DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Jack-o'-Lantern Paper Craft
Paper crafts make terrific and simple Halloween decorations that even toddlers can help put together. For beginner scissor users, allow them to cut out the simple pieces like the head, body, legs and feet while you cut out the more complicated pieces like the mouth and buttons.
There are options for a smaller craft (a single page has all the pieces) and a larger version -- it takes more paper but my girls like BIG crafts as decorations *grin*.
Materials:
- printer,
- paper,
- scissors,
- glue,
- something to colour with.
Optional Materials - for movable limbs:
- thin cardboard (old cereal boxes)
- brass tacks ("brads")
- hole punch
Instructions:
- Print out the template of choice (there's a small version and a larger version).
- Colour pieces, as necessary.
- Cut out the pieces. This step may require adult assistance. I usually let young children cut out the large pieces (like template 1 and 4) and I cut out the smaller pieces.
- Glue the jack-o'-lantern together as follows:
- Glue the arms onto the body
- Glue the legs onto the body
- Glue the feet onto the legs
- Glue the neck under the head
- Glue the stem on top of the head
- Glue the face onto the head
- Glue the head onto the body
- Glue the buttons onto the body
- Alternative ASSEMBLY - moveable limbs:
- Glue the body (template 1), the arms (template 3) and legs (template 4) onto thin cardboard before cutting them out
- Glue the neck under the head
- Glue the stem on top of the head
- Glue the face onto the head
- Glue the head onto the body
- Glue the buttons onto the body
- punch a hole in each of the arms and legs with a hole punch.
- punch a hole through the body where the arms and legs would be attached (shoulders and bottom of the shirt)
- put the brass tacks through the limbs and the dress so that the limbs are moveable.
Craft Templates:
- Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
- Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).
Large Sized Jack-o'-Lantern
Template 1 color or B&W
Template 2 color or B&W
Template 3 color or B&W
Template 4 color or B&W
Small Jack-o'-Lantern template color or B&W)
Printable version of these instructions
