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[Halloween Index]
[Terra Cotta Pot
Crafts] [Witch Crafts]
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DLTK's Halloween Crafts for Kids
Witch Candy Holder Craft
This craft can be made with the head only or the head and body.
I like the whole thing, but if you're looking for a smaller project,
just do the head. Older children can try their hand at painting
the face onto the pot, but if they're nervous about it (or if they try
it and it doesn't work out) I've provided a template face you can just
glue on the front of the pot.
I used 4 1/2 inch (diameter) terra cotta pots and my witch is about 1
foot tall -- she's a candy dish in my living room (just lift the hat for
a treat).
BUT, you can use any size pots you want -- if you have big outdoor
plastic or terra cotta pots you can end up with a treat holder that's
the size of a child! You'll need to use black poster board instead
of construction paper to make a hat big enough for a large
version. A child sized version would be such a neat treat holder
for the trick or treaters that come to your door! |
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Materials:
 | three terra cotta pots (you only need one pot if you're just doing the
head)
 | instead of a terra cotta pot, you can use a green plastic pot or a
margarine container |
| if you substitute a plastic container for the terra cotta, you'll need
to rub the outside with coarse sandpaper to "rough it up" so
the paint stays on.
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| Terra cotta pot saucer (optional) -- this is the feet
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| black and green acrylic paint (Note: if you're using
the template instead of painting the face, you won't need the green)
| acrylic paint dries quickly so there isn't a lot of waiting time on
this project. It won't come out of clothes, so where something old
or use a cover-up (dad's old shirts!)
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| TIP 1: in our household, we have black, white, red, blue and
yellow paint. We mix all our own colors. This is more fun
for the kids (my junior scientists) and is less expensive if you don't
do projects that often. I find that the paints dry out after a
year... because we mix our own, we use the paints up -- when we buy the
colors for each project, we end up having to throw paints away a lot.
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| TIP 2: if you don't use acrylic paint that often, but
have lots of tempra/poster paint in the house, just buy white acrylic
paint. Base coat the project with white acrylic and then paint
overtop of it with the tempra/poster paints.
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| white liquid paper or acrylic paint (we used liquid paper because it has
that nice tiny brush)
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| black marker (permanent marker)
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| black and green construction paper
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| scissors
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| scotch tape |
Instructions:
| NOTE: I only had to use one coat of paint
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| paint the first pot (the head) all black on the rim (this is the
hair). Paint 1/2 of the rest of the pot black
| look at the unpainted part -- this will be the face. You
want most of it to be green (face color) and just the edges of
it to be black (the hair)
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| look at the photo for guidance. |
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paint two of the pots completely black (if you're only
doing the head, skip this step)
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| paint the outside and bottom of the saucer all green or all black
(depending on what color you want her feet to be). We used all green.
(if you're only doing the head, skip this step)
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Make the Hat
Make the Arms (if you're only
doing the head, skip these steps)
| cut two 5" by 3" strips from black construction paper
(measurements don't have to be exact).
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| roll each strip around a pencil or fat marker to make a cylinder for the
arm.
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| cut simple hand (mitten) shapes out of green construction paper (if you're
stuck, I've included two hands on the printable template... feel free to use
those).
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| put a piece of scotch tape on one of the hands. Insert it into the
arm.
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| Squash the other end of the arm (the end without the hand) and scotch tape
it to the bottom of one of the pots you painted all black.
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| Repeat with the other arm. |
Make the Face:
| By now, the paint will be dry. Use a permanent black marker to
draw a wiggly mouth, a small nose, two goofy eyes and some eyebrows.
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| Use liquid paper (or white paint) to paint the eyeballs white, dot a
bit of white in the black part of the eyes and the top of the nose. We
used liquid paper.
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Assemble the Witch:
| Use the black marker (or the liquid paper) to draw a line down
the saucer so it looks like two feet.
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| Put the saucer, upside down, where your witch will be standing.
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| Put the black pot (without the arms) rightside up on top of the
saucer.
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| Put the black pot (with the arms) upside down on top of that
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| Put the head (rightside up) on top of the arms
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| Fill the head with candy.
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| Put the hat on the head
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| NOTE: You can use hot glue to put the witch together, but
I like to just stack them... that way, when it's time to put away
the Halloween decorations, I can stack the pots inside each other
for easier storage (with a bit of paper towel between each to
prevent scratching)
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| Not everyone is comfortable with their artistic abilities.
| Younger children (mine anyways) can get awfully frustrated when their artwork
doesn't turn out as well as the photos do. If this is one of the
first big projects they've done, you may want to focus on painting the
base colors and cheat a bit on the face. |
| Have the child practice drawing the face once or twice on a piece of
paper, before doing it on the pot. |
| Having the face template handy gives you something to refer to as you
paint AND gives you something to glue on if you don't want to try
painting the face (or if you try it and it doesn't work out). I
realize this isn't as artistic or creative an option as drawing it, but
on occasion a fun/ stress free project is good for building confidence
in young crafters. |
| If the template is needed, just let everything dry and then glue on
the template face onto the pot (trim it as needed)
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| The template face was made for the 4 1/2 inch terra cotta pots I used, but
you could trim it to fit a pot of a similar size.
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| Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
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| 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). |
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