Halloween Craft Ideas For Teachers

Author's Note: The following piece was originally published you-know-where without any images because the platform wasn't set up for them at the time. Looking through the articles I salvaged just now I realized the timing was good to re-publish this one right now. Perhaps an update with pictures will appear in the future...

Originally published September 2009

Halloween Craft Ideas for Teachers

Crafting at Halloween can be a fun time for teachers who are particularly creative, but for those who don't see themselves in quite that light coming up with crafty ideas in the classroom can sometimes present a ghoulish challenge, particularly with little hands. Whether it is crafts for decorating the classroom, or projects for students to do, Halloween crafts need not be daunting.

Everything from templates to coloring sheets can be found online with a quick Google search of Halloween printables. Crafting with young children need not be complicated to be engaging. All you need is a simple project that can be completed in ten to twenty minutes in between your academic lessons.

When creating Halloween crafts with kindergarteners, you will want to keep things simple without too many steps. Keeping things simple also means you will have an easy time of cleanup as well. You may want to reserve activities that require the use of paint for days when you have extra time for setup and cleanup.

One fun and easy classroom craft for little hands requires only a pumpkin coloring sheet, squares of orange craft tissue and glue. Cut the tissue into 2 inch squares and have the students wad the individual sheets into balls and glue them onto the pumpkin. Alternatively, black tissue or even yarn can be used to create facial features and other details before adding the crumpled orange tissue. This tactile craft is great for improving hand-eye coordination.

Another quick and simple craft for small hands is to have students color their pumpkins with orange markers and then put green glitter around the edges. Minimize the mess by drawing a line of glue around the edge of the pumpkins and giving students small amounts of glitter to sprinkle over it. Older kids can cut their pumpkins out and paste them onto black construction paper with glue sticks. Alternatively students can make collage pumpkins by tearing or cutting colored tissue or other paper and gluing it onto a pumpkin printout.

First graders can make cute Halloween crafts by pressing their thumbprints on paper and then using a pencil to create legs or wings for spiders or bats. The pencil lines can then be traced over with fine tipped black markers. Older students with more drawing ability can turn their thumbprints into black cats. The students' thumbprint creatures can adorn greeting cards or be placed in a mat for framing. To add a language arts component to your Halloween crafting have students create their own comic strips by placing words above their thumbprint critters.

For second and third grade students who are able to skillfully cut out shapes with scissors try making paper doll style chains of Halloween themed figures. Make a sample first by accordion folding white paper wide enough to accommodate the chosen figure and then trace the desired shape on top so that the side edges of the figure are up against the folds of the paper. Carefully cut out the shapes leaving a bit of the sides intact against the paper folds so that when you open up the paper the figures will be linked together as if holding hands.

Printable coloring sheets can also be used to create puppets, garland, mobiles or even custom Halloween trick or treat bags. Simply print out the coloring sheet or other printable and enlarge or reduce the designs on a copy machine as needed to create your desired project. Crafts from paper supplies are not only inexpensive, they are easy to organize and execute.

For older children, Halloween crafting doesn't have to mean ghosts and goblins. Friendship bracelets in orange and black or beading projects made with those colors is more than sufficient. Kids love wearable art projects and they provide the added benefit of helping to develop self esteem. To allow for more individuality, provide students with additional white or gold beads and floss for more color variety.

In keeping with the idea of non-traditional Halloween crafts, students can create their own one-of-a-kind pair of socks using tie dye techniques and seasonal colors. For an even quicker simple, wearable craft, give students orange and black sharpies and let them create their own shoe laces. Be sure to protect desks or work surfaces before beginning to protect them from becoming stained by the sharpies.

Halloween crafting in the classroom can be smooth and easy with a little planning. Always create a sample project ahead of time to be sure of the difficulty level and the amount of time it will take to complete. Plan on it taking almost twice as much time for some students and less for others. Have a supply of coloring sheets, puzzles or other printables on hand for early finishers.

Gifts and Giving: Getting Creative with Gift Wrapping

I love gift wrapping. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the excitement of the anticipation of what's to come, or maybe it's just another thing that allows me to be creative and have fun. Sometimes the gift wrap is left plain and sometimes I embellish with ribbons, bows, homemade tags, or whatever interesting tickles my fancy.

Last year at Christmas, I added a variety of scrapbooking embellishments to my gifts from lettering to snowflakes. It's fun, and it's a good way to use up extras and leftovers from your crafting supplies or reusuables that become craft supplies.

A friend of mine is also very creative and whenever I receive a gift from her it's usually in a recycled container or wrapping, and there is always something extra attached to the package. The extra may be a dried flower, or a little jingle bell - simple little touches that make the parcel all that more special to receive.

Certain items have always presented a challenge to wrap and have required some ingenuity on the gift giver. Lately, the trend to reuse and recycle seems to have more and more people thinking about ways to cut back on paper waste.

Below is an article originally published on Helium in November 2009 to address alternative ideas for presenting holiday and other gifts.

Creative Gift Wrapping Ideas

Wrapping gifts is, for many people, a labor of love. Finding the right paper, trims and tags, and gussying up your carefully selected presents can be just as exciting as watching your friends and loved ones opening them. Keeping a ready supply of gift wrap on hand can get expensive, but there are number of creative ways to wrap gifts with materials you already have at home.

Reusable tins and canisters are great for holding a lot more than just holiday cookies and candy. Clean them carefully, dry thoroughly and then paint them with spray enamel to use in place of paper-based gift boxes. You can further decorate them by using stencils to create a design on the surface. Another way to decorate them for holding gifts is to use decoupage.

Small items such as earrings can be placed inside little origami boxes made from recycled paper. There are a variety of styles of origami boxes in different shapes from the basic square to triangles, hearts and stars. Choose one that is best suited for your gift. Large grocery bags and heavy weight magazine pages such as the ones used for perfume samples and old greeting cards are well suited for origami boxes.

Paper grocery bags can also be opened and used for wrapping gifts. Use rubber stamps, stencils or stickers to create decorative patterns suitable to the occasion to create unique wrapping paper. Turn leftover lunch sacks turned into gift bags by adding handles from ribbon or pipe cleaners and decorative trim. Alternatively, in place of handles, fold the top of the lunch sack down two to three inches against one side of the bag. Use a single-hole punch to place to holes through all layers of the paper flap one inch from the top edges and thread ribbon or yarn through the holes and tie to make a closure.

Old clothing can easily be recycled into reusable gift bags and pouches. Unused, headscarves, handkerchiefs, tea towels and table linens are also suitable for wrapping gifts. Use an envelope or simple clutch purse pattern as a guide for your fabric pouch. You can also use a paper lunch sack as a template to create a pattern for a reusable gift sack. Longer pieces of recycled fabric can be used to create unique ribbons and flowers for embellishing wrapped gifts. Create ribbon by folding a long cloth strip around fusible web and ironing.

Newspaper makes great gift wrap. It's practical and eco-friendly and, since most people have a ready supply on hand, it's convenient and cheap. For a personal touch, use the Sunday comics when wrapping gifts for kids, the fashion section for teens and the sports pages for budding athletes. Use ribbons, lace, buttons, costume jewelry or strips of paper to embellish the news wrapped gifts. Patterned stationery is another great stand in for store bought wrapping paper and is ideal for wrapping small boxes.

With a little thought and rummaging around you can find all sorts of materials around the house that are suitable for wrapping gifts. Your packages will have their own unique style and friends and family members will praise your creative ingenuity.