Halloween Fun for Kids: Quick Crafts & Games

Do you enjoy crafting with your kids??

My kids love doing almost any art projects or crafts.  They'd do them daily if I had the activities planned.  Most of these activities only took 15-20 minutes.  They were quick, not very messy and tons of fun. 

I've tried harder this month to pull out cute crafts because A. I picked up lots of Halloween crafts on clearance after Halloween last year at Meijer.  They were around $0.75 each instead of the usual $4-5.  B. It's been a fun after school routine for us.  And C it's easier to come up with holiday themed crafts once it gets to this point in the year. 

Our typical routine: The kids have a snack after school, watch a show or two and then they sit at the kitchen island to craft.  For most projects I just explain the process, give them some instructions if needed and let them get busy.  I use this time to catch up on dishes, chat with them about their days and help them if they need it.  Then we move on to homework, play outside and dinner.  I will also prep dinner during craft time if I haven't already done it for the day.

Here are some of the cute projects/Halloween things we've done together this month:

1. Dress in festive clothes!
Target and Meijer are my favorite spots to get Halloween kid clothes.

2. Paint Sun Catchers
These kits came with two sun catchers, paint and a tool to paint with.  Each kid got one kit.  We swapped out the tool for a traditional paint brush.  Let them dry overnight, added string and hung them in the kitchen windows.  Fletcher needed a little help with this one.  These were really hard to photograph, but I promise they're super cute.

3. Color Wooden pictures with Markers
The kit came with three wooden pictures and markers.  We added in our own markers and both kids enjoyed this one.  Teacher Mom TIP: Only give them marker options for the appropriate holiday colors.  Your finished project will turn out so much cuter and festive if you have color guidelines.  I hadn't originally included pink, but Olive insisted her witch picture needed pink :)

Olive picked out the big one and then Fletcher got the little two.   I'll be honest, these turned out MUCH cuter than I was expecting.  I love all the little details.  Both kids put them on display in their rooms.

4. Apple Tree Activity
Fletcher played this game at science class.  He loved it so much that I had to replicate it at home.  All you need is pom poms of various sizes, wide popsicle sticks and one toilet paper roll per kid.  The game is super simple.  Stack 2-4 branches on top of the toilet paper roll and then carefully add pom pom apples on top.  The goal was to try and get 10 pom pom apples to balance on top of the branches.  Fletcher was obsessed with this game and Olive was fine with it.

5. Halloween Houses
Andrea from Momfessionals is one of my favorite moms.  I share her recipes, her mom ideas and her crafts with you regularly.  She's crazy talented and so relatable.  She posted an updated link to her Halloween Houses at the end of this post and my kids have had tons of fun decorating them again this year.  We used markers and stickers.  The sticker option was great for Fletcher who doesn't want to spend tons of time coloring.  Olive colored for a long time and then added flare with stickers.

 6. Halloween Decorations
We added a baby scarecrow to our scarecrow family this year.  The kids also help put out the decorations inside and outside.

I hope these activities seemed doable and fun to try with your own family!  The more you let your kids be creative and craft, the easier it is.  We set clear rules, clear supply options and have a great routine going to make this a fun activity for all of us.  You can do it!! 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!