These craft and storytelling activities for children encourages kids to create haunted houses – or other spooky scenes – with poster board and then hide the story behind doors, windows, trees, gravestones, and other elements that are part of the scene. This project works whether parents do this with their kids at home or a teacher does this with her entire class. These spooky stories are a fun way to encourage kids to write – because who wouldn’t want to be known for creating the best ghostly tale?
Halloween Activities for Kids
Of course, this storytelling craft doesn’t only have to reveal itself during Halloween. Many primary school age kids like the idea of trying to scare others with their tales of mummies, vampires, ghosts, and werewolves. The craft project actually becomes a story starter that can help spark the imagination of even reluctant writers.
You will need the following arts and crafts materials to get started:
- Four 12” x 18” pieces of construction paper
- Markers, colored pencils, or crayons for decorating as well as a pencil or pen for writing
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Glue
You can also include extras like stickers (including glow-in-the-dark stickers), scraps of fabric, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and other recycled materials that can accent the spooky décor of these crafts for kids.
Craft Ideas for a Haunted House
You don’t have to start with a haunted house. You could create a haunted forest or even a creepy room within the house. Read the directions for the house and then adapt them for your own creation.
- Hold one piece of paper so it is longer than it is tall. This will be the size and shape of your house. Draw windows, doors, trees, fences, and shrubs. Add in peeling paint and cobwebs. You can even consider adding texture to your art with materials like rice, cotton balls, etc.
- Hold the second and third pieces of paper together and cut them into a triangle that will be the roof for the house. You can also create multiple points to the roof by adding more triangles. Decorate one of the rooftop(s). The other, non-decorated piece will be the background onto which you write your story.
- Next, you want to look at the sections of your drawing that will become secret places behind which you will hide elements of your story. Cut around three sides of those objects so you create a flap that you can lift.
- Glue the decorated rooftop to the house. Glue the undecorated triangle and rectangle to the back of the house. Be careful as you apply the glue because you don’t want to glue the flaps to the back pieces of paper.
Storytelling Ideas for Halloween
Write “Enter” on the door. Think of how you will start your story. Don’t know where to start? Try one of these story starter ideas – “One day/night …” “At midnight …” “The man/woman/child knocked on the door …”
Open the front door flap and write a sentence to a story. Include a clue to one of the other flaps so people will know where to go next to continue the story.
Move to that flap and continue your story. Keep moving over the house, telling the story until you’ve included part of your story behind each of the flaps. Remember, the flaps can give a clue to where and how the story will continue. For example, “The girl saw a flash of light in the left hand attic window” or “Something rustled in the shrubs to the right of the front door.”
These Halloween activities for children include a craft project as well as a story inspired by the craft. If you want to display your house on a tabletop, fold the house down the middle and then open it partway so it will stand. Another option is to tape the house to a wall or bulletin board.
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