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Halloween Crafts

Fun and spooky crafts for kids and adults—free downloads, too!

Halloween Crafts

Fun and spooky crafts for kids and adults—free downloads, too!
 
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Halloween Crafts Friday Fun

Halloween Mobile

Spooky fun for all ages!
Mobile with two black cats and two pumpkins suspended
What you will make:

Mobiles of ghosts, jack-o'-lanterns, witches, bats and black cats make great decorations for Halloween. Follow the instructions in this project to make a quick and easy mobile using simple materials. After completing this project, you will be able to make mobiles for any holiday or theme.

This is a fun Halloween project that also teaches kids about balance and attention to detail. With a little help from adults or teenage leaders, children will see how to balance the objects and levels of a mobile by moving the supporting threads on the mobile rods (pipe cleaners). Use this craft project to reinforce a lesson plan on balancing points and counterweights.

Here's what you need:
  • Black and orange construction paper
  • Black thread and needle
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • Pencil

» » Basic Craft Box plus black thread, needle, and Halloween cookie cutters or shapes. « «

This project is rated EASY to do.

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Before you start
  • Make a place to work.
  • Read all of the directions.
  • Gather everything you need to do the project.
  • Think about the project. Imagine how it will look and what you will do with it.
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How to Make a Halloween Mobile

Read all of the steps before starting.
Step 1: Make Halloween Ornaments

Fold the construction paper in half and glue the two layers together. Be sure to cover the back of one layer completely with glue. Trace around a Halloween cookie cutter with a pencil on either black or orange construction paper, and cut out the shape. Make three or four ornaments to hang on your mobile. If you don't have a cookie cutter, trace or draw a Halloween shape that is about 3" to 5" in size. The patterns from Aunt Annie's Cutouts for Halloween and Halloween Suncatchers can be used.

For a more durable ornament, make paper mache shapes using the cookie cutters and Aunt Annie's Quick Paper Mache Pulp Recipe. You can also use Aunt Annie's Halloween Suncatchers as objects to hang on your mobile, or any lightweight object easily put into motion with the movement of air.

Step 2: Add Hangers

Using a needle and thread, add a loop of doubled thread to the top of each ornament as a hanger. To do this, cut an 18" to 24" length of black thread, double it and thread it through the eye of the needle. Poke the needle through the top of the ornament, then pull one end of the thread completely through to the other side. Tie both ends together in a knot to form a loop. To hang properly, some shapes will need to hung by two holes. For example, a bat with wings raised should have a hanger go through a hole on each wing.

Tip: For paper mache ornaments, carefully poke a hole in the top of the ornament while the paper mache is still wet.

Step 3: Mobile Rods

Bend each end of a pipe cleaner over a pencil to form a loop. Leave a small gap in the loop. Repeat for each pipe cleaner.

Step 4: Attach Ornaments

Hang one ornament from each end of a pipe cleaner by slipping the thread hanger through the gap in the loop. Add a support hanger to the pipe cleaner with a loop of doubled thread. Place this hanger in the middle of the pipe cleaner and suspend the pipe cleaner and ornaments from the loop. If the pipe cleaner isn't balanced, move the hanger toward the end that dips down until you find the balancing point.

Step 5: Build Mobile

Attach another ornament to the end of a second pipe cleaner and hang the first pipe cleaner with ornaments on the other end. Add a hanger to the second pipe cleaner, adjusting its position toward the heavier side to find the balancing point. There you have it: a 2-level mobile. Hang it from the ceiling or a light fixture. The mobile will move gracefully in any air currents.

Make Bigger Mobiles: You can make bigger and more complex mobiles using the same process. For example, in Step 5, instead of hanging a single ornament from one end of the second pipe cleaner, hang another pipe cleaner with two ornaments. Or build two 2-level mobiles and hang them from another pipe cleaner. As your mobiles get larger you will need to vary the lengths of the mobile rods (pipe cleaners) so that the moving ornaments don't hit each other.

Where will you hang the mobile?
Halloween mobile

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