They are made with paper and they look like little pumpkins. You can also decorate your room with them. Halloween is a special day for kids because they get dressed up, go out and ask for sweets from neighbors and parents. But you can also make some decorations for the door or window, like pumpkins and ghosts, or you can make scary faces with paper.
Making a printout of a picture and painting it on paper
- Print out an image of your choice on regular printer paper.
- Make sure the image is in black and white, so that you don’t waste your color ink.
- Cut out the image with scissors or an X-acto knife (if you have one). This doesn’t have to be perfect, but try not to cut off too much extra space at the edges of the paper otherwise you won’t be able to see any detail in your picture when it’s framed.
- Fold over the top and bottom edges of your paper so they’re even with each other (or just fold over one side if that looks better).
- Then fold up one side of your picture to make a triangle shape. Stick folded sides together using tape or glue as needed until they are completely flat against each other (you can also use double sided tape).
- Now fold down the other side so that it’s perpendicular with the first side.
Making a paper house
- Get some construction paper and a pair of scissors. Cut out two rectangles the size you want your house to be. You can make it as big or as small as you want.
- Fold one rectangle in half lengthwise, and then fold it into thirds widthwise. On the inside of the folded rectangle, cut out two triangles for windows and one triangle for a door. Cut out any other shapes you want for decorations on this side of your house.
- Now cut out another rectangle from any other color of construction paper that you want the roof to be made from (I used green).
- Fold it in half, lengthwise, and then fold it into thirds widthwise so that both sides are equal in length. Take both pieces of folded construction paper and place them together so that they overlap at top of the folded side (where all three layers meet) by about 1 inch (2.54 cm).
- Secure with tape or glue if necessary so that they stay together when opened up again. Now open up both pieces so that they’re flat again, but don’t let them unfold completely yet.
Gluing paper to make a skeleton
Start by cutting a newspaper into strips. The width of the strips will depend on how detailed you want to get with your skeleton. I cut mine about an inch wide, which made it easy to glue several together to make longer bones. If you want to make smaller bones, cut yours thinner.
After you have cut them, paint them with white glue (or Mod Podge). You can also color them with markers before gluing if you want more color. Let dry for at least an hour before handling them again (or until the glue has dried completely).
Cutting out paper to make a spider web
Cutting out paper to make a spider web. The first step is to cut out the basic shape of your web. I’ll be using a circle and some triangles, but you can use whatever shape you want. Trim the edges of your paper so that they’re nice and straight. You don’t need to be too precise here, since we’ll be covering them up with glue in just a minute or two.
Apply glue on one piece at a time and stick them down firmly with your fingers or a paintbrush (or any other blunt object that won’t leave marks if it touches the paper). Make sure everything is lined up properly before moving on to the next piece.
Folding construction paper to make ghosts
- Fold the sheet of construction paper over lengthwise and then fold it in half width-wise so that you have a square shape.
- Fold the square in half again, this time making sure that you turn the paper so that it is aligned with the other side of the square.
- Fold each corner of the square up to meet in the middle, creating a triangle shape.
- Fold each corner back down into place and tuck it underneath itself so that you have a diamond-shaped ghosts.
Make a paper pumpkin
You can use orange construction paper or any other color you want.
- Cut out a circle shape and fold it in half.
- Cut two triangle shapes out of each side, making sure the tips meet at the center point.
- Now glue or tape them onto the sides of your pumpkin, making sure that both tips come together at the top of your pumpkin. You can also cut out leaf shapes and tape them onto your pumpkin for extra decoration.
Make paper bats
You can make these with just about any kind of paper, including newspaper and magazine pages. Simply cut out a bat shape, then cut slits into it so that it looks like wings. Hang them from the ceiling or from branches in your yard. Make ghosts out of toothpicks and tissue paper.
This project works best if you have kids helping out, but even if they’re not interested in making ghosts themselves, they’ll still enjoy hanging them around the house, To make a ghost, take a piece of white tissue paper and fold it into an origami star shape. Then tape two toothpicks onto each side of it so that they stick out like arms and legs. Hang up your ghost with string or thread.
Conclusion
Paper is cheap, easy to find, and can be crafted into a variety of designs. What you choose to decorate with paper will ultimately depend on the time and energy you want to put forth into creating your masterpiece. Some of these ideas are more elaborate than others, but they all offer great ways to add some spookiness to your home for Halloween. Plus, any decorations you make yourself are sure to bring some extra spirit into your home.
