Without Halloween decorations the spooky holiday just doesn’t feel right, and the best DIY Halloween decorations are those made by your kids. But it’s not just because you get that warm and fuzzy feeling of pride after seeing their masterpieces. Let’s go through four of the ways kids benefit from arts and crafts, see some of the best outdoor Halloween decorations, and then take a look at some decorations you and your kids can make together to get into the Halloween spirit.
4 Ways Kids Benefit from Crafts for Kids
Coordination and fine motor skills Crafts designed for younger children help them develop coordination and fine motor skills. Grabbing pencils, gluing bits of paper, and holding a paintbrush work those little muscles and build coordination in kids’ fingers that are needed to button up jackets and tie shoelaces.
Creative and cognitive expression Doing one craft can spark all kinds of ideas. It leads to experimentation and discovering that mixing red and blue together makes purple. It also helps children learn patience because they have to wait for glue or paint to dry before they can move on to the next step. Steps, in turn, encourage planning and thinking out what is needed to get to the end goal.
Speech, language, and communication As you make the craft, you can use it to teach them new words like colors and shapes. Then you can practice asking and answering questions such as “What color is that?” and “Where will that big square go?” For older children, you can start asking more complex questions like, “Why did you choose that color?”
Quality time and bonding Spending time together is important for you and your child. By doing an activity together, you take the pressure of having to be your child’s entertainer off yourself, get to be creative, and can get to know your child better through conversation.
Amazing Outdoor Halloween Decorating Ideas 2021
If you’re looking for the best outdoor Halloween decorations, you can’t go wrong with something classic and simple. That way, sourcing the materials shouldn’t be too difficult and your kids can help you put them together. Below are a few of our favorites:
Skeleton in a wheelbarrow The skeleton in a wheelbarrow is fun because you can wheel it around wherever you like. But if you don’t already have a wheelbarrow and don’t want to buy one, you and your kids can see what other fun places you can put the skeleton.
Get a skeleton online or from a dollar store, grab some soil, and get out the wheelbarrow. Fill the wheelbarrow with soil and place pieces of the skeleton in fun positions in the soil. Wheel it out front to scare your neighbors.
Monster bushes Want your neighbors to feel like they’re being watched? Stick eyes on trees and bushes! These monster bushes can be as goofy or as scary as you want them to be because you can shape the eyes however you like.
For big round eyes, get plastic plates in black and white. If you want to make them like googly eyes, make sure the white plates are bigger. But you can also cut out a white circle stick it on a black plate and paint an iris and pupil on it. See what other spooky eyes you can make. How about some cat or demon eyes?
Roosting Bats With black paper, some scissors, and some wire, you can have your very own family of bats roosting on your porch. While you make them, you and your family can decide what to name each bat, what their likes and dislikes are, and where they want to go on holiday next.
Spiders in their web Creepy crawly spiders all over your window are a great way to bring the Halloween atmosphere. Grab some cheesecloth and a bunch of black plastic spiders. Attach the spiders to their new home (the cheesecloth) and hang it.
Halloween DIY Activities for the Whole Family
Now, we know that Halloween decorations aren’t just for scaring your neighbors. To enhance your kid’s creativity and develop their fine motor skills, we’ve put together video tutorials of our best 3 DIY Halloween decorations and a deliciously creative themed gift. Make them together as a family and admire each other’s beautiful creations.
Cute Candle Holders Get some jars and paint. We chose orange, white, and black paint, but you can find out what colors your kid wants to use and why. You’ll also need brushes, string, and glue. Holding the jar still and turning it as needed while painting will test those coordination and fine motor skills. Waiting for the paint and glue to dry will teach the kids about patience. Watch the video to see the whole process.
Ghoulish Ghost Garland If you want to teach kids about emotions this Halloween, the ghoulish ghost garland is the way to go. You draw the outlines and faces of each ghost, so they can be happy, silly, scary, confused, amazed… any emotion you like. Talk about the emotions while drawing them to see what your kid already knows. Here’s the tutorial to find out the rest.
Ghastly Ghost If you had an absolute blast with the ghoulish ghost garland and want to continue with the quality bonding experience, here’s another great ghost decoration for you to create. The ghastly ghost has fun paper tassels that each need to be glued into place. Take a look at how it’s done here.
Candy Hands Last but not least, we’re going to show you how to make candy hands – a delicious Halloween treat! Halloween is one of the most creative times of the year, use it as an opportunity to inspire kids to make amazing themed gifts to delight their friends. Here’s the video to find out how.
These are but a few DIY craft ideas that you can use to help develop skills your child will use for a lifetime. We’re sure you can come up with more of your own. Feel free to share your spooky Halloween creations with us. Have a shockingly good Halloween, stay safe, and look forward to more helpful hints from us at Bini Bambini. Happy Halloween!
