A very handy pumpkin!

Continuing with our Halloween theme, me and my niece decided to make a pumpkin the other day. She wanted to make it to take home to her mum but didn’t want to use paint or printing techniques. We decided to use hand shapes instead to make a cute, personal pumpkin!

To make your handy pumpkin you will need orange card, green card, scissors, paper, pencil, glue and felt tip pen.

Draw around the child’s hand onto the orange card. We did four hand shapes. You may need more if you have a younger child or want a fuller looking pumpkin! Then draw around the hand onto green card. You need two green hand shapes as these will be the pumpkin leaves. Next cut out all your hand shapes and start arranging them on your paper how you would like them.Once you are happy with how they look, stick them into place with glue. Then draw a face onto the pumpkin.My niece loved making her handy pumpkin and her mum loved receiving it!

Halloween hand-prints!

We love hand-printing in our home and thought we would do some Halloween inspired prints this week. I love how you can turn your hands into pretty much anything with just a bit of paint! We turned to Pinterest for a little inspiration and found some fantastic ideas, including bats, cats and witches to get us started!

I was looking after my nephew and niece for the day too and the two girls were super excited at the prospect of turning their hands into something a little spooky!

To make your spooky hand-prints you will need – paint, paintbrushes, paper and black felt tip pen.

My daughter decided to make a witch hand-print so set to work painting her whole hand green. She then printed down on the paper. She then painted on the hair and a hat. Once the paint was dry she drew on her witches face with black pen!

My nephew and niece wanted to do some Frankenstein prints. They painted the palm of their hands green and their fingers purple (don’t paint the thumbs for this print). My nephew needed some help with this as he is only 22 months!

They then printed onto paper and added some ‘screws’ at the side of Franks neck. Once dry, we added the face! The kids loved their Halloween hand-prints and we cut them out and popped them up around the house!

We hope you have a fantastic Halloween!

Spooky footprint ghosts!

Yesterday, I decided to make some spooky footprint ghosts with my two year old nephew. It is a super simple and cute activity for very little ones!

I love making footprints with the kids as they are so lovely to keep and to look back on as they grow. There are some beautiful poems which you can add to footprint pictures and crafts, especially if you are making them as gifts for family or friends. The poem below is one of my favourites –

Two little feet with ten tiny toes,

Isn’t it strange how quickly time goes?

Footprints so small but this will not last,

I change each day, I grow so fast,

These two little footprints will help you recall,

How little I was when my feet were this small!

Author unknown.

To make your spooky ghost footprints you will need – black card, white paint, paintbrush and felt tip pen.

Begin, by painting your foot in white paint. (My nephew loves this part as he finds it super tickly! Lots of giggles here)!

Next, print the foot down onto black card. Once they are dry, draw on the ghosts eyes and mouth!  A super simple print activity and a nice way for the very little ones to get involved with Halloween! These would also look lovely cut out and placed around the home to decorate!

Happy printing!

Stained glass spooks!

Continuing with our Halloween crafts this afternoon, we decided to make stained glass window decorations. These are one of my favourite crafts to do as they can be adapted for most celebrations and festivals! They need a little preparation time, but I promise they are worth it!

You will need – black card, coloured cellophane and glue.

Start by drawing your chosen image / images onto some black card. My kids chose a cat, bats and a pumpkin. Make sure you draw spaces on the images where you can cut pieces out from (these will be where the cellophane pieces go to give the stained glass effect).

Next, cut out the card images to form templates. ( I find it easier to cut out the templates myself, as they can get quite difficult on the smaller parts). You should have something a little like this once they are cut out.

Next give your children different coloured strips of cellophane. They can then choose which colours to glue onto their template. They may need a little help to make sure they have fully covered the gaps on their template.

Once the spooky decorations are dry, trim down the edges if you need to, so that you have a neater edge. Display them on a window to get the full stained glass effect!

The kids love the whole process of making these and enjoy the effect when they are up on the window. They look absolutely fantastic and always get lots of compliments!

Happy Creating!