Monster on Canvas
Today’s Halloween craft is incredibly easy but these are also so fun to decorate your home with. We’ve made our monsters plain and easy to paint but let your kids use their imagination if they want to make them spookier.
Here are the items you will need for this project:
Blank Canvas frames. You can use any size that you want and they are easily found at Wal-mart, Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. You will also need foam paint brushes, black sharpie marker, and then some white, black, orange, green and purple acrylic paints.
To make the pumpkin picture, take a foam brush and cover the entire canvas with orange paint. Let dry completely.
After this has dried, take the black sharpie marker and make a Jack-O-Lantern face. Paint in the pumpkin’s face and let dry.
Obviously the ghost is super easy. You don’t need to paint the canvas white but you can if you’d like. Take the black sharpie marker to make a ghost face and then paint with black paint.
Next is our Halloween Frankie. With a foam brush, paint the entire canvas with a bright green paint. Let dry completely.
Take the black sharpie marker and draw downward spikes for his hair.
Paint them in with some black paint.
Next, using the below picture, just free hand drawing Frankie’s face. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be perfect! If your kids are old enough, let them draw this part themselves. It will make their picture an original!
Now take the white paint and paint the eyes and tooth.
Last but not least is our one eyed monster. On this one, you can have your kids follow our example or let them go crazy and create whatever kind of monster they want to make.
For our one eyed monster, paint the entire canvas with a bright purple paint.
Using the sharpie marker, create a squiggly mouth and a large circle in the middle for the eye. Use your white paint to fill in the eyes and tooth. Let that dry then you can also add a black dot in the middle of the eye.
These are now ready to hang to make your house spooky for Halloween!
Here are some more Halloween craft ideas to make your house even spookier!
Making a “Bum-kin” painting with your baby is such a cute and easy keepsake craft to make this Halloween season!
We all might think of using baby’s feet or hands to make keepsake artwork…but this craft uses their cute tiny pumpkin butts, and it is probably the cutest pumpkin you will ever make!
What you need to make your very own Bum-kin artwork:
- canvas board (***If using STRETCHED canvas, make sure to have a hard book or board that fits inside the canvas to give something to press against)
- orange paint – I used Crayola because it is kid friendly: non-toxic and washable
- paint dish
- sponge
- Pampers diaper – any size
- Pampers sensitive wipes
- sharpie pens, or other felts/paints as you please
- baby’s favourites to use as distraction (toys, favourite baby songs, crinkle blanket, whatever will help keep them happy during the painting)
How to make your Bum-kin Painting:
Start by making sure you are doing the craft in a safe spot, on the floor is the safest and easiest spot, but make sure you are prepared for the possibility of pee happening (even though we take safety measures – babies can be sneaky and still get some out) and if you have a roller or mover, make sure you are on a surface that is easy to clean. We did our crafting on my class yoga mats that are easy to clean, and I am not worried about them getting paint on them.
Once you are ready to get crafting make sure you have paint poured in your dish, a little bigger than a toonie size is all we used, have wipes out and ready to be used (2 wipes were more than enough for each baby in our class, and the ages ranged from just a couple of months old to around 10 months), and baby distractions are strategically placed for baby to reach and play with or listen to. Place your opened diaper down on the floor/mat in front of you and get baby naked from waist down, placing them on their bellies on top of the diaper *pro-tip: curl the bottom of the diaper, closest to you, up a little so that there is no chance of pee flying down towards you. Now use the sponge dipped in the orange paint to start painting baby’s bum using dabs instead of strokes, don’t worry about perfection – but remember: the rounder you paint the circle on that little bottom = the rounder your Bum-kin will be!
Once your little one’s bottom is covered in paint, take the canvas and press it onto your baby’s bum *you do not need to press hard at all, just enough for a little print from their cheeks!
Lift the canvas off and place outside of baby’s reach. Now it is time to use those wipes for what they were made for – getting baby bottoms perfectly clean.
As you wait for the paint to dry (doesn’t take all too long), take some time, as much time as you like – that canvas isn’t going anywhere, to cuddle and snuggle your little one – they did SO good painting their first ever Bum-kin!!
Once baby is happy and you got all the snuggles you like for the moment, check to make sure paint is dry and once it is use the sharpies to draw the stem, leaves, vines, and lines (if you wish to add shape lines or outline the Bum-kin). I also suggest writing something on it as well, for example our moms wrote things such as: Baby’s First Halloween, Baby’s Bum-kin, Our Little Bum-kin, Cutest Bum-kin in the Patch. And I always encourage writing the date, even if it is only on the back!
Admire your and your baby’s work, whether it is the first craft or one of hundreds that you have already done – it sure is cute, isn’t it. Proudly display your piece of artwork so that all your friends and family can admire the cutest little Bum-kin ever made!!
