3 quick and simple Halloween crafts with a vampire twist for kids

Oct 01, 2021

Vlad The World’s Worst Vampire by Anna Wilson is one of our favourite Halloween reads for kids aged 5 to 8. This fun chapter book, complete with lovely illustrations, is about a little vampire who wants to go to school though he knows his spooky family will disapprove.

We sent the book to our Parakeet subscribers back in 2019 and had so much fun creating spooky activities for the pack that accompanied it. Here we share instructions for one of the activities that we sent subscribers - a hanging bat!

As a little bonus, we’ve also linked to two craft videos which we put on our YouTube channel and which you might also enjoy having a go at!

Make your own hanging bat from a toilet roll tube

Hanging toilet roll bat

You will need:

A toilet roll
Black paint, pens or crayons
A piece of card (from recycling is ideal)
Sticky tape
A sharp pencil
Sticky tack
A pipe cleaner
Eye stickers
A scrap of white paper

Method:

Take your toilet roll and push opposite sides of the top inwards to create the shape of your bat’s ears.

Shaping the bat's ears

Colour the whole tube black with paint, pen or crayon.
Take your card, lay your bat’s body in the middle and then draw out the shape of your bat’s wings (you may want to ask an adult for some help). Cut them out and then colour them in black too.

Creating the wings

Stick your wings to the back of the toilet roll tube with a loop of sticky tape.
Use your pencil to mark two dots on the front of the tube, where the bat’s legs will go.
To make the holes for the legs, place the sticky tack over one of the dots, turn it down onto the table and use the sharp pencil to push a hole into the cardboard and through to the sticky tack. Repeat with the other hole.
Thread your pipe cleaner through the holes to make the legs – you will be able to twist the ends around a branch or handle to allow your bat to rest upside down.

Threading on the legs