Halloween crafts don't need to be spooky or complicated. Most of the ideas below use things you already have at home or in the classroom: paper plates, toilet paper rolls, construction paper, glue, and a few printed coloring pages. They're grouped by age and how much mess they make, so you can pick something that fits a rainy afternoon, a class party, or ten minutes before trick-or-treating.
If you'd like a printable to start from, you can make a custom Halloween coloring page in seconds with the AI coloring page generator, or browse our monster coloring pages for friendly, not-scary characters.
Before you start
| Have ready | Why |
|---|---|
| Paper plates, toilet paper rolls, construction paper | The base for most crafts here |
| Glue sticks and white school glue | Glue sticks for little kids, liquid glue for heavier pieces |
| Child-safe scissors | Pre-cut shapes for toddlers |
| Googly eyes, pom-poms, pipe cleaners | Instant faces and legs |
| Crayons, markers, washable paint | Markers are the least messy |
| A plastic tablecloth or newspaper | Saves the table |
Small parts like googly eyes and pom-poms are choking hazards for children under three. Use drawn eyes or stickers for toddlers, and always supervise.
Easiest crafts for toddlers (ages 2–3)
1. Handprint ghosts. Paint your child's hand white (or trace it on white paper), press it onto black paper with the fingers pointing down, and add two dots for eyes. Each finger becomes a wavy ghost tail.
2. Paper plate pumpkin. Let them color or paint a paper plate orange, then glue on a green paper stem. Add a smile with a black marker.
3. Sticker monsters. Draw a big blob shape and let them cover it in dot stickers, then add eyes. There's no wrong way to make a monster.
4. Tissue paper pumpkin. Draw a pumpkin outline, brush it with diluted white glue, and let them press on squares of orange tissue paper.
5. Color-in Halloween cards. Print a simple coloring page, fold it in half, and let them color it as a card for a grandparent.
Simple crafts for preschool and kindergarten (ages 4–6)
6. Toilet paper roll bats. Paint or wrap a roll in black paper, glue on two paper wings, and add eyes. Fold the top of the roll in from both sides to make ears.
7. Paper plate spider. Color a paper plate black, attach eight pipe cleaner legs bent in the middle, and add googly eyes (supervise with small parts).
8. Paper chain countdown. Cut strips of orange, black and purple paper. Each day until Halloween, remove one link.
9. Coffee filter ghosts. Drop a cotton ball in the middle of a coffee filter, gather the filter around it and tie with string. Draw a face with a marker.
10. Monster bookmarks. Fold a paper square into a corner bookmark and add teeth, eyes and horns. Our monster coloring pages are good inspiration for faces.
11. Puffy paint pumpkins. Mix equal parts shaving cream and white glue, add orange paint, and spread it on a pumpkin outline. It dries puffy.
12. Leaf creatures. Collect fall leaves and turn them into owls, bats or monsters with googly eyes and markers.
Crafts for older kids (ages 7–10)
13. Paper bag puppets. Turn a lunch bag into a black cat, a vampire or a friendly witch with paper scraps.
14. Mason jar lanterns. Wrap a clean jar with strips of white masking tape like a mummy, add eyes, and put a battery tea light inside. Avoid real candles.
15. 3D paper pumpkins. Cut eight strips of orange paper, stack them, fasten both ends with a brad, and fan them out into a round pumpkin.
16. Origami bats. Fold a square of black paper into a simple bat shape; many easy step-by-step diagrams exist.
17. Halloween mandalas. Draw a circle and fill it with repeating bats, moons and pumpkins in rings. Or start from our mandala coloring pages and color them in Halloween colors.
18. Spooky silhouettes. Paint a sunset gradient in orange and purple, then glue black paper cutouts of a house, trees and bats along the bottom.
19. Yarn-wrapped mummies. Cut a gingerbread-person shape from cardboard and wrap it in white yarn, leaving gaps for googly eyes.
20. Design your own monster. Fold a paper in three. One child draws the head, folds it over, the next draws the body, and the third draws the legs. Unfold for a surprise monster.
Classroom and party crafts (whole group)
21. Decorate-a-pumpkin station. Instead of carving, set out markers, stickers and paper shapes. It's quicker and safer for young kids.
22. Group ghost garland. Each child decorates one paper ghost; string them all together for the classroom door.
23. Coloring page placemats. Print coloring pages, let each child color one, and laminate or cover them with clear tape to use at the party.
24. Candy bag decorating. Give each child a paper bag to decorate for trick-or-treating.
25. Name ghosts. Write each child's name in bubble letters on a ghost shape and let them color it. You can make one quickly with the name coloring page generator.
Tips for less mess
- Use markers and crayons instead of paint for the youngest kids.
- Pre-cut shapes so little ones only glue and decorate.
- Put glue in a small cup with a cotton swab instead of handing over the bottle.
- Keep wet wipes nearby and a box for "drying" crafts.
- Choose friendly characters (smiling pumpkins, cute bats) for younger children who are easily frightened.
Keep it going after Halloween
Fall doesn't end on October 31. Leaf creatures, paper pumpkins and paper chains work just as well for Thanksgiving with a change of colors. For more screen-free ideas, our guide to the benefits of coloring explains why simple activities like these help with focus and fine motor skills.
