3 Easy Halloween Handprint Crafts for Toddlers & Preschoolers
Halloween crafts don’t have to be complicated to be meaningful! These simple handprint crafts are a fun activity for little ones and a sweet way to save a tiny snapshot of just how small their hands once were. 🥹 I still have my son’s little handprint ghost from when he was just over a year old!
Whether you’re making them with a young toddler or an older preschooler, these Halloween keepsakes are sure to make you smile when you pull them out years from now.
1. Halloween Bat Handprint Craft
- Start by gathering your materials: black construction paper, grey construction paper, grey paint, scissors, a paintbrush, glue, and a black crayon/marker.
- Paint your toddler’s hand completely grey.
- Have them spread their fingers out and stamp them onto the paper.
- Once they’ve dried, cut them out and glue the thumbs on top of one another, so the four fingers are pointing outward, as shown.
- Use your grey paper to cut out a circular head shape, with two pointy bat ears. Then glue this shape onto the overlapped thumbs.
- Guide your child in drawing two eyes and a toothy smile!
2. Halloween Ghost Handprint Craft
- Start by gathering your materials: black construction paper, white paint, scissors, a paintbrush, and a black crayon/marker.
- Paint your toddler’s hand completely white.
- Close their fingers together and stamp them onto the black paper.
- After the ghosts have dried, cut them out.
- Help your little one use your black marker/crayon to draw eyeballs and a mouth! Have fun with it and make some silly or happy. My son wanted “spooky ones“😆
3. Halloween Monster Handprint Craft
- Start by gathering your materials: black construction paper, green paint, purple paint, scissors, a paintbrush, and a black crayon/marker.
- Splotch the purple and green paint haphazardly on your toddler’s hand. It’s okay if they mix a bit!
- Have them stamp their hand open or closed on the paper. This one is much more freeform, since it’s a monster! 👹
- Once dry, cut the handprints out.
- Guide your little monster in using the black crayon/marker to make monster faces! Think stitches, grumbly mouths, or even 10 eyeballs!
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How to Turn Your Handprint Crafts Into a Preschool Puppet Show
Got older kiddos? Here’s how I turned these handprint crafts into preschool theatrical play by simply adding a popsicle stick and a story:
- Start by taking one of each of the Halloween handprints you made above, and glue a popsicle stick onto the back.
- TOTALLY OPTIONAL EXTRA-MOM TASK: Make a theater stage out of paper to tape into a door frame! I have a large roll of butcher paper and just drew on some curtains and cut out the center to make our stage.
- Be the storyteller first! Use the puppets to talk to one another, solve a problem, and have fun along the way! This will help your preschooler understand some of the pieces they should include, as well as how to move the popsicle sticks.
- Let them try out a story! This form of theatrical play is really fun and beneficial for their developing minds. Plus, you get to hear the beautiful (and possibly goofy) story they create. ☺️
Final Thoughts
From a simple Halloween craft to a whole puppet show, these activities can grow right along with your little learner! Younger toddlers can enjoy the messy, creative fun, while older kiddos can turn their handprints into characters for storytelling and dramatic play.
And honestly, I’m all for an activity that gives us something fun to do and a little keepsake to tuck away. 🎃 Oh and while you’re here, if you’re looking for even more Halloween themed activities check out my last blog all about pumpkins!
❤️ Until Next Time,
