Halloween is the perfect time to craft with your children. This is partly because it’s the time of year when their imaginations run wildest, but it's also because messy accidents aren’t just forgivable, they’re required.
Playing with a bunch of gooey, slimy, gross stuff over Halloween isn’t just fun, but it’s also educational and cognitively stimulating. Studies have shown that sensory play is incredibly important for child development. Regularly touching slime, foam, 3D paint, clay, and anything highly textured helps build nerve connections that boost the senses of the brain. It’s particularly useful when crafting.
So with that in mind, here are a handful of horrendously fun and spooky crafts to do this October.
Puking Jack-O'-Lantern
If you’ve ever crafted an erupting volcano for school as a child, then the vomiting pumpkin will bring back fond memories. After carving your pumpkin, which is a timeless activity that you can do in countless unique ways, grab some vinegar and baking soda. Make sure you and the kids are outside, or in an area that’s easy to clean afterward.
Take 1/2 cup of baking soda and pour it through the top of your pumpkin, then grab a jug and mix a little food coloring with 2 cups of vinegar. Slowly pour the liquid into the pumpkin and replace the lid, get your cameras ready because your jack-o'-lantern will spew through its mouth.
It’s a fun and gross sight that will have your kids squeal, laugh, and be intrigued by the science behind it. It's a great decoration (sadly not permanent) and an interesting science experiment. The eruption happens because the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) is a base and acetic acid (vinegar) is an acid dissolved in water, and they cause a chemical reaction. Water is created, which causes the flow of liquid, as well as carbon dioxide, which creates the bubbling effect.
Creepy Candy
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Food always tastes better when you make it yourself, and homemade eyeball gummies taste creepier. There are tons of ways to make candy from scratch, but this Gross Gummy Candy Lab allows kids to learn about science while they create yucky edible spiders and worms. If your kids are buzzing to go trick-or-treating, but it’s too early, this kit will keep them occupied for hours.
Spooky Surprise Sensory Bins
It’s time for kids to take a break from creating for a moment, to focus on experiencing, for a relaxing October day. Sensory bins are pretty much exactly what they sound like: bins full of sensory-pleasing materials. Fill up any containers with highly textured objects, slimes, and anything Halloween themed, then drape a towel over the top.
You can get sensory bin kits pre-made if you’re stuck for ideas, but pretty much anything found in the home will work. Due to the surprise element, and keeping in mind that some kids experience sensory overload, be sure to only pick materials which are safe for your child. If you know they hate the feeling of sticky things, then use only dry materials, like pine cones and sea sponges. If your kids hate surprises, then lift the cover and let them choose what they want to touch.
Cauldron Potion Slime
A timeless and simple craft, slime is a must-have this Halloween. There are plenty of slime kits that come with everything you need, spookily themed. But making slime from scratch is easy peasy. Take some borax, water, school glue, food coloring, eco-glitter, and mix it all together. Create the activator by mixing 1 teaspoon of borax into 1 cup of warm water and stirring until dissolved. Add this activator to the glue slowly, mixing in small quantities until it turns into slime.
If you can’t get borax where you live or want something else, there are quite a few alternative recipes. Contact lens solution is a great replacement for borax if you still want drippy, oozing clear slime. There’s also edible slime, which tastes way better than it looks, made with marshmallows and gummy bears. For fluffier, more clay-like slime, hair conditioner and cornstarch will create a wonderfully soft texture. You can also use conditioner and shaving cream if you’d prefer a no-glue slime.
But whatever you use to make the slime, make it spooky by mixing in orange, black, purple, green, or red food coloring, and adding adorable Halloweeny charms like spiders, eyes, and candy corn. Drip the slime into a mini cauldron, and boom, you have a magic potion.
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