Make quick work of decorating your home for Halloween this year — enlist the help of your littlest preschool-aged crafters to make this charming pumpkin-turned-bat craft project. A plain, foam pumpkin can easily be transformed into a silly bat, with just a few simple supplies.
preschoolers will go batty for this craft!
Supplies needed to make one pumpkin-bat:
- 1 (4-inch) foam pumpkin
- Small bottle of washable, black acrylic paint
- 1 pair googly eyes
- Black 8-1/2-by-11-inch piece of glitter vinyl, or stiffened glitter felt
- 3 wooden craft sticks
- Black marabou feather trim
- Elmer’s® Early Learners™ Glue Pen
- Scissors
- Foam paint brush
- Wide masking tape
- Newspaper or drop cloth
Instructions:
Paint the pumpkin
First, be sure to protect your work surface with taped-down newspaper or drop cloths. Using a wide foam brush, carefully apply black paint all over the surface of the pumpkin. For younger crafters, it’s a good idea to secure the pumpkin to the work space during the painting process. To do this, roll a piece of wide masking tape, sticky side out, and apply it in the center of the work area on top of the newspaper or drop cloth. Stick the pumpkin to the tape, bottoms-up, and have your crafter paint the bottom first. Wait for the bottom to dry and then flip it over to paint the top. This process makes the pumpkin more manageable for little hands. Allow the pumpkin to dry completely.
Create the wings and ears
Trace a matching pair of wings — mirror images of each other — onto the back side of the glitter vinyl, measuring approximately 6 inches long by 2 inches high. Carefully cut out the wings. Repeat this process to create a matching pair of triangular shaped ears, measuring approximately 2 inches tall.
Attach wooden craft sticks to the back of each wing using the smaller, pointy end of the Elmer’s® Early Learners™ Glue Pen — leaving a 2-inch end of the stick exposed. Cut the third craft stick in half, and repeat the process for the ears, leaving about an inch of the stick exposed. While the glue is drying, an adult should use a sharp end of scissors and create pilot holes, matching the width of the craft sticks, for placement of the wings and ears. The wings should be placed on each side of the pumpkin, approximately 2 inches from the top. The ears should be placed on either side of the stem.
Assemble the bat
Once the glue has completely dried, insert the sticks into the holes. If the sticks don’t have a tight fit, you may cover the ends of the sticks with glue prior to inserting them.
Attach the hair and eyes
Using the wide end of the Elmer’s® Early Learners™ Glue Pen, attach the eyes to the front of the pumpkin. Then glue a 3-inch piece of the marabou trim to the top of the stem of the pumpkin. Allow the glue to dry completely.
More Halloween crafting fun
Simple Halloween spider craft
Cereal box monsters
Fall craft: Coffee filter fall leaf garland
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