31 Days Series: Day 22

 Hand & Footprint Ghosts

This is fun to do each year so the kids can see how much bigger their "ghosts" are from the last Halloween.  You can even use these ghosts to decorate the front of handmade party invites!  This is a craft that even the littlest member of the family can join in on.

Supplies:

-white paint

-black construction paper

-scissors

-black paint or black permanent marker

-glue stick

Directions:

1. Paint your child's hand or foot with white paint.

2.  Have them place their painted hand or food onto the black construction paper.

3.  Let the paint dry.

4.  Add eyes and maybe a mouth with your black paint or marker.

5.  Cut the "ghost" out and hang it up for a cute Halloween decoration.

I gave my girls the supplies and let them have at it :)

After doing this with my kids, I saw an idea on Pinterest to do this with each child's hand or foot print on a black painted canvas as a Halloween keepsake.  I just had to do it.  Here's how it turned out...

I also used this idea from Pinterest to paint my canvas:

Put push pins into the back of the canvas so it will be off the counter enough to paint sides and not get paint on the counter.

31 Days Series: Day 21

 Pretzel Skeletons

Let the kids make an edible craft today. The supplies needed are used in several of the snacks so hopefully you will have them all already in your pantry.

Supplies:

-peanut butter/almond butter

-rectangular crackers (we used graham crackers)

-pretzel twists, sticks, rings

-chocolate chips (we used regular and mini)

Directions:

1.  Spread the peanut butter on one of the rectangular crackers.

2.  Using your pretzels, make a skeleton shape on top of the peanut butter.

(You will need to break some of the pretzels into smaller pieces.)

3.  Decorate faces with chocolate chips or other small edible items. 

Adapted from: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/appetizers-snacks/mr-bones/

31 Days Series: Day 20

 Spooky Brownies

Take a regular treat and turn it into something to share for Halloween.

Supplies:

-brownie mix (and the ingredients the box calls for)

-Halloween shaped cookie cutters-from one to as many as you want

*I got a container of 18 Halloween cookie cutters at Wal-Mart for $8.97

-powdered sugar

-small candies or tube of icing

Directions:

1.  Bake the brownies as directed on box.

2.  Let cool.

3. Use cookie cutters to cut brownies into Halloween shapes.

*I did have some trouble getting my cut brownies out of the pan, so make sure you spray your pan with cooking spray and use a butter knife to help pry the brownies out in one piece.

4.  Add eyes, etc and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

We used a cauldron, tombstone, cat, spider and bat cookie cutters.  You can use mini M&M's for the eyes.  I had tube of orange icing so I used that.
**I have definitely gotten my money out of the cookie cutter set because I use them to make my daughter's sandwiches into Halloween shapes for her school lunch. She loves it and can't wait to see what shape she gets in her lunch box that day!

31 Days Series: Day 19

 Paper Plate Ghost

This is a great craft to do at a party.  If your kids are older, they can do everything for themselves.  If you have younger ones, you can pre-cut the face, streamers and arms and they can glue them on. 

Supplies:
-white paper plates (2 per ghost)
-white streamers
-black construction paper
-white construction paper
-ribbon, string or yarn
-hole punch
-scissors
-glue

Directions:
1.  Cut 8 pieces of streamer and 2 arms (from white construction paper).
2.  Glue streamers and arms to the backside of one plate.
3.  Glue the other paper plate to the backside of the first one (covers up with mess).
3.  Cut out two eyes and a mouth from the black construction paper. Glue them on the to make a face.  **If you want to make a two sided ghost, give the other plate face too.

this is my four year olds ghost :)

Idea from: http://cleanandscentsible.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-party-ideas.html

31 Days Series: Day 18

 Halloween Indoor Smores

This is a fun and easy snack that you won't have to build a camp fire for. 

Supplies:

-graham crackers

-Nutella (or similar chocolate/hazelnut spread)

-marshmallow fluff

-Halloween sprinkles

Directions:

1.  Break graham cracker into squares.

2.  Spread Nutella on one cracker square and fluff on another cracker square.

3.  Put the squares together.

4.  Optional step: Put cracker "sandwich" in microwave for 8-10 seconds.

5.  Dip the sides of the cracker into sprinkles.  You can use orange and black or any Halloween themed sprinkles. (We used black & yellow bugs)

Idea from:  http://www.bhg.com/halloween/recipes/halloween-treats-kids-can-make/#page=17

Thursday's tip of the day...

Are you like me and try to have things to take into restaurants to keep the kids entertained? I try to  stuff things into the diaper bag but it usually gets pushed down to the bottom and forgotten about. Or I'll tell the girls to grab something when they are getting out of the car and they end up arguing over what to take or they can't find that one thing they want, etc.  Well, I have a solution!  We were at the beach a couple of weeks ago and my girls got some coloring and activity books from my mom.  We were getting ready to go out to eat and the girls, of course, wanted to take their books and crayons.  My mom (being the awesome mom she is) grabbed the plastic bag her sheets, she just bought, came in and put all the girls coloring things in there.  It worked perfectly! So perfectly that after I bought some sheets recently and gave that plastic bag to the girls so they would each have one.  Now they both have a bag to stick coloring books, activity books, reading books, little car games, crayons, etc in and the best part is that its clear so they can easily see what they have and things no longer get lost at the bottom of their little brother's diaper bag! What do you take on outings to entertain your little ones???

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31 Days Series: Day 17

 Spider Puppets

When I was at the dollar store shopping for most of my supplies, I saw a pair of black work gloves.  I figured there was a craft there somewhere, so I bought them and this is what we came up with.  All of the supplies for this can be bought at Dollar Tree.

Supplies:

-black gloves (one for each spider)

- black pom poms (two for each spider)

-wiggle eyes (two for each spider)

-white glue or fabric glue

Directions:

1.  Put the glove on so its easier to see where the eyes should be placed.

2.  Glue two pom poms down right behind your knuckles (touching each other). We decided the best place was right behind your index and middle fingers. Let glue dry.

3. Take glove off and glue two wiggle eyes onto the two pom poms. Let glue dry.

My girls wanted to add some color to their spiders so we used yellow and orange pom poms for the eyes.