Halloween is around the corner so how do you get into the spirit with the kids? Crafting is a great idea to explore creativity and to have fun before going out trick or treating. Read on for some ideas and a list of items to buy.
For most of the crafts you will need simple household items such as toilet paper rolls, q tips, construction paper, popsicle sticks, paper plates, and glue. Decide on creepy, scary, funny or ghoulie creatures for an activity to occupy everyone for hours. Play guessing games, set up competitions for scariest or funniest creatures or just decorate the indoors or outdoors.
For a craft super easy to make we present:
Pine Cone Bats
To make: Start by cutting bat wings and feet from pieces of cardboard. Glue wings to the back of a pine cone and feet to the bottom. Cut a nose and ears from cardboard or brown paper. Use a brown paint pen to draw nostrils on the nose. Attach fangs made from shortened toothpicks or cut from white felt to the back of the nose, if desired; attach to the center of each pine cone with hot-glue. Attach ears to the top of each pine cone with hot-glue. Glue googly eyes just above the nose.
Now let’s not forget Halloween edible crafts aka baked goods like spider cookies (constructed with Oreos, pretzel sticks, candy corn, marshmallows, and frosting) or monster lollipops.
Recipe for these yummy spider cookies:
1 cup of peanut butter, a cup of sugar, 1 large egg, Reese’s mini peanut butter cups, milk chocolate chips to create the spider’s legs and attach the eyes to the body of the cookie, a teaspoon of shortening (for piping with chocolate chips) and candy eyes to bring these spider cookies to life, giving them a creepy look.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, cream the peanut butter and sugar until light and fluffy, five to seven minutes. Beat in the egg until well combined.
Step 2: Roll the dough into 1-inch balls, then place them 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Gently flatten each ball slightly with the bottom of a glass.
Step 3: Bake the cookies until the tops are slightly cracked, 15 to 17 minutes. Let the cookies cool for three minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.
Step 4: As the cookies are cooling on the wire rack, press a mini peanut butter cup into the center of each cookie. Let the cookies stand until the peanut butter cup spider “bodies” are set.
Step 5: In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the milk chocolate chips and shortening together, stirring until smooth. Transfer the melted chocolate mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip.
Step 6: Use a drop of melted chocolate to adhere the candy eyes to the base of the peanut butter cups. Then, pipe eight lines alongside each cup to resemble spider legs. Allow the chocolate to set completely before serving or storing.
