Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. From dressing up to making things like Halloween paper plate crafts, I love all of it. I love  the costumes, the decorations, trick-or-treating, haunted houses, scary stories, scary movies, the crispness of fall and candy corn.

When I was a kid, I loved to decorate my parents house, but I had to be resourceful and use what was available to me. What was available to me was some plasticky window hangings (you might remember those ones that look like they were a bunch of tiny plastic pieced melted together on one side, the melted side was smooth and the other side was textured), an abundance of straw and corn stalks to create an outdoor scene with a scarecrow, and whatever I could find for art supplies to make other decorations.

I still carry that love of decorating for Halloween as an adult and have many store bought decorations, but also make many other decorations with my children to use.  I want to share with you how to use paper plates to make some fun & easy Halloween decorations with your kids.

5 Easy Halloween Paper Plate Crafts

What I love about starting with a paper plate, is that I already have a perfect circle cut for me, plus paper plates are really inexpensive and many of us have them in our homes from summer picnics.

Frankenstein Paper Plate Craft:

This one is my favorite. It turned out the great for both of my kids (ages 3 & 6 ).

Supplies needed:  paper plate, green paint, googly eyes, black construction paper

Directions:Paint plate, set aside until dry, glue on googly eyes and pre-cut (for toddlers & preschoolers) features or let older children cut out their own.

Mummy Paper Plate Craft:

This one is very simple and no paint is needed. The child only needs to glue.

Supplied needed: paper plate, toilet paper or crepe paper, black construction paper, googly eyes.

Directions: Glue strip of crepe paper or toilet paper (tear of 3 sqaure strips and cut lengthwise in half) to the paper plate. Glue a rectangular piece of black construction paper towards the center top and glue two googly eyes on top. Trim away excess crepe paper or toilet paper from the edges of the plate.

Jack’o’Lantern Pumpkin Paper Plate Craft

This is a classic Halloween paper plate craft – The Jack’o’Lantern Pumpkin.

Supplies needed: paper plate, orange plate, black contruction paper

Directions: Have child paint plate and let dry. Glue on pre-cut (for toddlers & preschoolers) features or let older children cut out their own.

Ghost Paper Plate Craft:

Another fun one that is only gluing. Great for families that don’t like the mess of paint or do not have paint to use.

Supplies needed: paper plate, toilet paper or crepe paper, black construction paper

Directions: Glue on pre-cut (for toddlers & preschoolers) features and arms or let older children cut out their own.Glue on bottom with crepe paper or toilet paper (tear of 3 sqaure strips and cut lengthwise in half) to the paper plate.

 Spider Paper Plate Craft

And finally, the black spider! Another painting  and gluing project.

Supplied needed: paper plate, black paint, black contruction paper, googly eyes

Directions: Have child paint plate and let dry. When dry glue on rectangular strips for legs and googly eyes.

We only used 2 sheets of black construction paper to make all 10 paper plate crafts. If you don’t have contruction paper, it is worth spending the dollar because you will be able to create many things with it with your children. Googly eyes are also a fun art supply that kids (& adults) love. Both items can be purchased at dollar stores and other places.

For another fun and easy craft to do with your children, please check out my Re-purposed Fabric Ghosts Craft. We made these three years ago and still have them and hang them up every year.