Halloween crafts for kids: 20 easy ideas by age

Twenty Halloween crafts for children you can make with what is already at home: toilet rolls, jam jars, cotton wool, paper and pipe cleaners. Sorted by age, from two and up, with the time each one takes. Most take under half an hour and all of them can be hung up the same evening.

In twenty years Halloween has gone from an import to a fixture of the Swedish autumn, and the crafts are half the fun, especially on the dark afternoons at the end of October, when it is too cold for the playground and too early for dinner. Here are the twenty we make most often with the families we work for, sorted by what children can actually manage.

2 to 4 years: paint, stick, feel

Small children want their hands in the materials. No scissors, no small parts, and a result they can see straight away.

1. Napkin ghosts. A ball of cotton wool in the middle of a white napkin, gather it up, string around the neck, two eyes with a marker pen. Five minutes. Hang in the window on a thread.
2. Handprint spider. Dip both hands in black finger paint, press onto paper with the thumbs facing each other, eight legs. Stick on eyes.
3. Paper plate pumpkin. Paint a paper plate orange, cut out the eyes and mouth yourself once the paint is dry, let your child stick on a green paper leaf as the stalk.
4. Jam jar lantern. Your child sticks pieces of orange tissue paper onto a clean jam jar. You cut a face from black paper and stick it on. Pop a battery tea light inside.
5. Toilet roll bat. Paint the roll black, fold in the top to make ears, glue on paper wings that you have cut out. Your child paints and sticks, you cut.
6. Potato ghost prints. Cut a potato into a ghost shape, let your child dip it in white paint and print on black paper. Eyes with a marker pen afterwards.

4 to 7 years: cut, fold, build

Now children's scissors work, and the children want to make something that looks like a thing. Patience lasts twenty to thirty minutes, so plan accordingly.

1. Paper ghost garland. Fold a long strip of paper like an accordion, draw half a ghost against the fold, cut, unfold. Your child draws the faces.
2. Pipe cleaner spider web. Three pipe cleaners crossed, wind a fourth around in a spiral. A spider made from a black pompom with six pipe cleaner legs.
3. Toilet roll mummy. Wrap white gauze bandage or strips of paper around the roll, leaving a gap for the eyes. Glue two eyes into the gap.
4. Card witch's hat. Roll a cone of black paper, cut a ring as the brim, tape together. Decorate with stars in silver foil.
5. Ghost mobile. Three to five napkin ghosts hung at different lengths from a stick. It spins in the warm air above a radiator.
6. Cotton bud skeleton. Glue cotton buds as legs, arms and ribs onto black paper. A head made from a white card circle.
7. Orange pumpkin lanterns. Cut a face into the peel of an orange, scoop it out, put a battery tea light inside. Smells lovely too.
8. Finger puppets. A ghost, a witch and a pumpkin in paper, taped into a ring that fits on a finger. Then a show.

7 to 10 years: crafts with a purpose

Older children want a result that does something: scares, glows, gets used. Here they can work more independently.

1. Milk carton lantern. Cut out windows, glue tissue paper on the inside, paint the outside, battery tea light in. Stands up to rain on the front step.
2. Treasure map for a treasure hunt. Dip a sheet of paper in cold coffee, let it dry, carefully singe the edges (adult job), draw the map. Combine with our guide to treasure hunts at parties.
3. Sock spider. Stuff a black sock with cotton wool, tie it off, eight legs made from pipe cleaners pushed through the fabric. Button eyes.
4. Spooky silhouettes. Cut witches, cats and bats from black paper, tape them to the window, light behind. Visible from the street.
5. Carved pumpkin (an adult holds the knife). Your child draws the face, you cut it out, your child scoops out the inside. Roast the seeds with salt in the oven afterwards.
6. Halloween slime. Glue, baking powder, contact lens solution, green or orange colouring. Let them measure and stir themselves, it is chemistry.

How to make sure the craft actually happens

Do	Avoid
Lay everything out before the children arrive	Hunting for the glue with three impatient children
One craft at a time	Three half-finished ones on the table
A time limit before you start, ”until the timer beeps”	Waiting for interest to run out
Hang up the result the same evening	Putting it in a pile
Let it be wonky	Fixing your child's ghost

How we do it with our families

October is craft month for our nannies. It is dark by five, too cold for the playground and too early for dinner, and an hour at the kitchen table with pipe cleaners is the best way to get a three-year-old to stop asking when Mum is coming home. The same nanny every time also means the craft can carry on next Tuesday from where it left off.

Read more: Halloween games for kids · The first time with a babysitter · Prices

Frequently asked questions

Which Halloween crafts suit small children?

Napkin ghosts, handprint spiders and jam jar lanterns, anything that can be done with fingers and without scissors. Children under four want to paint and stick, not cut along a line.

What do you need for Halloween crafts?

Almost nothing beyond what is already at home: toilet rolls, jam jars, black and orange paper, pipe cleaners, glue, marker pens and cotton wool. Buy battery tea lights for the lanterns; real candles and paper are not a good combination.

How do you make an easy Halloween craft in 15 minutes?

The napkin ghost: put a ball of cotton wool in the middle of a white napkin, gather it up and tie a string underneath, draw eyes. Five minutes per ghost, and they can hang in a window the same evening.

Can you do Halloween crafts without them being scary?

Yes. Choose pumpkins with happy faces, smiling ghosts, bats in pink paper. Three-year-olds want an autumn party, not horror, and it works perfectly well to have both in the same home with siblings of different ages.