons are a choking hazard.]
• Kawaii ghost rocks: paint smooth stones white and add tiny smiling faces and pink cheeks.
• Little green alien cups: inspired by Toy Story 5. Paint paper cups green, add 3 googly eyes and pipe cleaner antennae.
• Pokémon-inspired treat buckets: paint a plastic bowl red on top and white on the bottom, then add a black stripe and button for a Poké Ball look.
• Bluey-inspired puppy ears headband: cut ears from blue and tan paper and glue them onto a paper strip headband.
• Spider-Man web cuffs: decorate toilet roll tubes with red paint and black marker webs to wear as wrist cuffs. Spider-Man is again the top kids’ costume this year.
• Woodland leaf ghosts: paint fallen leaves white and add black eyes, for a nature-walk craft that’s very on trend.

Easy Halloween Crafts for Toddlers (Ages 1–3)

• Handprint bats: paint your toddler’s hands black, print them thumbs-together, and add googly eyes.
• Footprint ghosts: white paint footprints on black paper, then add eyes once dry.
• Sticky contact paper pumpkin: stick orange tissue paper squares onto a pumpkin shape cut from contact paper. It’s the same idea as our Easy Fall Tree Activity.
• Cotton ball ghosts: glue cotton balls onto a ghost outline for a soft, fluffy texture.
• Sponge-stamped pumpkins: cut a kitchen sponge into a circle and stamp orange pumpkins.
• Tissue paper suncatchers: pop scrunched tissue paper between two sheets of contact paper and cut into a pumpkin.
• Paper plate spider: paint a plate black and add 8 paper strip legs.
• Sticker spider web: draw a web and let toddlers add spider and pumpkin stickers.
• Mess-free ghost sensory bag: fill a zip-lock bag with clear hair gel and googly eyes, then tape it shut.
• Pom pom pumpkin painting: peg a pom pom and use it to dab orange paint inside a pumpkin outline.

Preschool Halloween Crafts (Ages 3–5)

• Q-tip skeleton: glue cotton buds onto black paper to make a skeleton.
• Paper plate black cat: paint a plate black and add paper ears, whiskers and yellow eyes.
• Coffee filter pumpkins: colour filters with orange markers, spray with water and watch the colours spread.
• Toilet roll mummy: wrap a cardboard tube in white crepe paper or masking tape and add googly eyes.
• Toilet roll bats: paint tubes black and add paper wings.
• Egg carton spiders: cut out single egg cups, paint them black and add pipe cleaner legs.
• Paper bag monster puppets: decorate a paper lunch bag with paper teeth, eyes and hair.
• Wooden spoon puppets: paint wooden spoons into witches, ghosts and pumpkins.
• Yarn-wrapped pumpkins: wrap orange yarn around a cardboard pumpkin shape.
• Five little pumpkins finger puppets: paper pumpkin rings to act out the classic rhyme.
• Paper plate witch: a green plate face, a black paper hat and yarn hair.

Recycled Halloween Crafts

• Jar lanterns: cover a clean jar in orange tissue paper and Mod Podge, add a face and an LED tealight.
• Milk jug ghosts: draw faces on clean milk jugs and pop a battery fairy light inside.
• Egg carton bats: cut 3 cups from a carton, paint them black and you have bat wings.
• Tin can monsters: tape the edges, paint the can, and add eyes for a pencil holder. [Adults should check for sharp edges.]
• Cereal box masks: cut mask shapes from cereal boxes and decorate.
• Sock pumpkins: fill an old orange sock with rice, tie it off and add a cinnamon stick stem.
• Bottle cap spiders: paint bottle caps black and add pipe cleaner legs.
• Cardboard tube characters: make a whole Halloween family: witch, cat, ghost, pumpkin and Frankenstein.

Fine Motor Halloween Activities

• Paper plate spider web lacing: punch holes around a plate and weave white yarn across.
• Pipe cleaner spiders: twist 4 pipe cleaners together and bend out 8 legs.
• Beaded pipe cleaner patterns: orange, black, orange, black. It’s a great early maths activity. See our pipe cleaner bead ornaments for the method.
• Eyeball rescue: freeze googly eyes and pom poms in ice and use tweezers to free them as it melts.
• Hole punch confetti pumpkins: punch orange paper and glue the dots onto a pumpkin outline.
• Playdough monster mats: roll eyes, mouths and hair from playdough onto a monster face.
• Cut-and-paste jack-o’-lantern faces: cut out triangles and mouths to make silly faces.
• Tape resist spider web: tape a web onto paper, paint over it, then peel the tape off.

Halloween Science and Sensory Play

• Fizzing pumpkins: fill a hollowed pumpkin with baking soda, then add vinegar and orange food colouring.
• Witch’s brew slime: add purple colouring, glitter and plastic spiders to your favourite slime recipe.
• Glow-in-the-dark sensory bottle: water, glitter and a snapped glow stick in a sealed bottle.
• Dancing tissue ghosts: rub a balloon on your hair and watch tissue paper ghosts “fly” up to it.
• Magic potion milk: drops of food colouring in milk, touched with a dish soap cotton bud.
• Pumpkin seed counting: wash and dry seeds, then count, sort or glue them into numbers.
• Jelly eyeball sensory bin: set green jelly with grapes inside for a squishy, taste-safe dig.
• Halloween coloured rice bin: dye rice orange, purple and black, and hide spiders inside. See our colored rice method.
• Spooky shadow puppets: cut bat and ghost shapes, tape them to sticks, and use a torch on the wall.

 

Halloween Decorations Kids Can Make

• Paper ghost garland: fold paper, cut a ghost shape and open it out into a chain. Our pipe cleaner garland works in orange and black too.
• Bat window silhouettes: cut black paper bats and stick them on the window.
• Salt dough ornaments: cut pumpkins and bats from salt dough, bake and paint.
• Hanging coffee filter ghosts: drape a filter over a cotton ball, tie with string and add a face.
• No-carve painted pumpkins: paint mini pumpkins with polka dots, faces or stripes.
• Pumpkin monsters: add googly eyes, pipe cleaner arms and felt mouths to small pumpkins.
• Paper plate Halloween wreath: cut the centre from a plate and glue on paper bats, leaves and spiders. See our easy wreath method.
• Handprint ghost banner: one white handprint per flag, strung on twine.
• Pumpkin nightlight jar: paint a jar orange, draw a jack-o’-lantern face and add an LED tealight.
• Halloween mobile: hang paper bats, ghosts and spiders from a coat hanger.

Dress-Up and Costume Crafts

• Paper plate masks: cut eye holes, decorate and attach to a paddle-pop stick.
• Witch hat headband: a mini cardboard witch’s hat glued onto a headband.
• Spider headband: a paper strip headband with bouncy pipe cleaner legs.
• Cardboard crowns: for every little prince, princess or vampire.
• Decorated trick-or-treat bags: paint or sticker a plain tote or paper bag.

Halloween Games and Printables

• Roll a jack-o’-lantern: draw 6 eye, nose and mouth shapes on a sheet of paper and number them 1–6. Kids roll a die and draw that feature onto a pumpkin outline. Keep rolling until the face is finished.
• Halloween I Spy: draw small pumpkins, ghosts, bats and spiders all over a page. Kids count how many of each they can find and write the number beside it.
• Felt story board: cut felt pumpkins, ghosts and cats to retell Halloween stories.
• Halloween colour by number: draw a simple pumpkin, ghost or bat, divide it into sections and number each one. Then make a colour key (1 = orange, 2 = black, 3 = green) for kids to follow.
• Printable treat bag tags: cut tag shapes from card and let kids colour, sticker and write a name on each one. Punch a hole and tie them onto treat bags for friends.

Halloween Craft Safety Tips

Googly eyes, beads, balloons and small pom poms are choking hazards for children under 3, so supervise closely. See
Pediatrics’ Choking Prevention guide on HealthyChildren.org.

Use LED tealights, never real candles, in jars and pumpkins.

Adults should handle any carving, sharp edges and the oven.

More Halloween and Fall Ideas

Easy Toddler Fall Sensory Bin Idea

Fall Sensory Color Rice Bin

Fall Trace and Color Printables 

Easy Fall Tree Activity

We hope you found plenty of Halloween craft ideas for kids to keep your little ones busy this October. Save this list to Pinterest so you can come back to it each year!

If you enjoyed this, be sure to explore our other printables and activities and follow our social media for more delightful learning experiences.