Pinecone Crafts for Halloween and Fall: Bats, Owls and Spiders
The easiest pinecone Halloween crafts are bats, owls and spiders, because a pinecone already has the right body shape and you only add a few details. Glue black card wings to a pinecone painted black for a bat, felt eyes and a beak to a plain brown one for an owl, and four bent pipe cleaners to a short, round cone for a spider. Each one takes 15 to 30 minutes once the glue is warm and the cones are clean.
Pinecones are free on a walk in autumn, they last for years once dried, and they work well for Halloween and for fall decorating afterwards. Below you'll find how to clean and open pinecones safely, a quick table to help you choose a project, step-by-step instructions for four pinecone crafts, and ideas for turning them into a garland or table display.
What You Need
- Clean, dry pinecones in a few sizes (short round cones for spiders and owls, longer cones for bats)
- Black, white and orange acrylic paint, and a flat brush or an old sponge
- Black, white, yellow and orange card stock or felt scraps
- Black and white pipe cleaners (chenille stems)
- A low-temperature glue gun, or thick PVA (tacky) glue for younger children
- Scissors, a pencil and a black marker
- Optional: googly eyes, twine or thin ribbon, a little white paint or chalk for "frost" tips
How to Clean Pinecones for Crafts
Clean pinecones before crafting by brushing off loose dirt, soaking them in water with a splash of white vinegar, then drying them slowly so they open and any insects leave.
- Shake each cone and brush off dirt, needles and cobwebs with an old toothbrush.
- Soak the cones for about 20–30 minutes in a bucket of warm water with a cup of white vinegar. They will close up while wet, which is normal.
- Lay them on an old towel and let them dry for a day or two. As they dry, the scales open out again.
- To speed things up, many crafters bake cones on a foil-lined tray in a low oven, around 200°F (95°C), for 30 to 60 minutes. Pine sap can catch fire, so keep the temperature low, check every 10–15 minutes and never leave the oven unattended. An adult should always do this step.
No oven? A few days in a warm, dry room does the same job more slowly.
Tip: Gather a few more cones than you need. Some will open unevenly or lose scales, and the odd-shaped ones make good owls and ghosts.
Which Pinecone Craft Should You Make?
Choose by age and time: owls and ghosts suit the youngest crafters, while bats and spiders need a little more cutting and bending.
| Craft | Best pinecone shape | Time | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pinecone owl | Short and round | 15 min | Ages 4 and up with help |
| Pinecone ghost | Any shape, open scales | 20 min plus drying | Ages 4 and up |
| Pinecone bat | Long and slim | 25 min plus drying | Ages 6 and up |
| Pinecone spider | Short and round | 20 min | Ages 6 and up |
1. Pinecone Bats
A pinecone bat is a cone painted black with two paper wings glued to its sides and a small head at the top.
- Paint a long pinecone black. A sponge dabbed over the scales is quicker than a brush, and you don't need to reach every gap. Let it dry.
- Fold a piece of black card in half and draw one wing against the fold: a straight top edge with three scallops along the bottom. Cut it out and open it to get a matching pair, or cut two separate wings.
- Glue the wings to either side of the pinecone, near the wide end, so they stick out like a bat in flight.
- Cut a small black circle with two pointed ears for the head and glue it to the top of the cone.
- Add small white or yellow eyes, and two tiny white triangles for fangs if you like.
Tie a loop of twine around the top scales to hang your bat upside down from a branch or a curtain rail. For a softer bat, try our bat pom pom tutorial, which has a free wing template you can use here too.
2. Pinecone Owls
Pinecone owls need no paint at all: the brown scales already look like feathers, so you only add eyes, a beak and wings.
- Stand a short, round pinecone on its flat end. If it wobbles, press it into a small blob of modeling clay or glue it to a bottle cap.
- Cut two white or yellow circles about 1 in (2.5 cm) across for the eyes and two smaller black circles for pupils. Glue them together.
- Glue the eyes near the top of the cone, close together.
- Cut a small orange diamond, fold it in half and glue it between and just below the eyes for a beak.
- Cut two teardrop wings from brown or orange felt and tuck them into the scales on each side. Add two pointed ear tufts on top if your owl needs them.
If your kids love owls, our Perler bead witch owl pattern makes a good next project.
3. Pinecone Spiders
A pinecone spider is a round cone laid on its side with eight pipe cleaner legs and a pair of eyes.
- Paint the pinecone black, or leave it brown for a "wolf spider" look. Let it dry.
- Cut four black pipe cleaners in half to make eight legs.
- Wedge each leg deep between the scales, four on each side, and add a dab of glue to hold them.
- Bend each leg upward in the middle and down at the end so the spider stands on its own.
- Glue two or four eyes to the narrow end of the cone.
Set your spiders on a web for a table display. Our guides to how to make a paper spider web and spider pom poms pair well with this one.
4. Pinecone Ghosts
Pinecone ghosts are cones painted white, which makes them one of the quickest projects for a group of young children.
- Paint the pinecone white all over, or dab white paint only on the tips of the scales for a frosty look.
- Let it dry completely, then add a second coat if the brown shows through.
- Draw two oval eyes and an open "oooo" mouth on black card, cut them out and glue them on. A black marker also works on a fully dry cone.
Displays and Variations
Once you have a few pinecone crafts, group them so they read as one decoration.
- Pinecone garland: tie each cone to a length of twine with a small loop around the top scales, spacing them about 6 in (15 cm) apart. Alternate bats, ghosts and pumpkins.
- Wreath: glue cones to a cardboard or wire ring. Our tutorials on how to make a cardboard wreath form and how to decorate a wire wreath frame show the base.
- Table centerpiece: fill a bowl or tray with plain cones and tuck painted owls and spiders among them.
- After Halloween: paint a few short cones orange with a green pipe cleaner stem as pumpkins, and swap the bats for plain and frosted cones for fall.
Safety Notes
An adult should handle the oven step and the glue gun. Use a low-temperature glue gun, or thick craft glue for younger children, and keep a bowl of cold water nearby for small burns. Googly eyes, pipe cleaner ends and loose scales are choking hazards for toddlers, so use paper eyes and supervise closely. Wash hands after handling cones gathered outdoors, and only collect fallen cones where gathering is allowed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need to clean pinecones before crafting?
Yes, it's a good idea. Pinecones from outside can carry dirt, sap and small insects. Brushing them, soaking them in water with a little white vinegar and then drying them slowly removes most of this. Drying also opens the scales, which makes cones easier to paint and glue.
How do you get pinecones to open?
Pinecones open as they dry out. Leave wet or closed cones in a warm, dry room or on a sunny windowsill for a few days, or have an adult dry them in a low oven, around 200°F (95°C), checking often. Cones that are very green and tightly closed may never open fully.
What glue works best on pinecones?
A low-temperature glue gun holds best because the glue fills the gaps between scales and sets in seconds. For children, thick PVA or tacky craft glue works, but you'll need to hold each piece in place for a minute and let it dry for a few hours before moving the craft.
Pinecones are one of the best free craft supplies around, so once your bats and owls are done, try our painted Halloween rocks, the toilet paper roll Halloween crafts or plan a whole afternoon with our Halloween craft party for kids. You'll find every project for young crafters in our Halloween crafts for kids section.
