Egg Carton Halloween Crafts: Bats, Spiders and Little Monsters
Cardboard egg cartons are one of the best free craft supplies in the house. The cups are already the perfect shape for spider bodies, bat ears and little monster heads, and the card soaks up paint beautifully. If you start saving cartons now, you'll have plenty by the end of October.
Below are five easy egg carton Halloween crafts, from a two-minute spider to a garland of glowing pumpkins. They suit children from about four upwards with a bit of help, and older kids can make them entirely on their own.
Before You Start
Use cardboard (pulp) cartons, not plastic or foam ones. Pulp cartons take paint well and are easy to cut. Cut the cups apart with sturdy scissors and trim the edges so they sit flat. An adult can do this part in advance for younger children, as the card can be tough.
Basic supply list
- Cardboard egg cartons
- Child-safe scissors and a pair of sharper scissors for the grown-up
- Poster paint or acrylic paint, mainly black, orange, green and purple
- Paintbrushes and a sponge
- Pipe cleaners (chenille stems) in black and other colors
- Googly eyes or white and black paper for eyes
- PVA glue or a glue stick, plus a low-temperature glue gun for an adult
- String or thin elastic for hanging
- Optional: a string of battery fairy lights for the pumpkin garland
Tip: Paint the cups first and let them dry overnight before assembling. Wet cardboard tears easily, and dry paint is much nicer for small hands.
1. Egg Carton Spiders
The quickest craft of the lot, and a good one for the youngest crafters.
- Paint a single egg cup black, inside and out, and leave it to dry.
- Ask an adult to poke four small holes along each side of the cup with a pencil or skewer.
- Thread two black pipe cleaners straight through the cup from one side to the other, then two more, so you have eight legs.
- Bend each leg down and then out at the end to make a knee and a foot.
- Glue on two (or eight!) googly eyes.
Tie a length of thread to the top and hang them in a doorway, or set a group of them crawling across a shelf. For a fluffier variation, see our pom pom spiders.
2. Hanging Egg Carton Bats
For the bats you need a strip of three cups joined together. The middle cup becomes the body and the two outer cups become the wings.
- Cut a strip of three cups from the carton.
- Trim the two outer cups into a scalloped wing shape by snipping three curves into the edges.
- Paint the whole strip black and let it dry.
- Cut two small triangles of black card for ears and glue them to the top of the middle cup.
- Add eyes and a couple of tiny white paper fangs.
- Poke a hole in the top of the body, thread string through and hang the bats upside down from a branch or curtain rail.
3. Little Egg Carton Monsters
This is where kids can really use their imagination. Paint single or double cups in bright greens, purples and blues, then add:
- One huge googly eye, or five small ones
- Pipe cleaner antennae or horns
- Paper teeth, tongues and eyebrows
- Scraps of yarn for hair
Two cups glued rim to rim make a round monster with a mouth that opens. Line them up on a windowsill or use them as name holders at a Halloween party table.
4. Pumpkin Fairy Light Garland
This one needs a grown-up for the cutting, but the result is a lovely decoration that looks great on a mantel.
- Cut out as many single cups as you have lights on your string of battery fairy lights.
- Paint the outside of each cup orange. Add a tiny green stem with paint or a twist of pipe cleaner.
- Once dry, an adult makes a small cross-shaped cut in the bottom of each cup.
- Push one bulb through each cut so the cup sits over it like a little lampshade.
Only use cool LED fairy lights with this garland, never old-style bulbs that get warm, and switch them off when you leave the room.
5. Egg Carton Candy Corn and Eyeballs
Single cups painted in yellow, orange and white stripes look like giant candy corn, while cups painted white with a colored circle and a black pupil turn into eyeballs. Glue them onto a strip of card to make a wall border, or string them together into a garland. They also look great alongside a paper spider web.
Bonus: Egg Carton Ghost Garland
If you have white or pale grey cartons, you can skip the paint for this one. Cut out single cups, turn them upside down and draw two big oval eyes and a small round mouth on each with a black marker. Make a hole in the top of each cup with a pencil and thread them onto a length of string or ribbon, tying a knot under each ghost so they stay spaced out. Hang the garland across a window or along a bookshelf.
For a floatier look, glue a short strip of white tissue paper or cheesecloth inside the rim of each cup so it trails down like a ghostly tail. It's a nice project for children who aren't keen on anything too spooky.
Tips for Crafting with Kids
- Cover the table with old newspaper or a wipe-clean cloth. Egg carton crafts involve a lot of paint.
- Pre-cut cups for children under six. Cardboard cartons are tougher than they look.
- Keep the glue gun with the grown-up. PVA glue and a bit of patience work for nearly every step.
- Googly eyes and small beads are choking hazards, so use paper eyes for toddlers.
- Let children decide how their creatures look. A purple bat with orange eyes is still a perfectly good bat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use plastic or foam egg cartons?
They're difficult to paint and harder to cut, so cardboard cartons are much better. If plastic is all you have, use permanent markers and stickers instead of paint.
How do I stop the paint looking patchy?
Cardboard absorbs the first coat. Give the cups two thin coats, or add a coat of white first so bright colors look stronger.
How many cartons do I need?
One 12-cup carton makes 12 spiders, four bats or a short garland. For a group craft session, allow about one carton per child.
Looking for more easy projects for children? Browse our Halloween crafts for kids, try the toilet paper roll crafts, or plan a whole afternoon with our guide to a Halloween craft party for kids.
