Deck the Howls: 6 Easy Halloween Crafts

1. Seeing Things

Our monstrous wreath will keep an eye (or ten) on your kids. Cut the flat center from a plain white paper plate. Cut teeth from the center. Paint the outer piece of the plate and let it dry. Glue the teeth to the inside of the ring. Glue on white pom-poms, then glue black paper circles for pupils on the pom-poms. Cut out and glue on two yellow paper horns.

• Monster Mash Crafts and Treats

2. Bitty Bats

Our easy-to-make bats are defrightful! Paint a wooden clothespin black using acrylic paint. While it's drying, go to familyfunmag. com/printables, download our wing template, and cut it out. Use a pencil to trace two wings onto black card stock. Cut them out. Fold over a tab on the base of each wing where shown and glue them to the sides of the clothespin.

3. Wonder Webs

Oh, what a web we weave when making these for Halloween! Paint three craft sticks silver and let them dry. Glue them together at the center, forming an asterisk shape. Tie one end of a length of yarn (we used about 2 yards for one web) to the center of the sticks. Wrap it around the other spokes, then move outward, wrapping the sticks as shown. Tie off the yarn and add a plastic spider.

4. Feline Frights

Black paper transforms a string of lights into a sinister group of cats. Download our template from familyfunmag. com/printables. Trace the shape onto black card stock, marking the placement of the eyes. Cut out several heads and use a hole punch to make eyes. Insert bulbs from a string of electric lights into the holes.

5. Pretty Pumpkins

Plastic bottles give these everlasting squash their shape. Cut the bottom 2 or 3 inches from 2 plastic bottles, with one bottom about a half inch taller than the other. Discard the tops. Cut 4 one-inch slits into the taller section. Crumple orange tissue paper and place it inside both sections. Slide the shorter section over the taller. Cut a triangle from a brown paper bag and twist it into a gnarled stem. Glue it to the top.

6. Plates of the Dead

Celebrate the Day of the Dead (November 1 to November 2) with masks inspired by the colors and traditional artwork of the holiday. On a paper plate, draw a simple skull shape by following the plate's inner circle and adding cheek bones and an upper jaw. Cut out the shape. With a black marker, draw lines between a few of the plate's ridges and add eyes and a heart-shaped nose. Use colorful markers to draw patterns and decorative shapes. Add some adhesive gems, if you'd like. Tape a straw or dowel to the back for a handle.