Haunted House Craft

Enjoy tasting all the tasty materials you use to build this house with your kids!

What you need:

• Wooden birdhouse
• Popsicle sticks
• Acrylic paint (in colors of your choice)
• Gesso or white acrylic paint
• Low temp glue gun and glue sticks (for adult use) or craft glue
• Sturdy scissors
• Paintbrushes

Optional supplies: small wooden balls (for pumpkins), craft foam (for doors) seasonal foam stickers, a few pony beads, pom-poms and pipe cleaners, small flat wooden shapes or any fun Halloween extras you find at the craft store to add some color and sparkle.

How to do it:

1. To start your haunted house, paint the outside with a coat of gesso or white acrylic paint. This will give you a good base to work off of, and keep the colored paint from soaking into the wood and needing extra coats.
2. Paint your house with your choice of colors. Great Halloween colors to work with include purple, orange, green, red, white and black. Allow the house to dry completely when you are finished painting.
3. While your house is drying, paint any Popsicle sticks you want to attach to your house. It is recommended to wait for them to dry before cutting any in half. Have an adult use sturdy scissors to cut any Popsicle sticks to make fun details, like roof shingles and fences.
4. When your house and the Popsicle sticks are ready, use your glue gun to attach them. Make sure an adult supervises the use of the glue gun. If you want to use craft glue instead, please note it will take longer to dry. If you use craft glue it is recommended to wait on adding other decorations until your Popsicle sticks have dried and stuck to the house securely.
5. When everything is dry and your Popsicle sticks are attached it is time to add any final scary details. Then display your house and enjoy!

If you purchased any optional supplies:

• You can make a fun door by cutting out a piece of craft foam and attaching it. Tip: A pony bead makes a great doorknob.
• If you have pom poms and pipe cleaners wrap small pieces around a pom-pom to make a haunted spider. Tip: Googly eyes are a nice touch.
• Seasonal foam stickers and wooden shapes are other fun items to attach.
• Small wooden balls with flat bottoms make great miniature pumpkins to display next to the house when painted.

Follow-up fun: 
Find a good table or window in your home to display your haunted creation, add leaves and small pumpkins, then make up stories about the creatures that live in your haunted homes. If you make more than one or make one each year, you can eventually have a whole spooky haunted village to set up and enjoy with your family year after year.