Every year the explosion of pumpkin orange, witches’ hats and ghostly decor seems to grow – and there’s a good reason why: kids love Halloween! Whether your little ones are all about the tricks or the treats, they’ll have a blast tackling these imaginative Halloween craft projects. There are ideas to help the kids transform the house into an eerie, weird and mysterious place; creepy-cool gift ideas for friends; and even a special bewitched item to wear on October 31. And, as a bonus, you don’t have to worry about any sugar crashes.

Paper Pumpkin Lantern

A series of images showing how to make a paper pumpkin lantern for a Halloween craft project for kids.

Forget carving a lantern, make a fun paper version instead. This fantastic beginner’s Halloween craft project is excellent for kids’ scissor skills and, thanks to its simple folds, even little ones can give it a go.

What You'll Need

An overhead view of products that can be used to make a paper pumpkin lantern, including coloured paper, scissors and glue.

Pop-Up Magic Cauldron

A series of images showing how to make a pop-up magic cauldron for a Halloween craft project for kids.

What may seem at first like an ordinary black cauldron magically reveals bubbling, colourful potions. A feat of engineering, this pop-up project is a fantastic way to stretch kids’ design skills. Cutting out the bubbles from different coloured paper the arranging and sticking them onto the base in a pleasing way requires effort, but once they have their pop-up mechanism working, they will be so satisfied with the finished product.

What You'll Need

An overhead view of products that can be used to make a pop-up magic cauldron, including a stack of coloured paper, scissors, a glue stick and a graphite pencil.

Boo! Bandage Card

A series of images showing how to make a bandage card for a Halloween craft project for kids.

Making a card for a friend is a fun way to celebrate the spookiest time of the year. In this Halloween craft project, the ‘bandages’ are made from ripped paper and the tearing action is a fantastic way for kids to practise dexterity and hand-eye coordination. Add some googly eyes to finish.

What You'll Need

An overhead view of products that can be used to make a bandage card, including black and white paper, a glue stick, a white marker and googly eyes.

Paper Fan Black Cat

A series of images showing how to make a paper fan black cat for a Halloween craft project for kids.

Black cats have long been a symbol of Halloween. Kids can make their own version by folding black paper, accordion style, then pinching it at both ends and gluing it together. After that, it’s time to cut coloured paper to make big yellow eyes, whiskers and a cute pink nose.

What You'll Need

An overhead view of products that can be used to make a paper fan black cat, including black, yellow, white and pink coloured paper, scissors and glue.

Spooky Spider

A series of images showing how to make a spooky spider for a Halloween craft project for kids.

While this Incy Wincy Spider isn’t very terrifying, it is a whole lot of fun to make. Painting popsicle sticks is a brilliant exercise in tactile play and patience, as are gluing fuzzy pom poms and googly eyes. This Halloween craft project has some drying time, too, which gives kids a chance to plan all the fun places they will hide their spider when it’s finished.

What You'll Need

An overhead view of products that can be used to make a spooky spider, including PVA glue, a paint sponge, craft sticks, black paint, black pom-poms, string and googly eyes.

Cardboard Roll Halloween Characters

A series of images showing how to make cardboard-roll characters for a Halloween craft project for kids.

Whether it’s a classic jack-o’-lantern, Frankenstein’s monster or Count Dracula, making Halloween favourites from simple cardboard rolls gives kids the opportunity to unleash their creativity. All they need to add to their rolls is paper, scissors and glue, and, before you can say “Boo!”, they will have their own family of spooky characters. Bonus activity: they can use their creations to put on a Halloween show.

What You'll Need

An overhead view of products that can be used to make halloween characters, including a stack of coloured paper, cardboard rolls, scissors and glue.

SEE ALSO: 5 Fun DIY Crafts With Cardboard Rolls

Ghostly Paperweight Rock

A series of images showing how to make ghostly paperweight rocks for a Halloween craft project for kids.

Super simple and loads of fun, a humble rock is transformed into a scary little ghost with just paint and a paint marker. Challenge kids to find their rock – one with a smooth surface on one side works best – and set them to work painting and creating its features. We bet they’ll end up wanting to create an entire ghost family.

What You'll Need

An overhead view of products that can be used to make a ghostly paperweight rock, including a stack of coloured paper, cardboard rolls, scissors and glue.

Flying Witch Plate

A series of images showing how to make a flying witch plate for a Halloween craft project for kids.

The sky's the limit when it comes to this Halloween craft project. Kids can transform some coloured paper, popsicle sticks, matchsticks and a googly eye into a friendly witch on a broomstick. Then simply make a cut along the middle of a decorated paper plate (some adult supervision or help may be required) and slide your hand-made witch glued to a popsicle stick through the slot. Now, help her fly back and forth across a painted night sky. 

What You'll Need

An overhead view of products that can be used to make a flying witch plate, including a stack of coloured paper, scissors, glue, matchsticks, a disposable plate, paint and a paint sponge.

Halloween Paper Garlands

A series of images showing how to make paper garlands in the shape of a pumpkin, a bat and a ghost for a Halloween craft project for kids.

Just like retro paper dolls, only way spookier. This fun beginners’ project will flex fine motor skills and concentration, and even help build palm muscle as they manoeuvre folded paper to cut their Halloween-themed shapes. 

What You'll Need

An overhead view of products that can be used to make Halloween paper garlands, including coloured paper, scissors and sticky tape.

Eyeball Wreath

A series of images showing how to make an eyeball wreath for a Halloween craft project for kids.

Give your home or bedroom a cool, creepy vibe with a paper plate wreath adorned with eyeballs. Shredding paper with scissors will give little hands a workout, while the painting of beads and gluing on googly eyes is an absorbing, afternoon-long project that kids can work away at in the lead-up to Halloween.

What You'll Need

An overhead view of products that can be used to make an eyeball wreath, including a black paper, scissors, glue, googly eyes, beads, a disposable plate, paint and paint brushes.

Starry Witch’s Hat

A series of images showing how to make a starry witches hat for a Halloween craft project for kids.

It’s not Halloween without some sort of costume, but instead of buying a witch’s hat, why not get the kids to make one? A paper plate with a few licks of black paint makes a nice sturdy base. Then cut a hole and add a cone of paper to become the pointy top. All that’s left is to decorate it to be perfectly on theme. 

What You'll Need

An overhead view of products that can be used to make a starry witches hat, including coloured paper, scissors, glue, string, a disposable plate, paint and paint brushes.

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This article was originally published in October 2022 and has been updated.