Halloween Craft With Kids: How To Make Spider Web Decorations

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To inspire you to get crafty with your kids this Halloween, we asked some of the best craft bloggers to share their easy makes. Find other Halloween ideas here.

We can’t promise these webs will be as beautiful as the dew-dusted webs decorating gardens and hedges at this time of year, but making them will be fun for kids and adults. Decorate your house with these creepy crawly webs ready for the 31 October, send them to family as ghoulish greetings, and most of all enjoy spending time with your kids away from screens for a few hours.

Danielle Duggins, from Gloucestershire, has two kids aged three and five. She made these webs with her son last Halloween and found them cheap and easy. “The lolly stick spider webs take very few materials, are fun to make, and they make great spooky decorations once you are finished,” says Danielle. “They are ideal for Halloween party decorations or for placing outside the house for trick or treaters. My kids loved getting involved to make them!”

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What you need:

- Lolly sticks (easily picked up in craft shops or for cheap on Amazon)

- String

- Pipe cleaners

- Glue

- Googly eyes (optional)

How to make them:

1. Stick six lolly sticks together so they represent a star shape and the basis of the web. You can paint the lolly sticks white (or any other colour!), but that probably depends on how much mess you’d like in your house today.

2. To make the spiders, Danielle used air dry clay to create the body, before adding pipecleaners – but you could easily just twist pipe cleaners together to make the legs, and colour the middle bit in black with a pen. Whichever you choose, googly eyes make them look extra fun.

3. Next, create the web effect. Danielle explains: “I started in the centre and wound the string around each ‘spoke’, working my way out and creating a spiral shape. Once I reached the outside edge, I glued the string into place in several spots. I found using a glue gun was particularly effective for this, as the wisps of leftover glue added to the web effect.” Obviously, be careful of kids and hot glue.

4. Stick your spider on the front of your web. Use a piece of string to hang your spider web around the house or in your windows, or use it as a table decoration if you’re having a spooky Halloween tea.

Read Danielle’s full instructions on her blog and find other Halloween crafts here.

Before You Go

Halloween Children's Costumes Tested For Safety

Sainsbury's Terrifying Tuxedo, £12-14(01 of06)

Good Housekeeping (GH): "On one of the samples tested for the Sainsbury's costume, the trip thread at 300mm was severed. The flame spread to that point in a minute and four seconds, which is slow enough for it to still pass the standard. Some of the samples did not burn very much, but both the lining and sleeve samples burned for over 30 seconds, with the sleeve burning for 72 seconds in total."

Retailer says: "Safety is our top priority. We have looked at every detail of each product in our dress-up range and introduced our own, more stringent flammability safety standard – exceeding all legal requirements. Still, it’s very important to remember that all clothing carries a fire risk, so we are doing all we can to encourage customers to celebrate safely. For example, we only sell LED tea lights in our Halloween range, instead of traditional candles.’

"Sainsbury’s also added that through product engineering, it has worked to construct its costumes to slow down the flame spread, with built-in fire breaks and carefully chosen fabrics, embellishments and finishes." (credit:Sainsburys)

Wilko Bloodsucking Vampire, £8(02 of06)

GH says: "Samples taken from the cape of this costume didn’t catch alight for very long and no flaming debris was produced. However, other samples of the costume did result in some flaming residue. The flame didn't sever the 300mm mark, meaning it passes the nightwear standard, however, the samples did burn for 32.3 seconds on average."

Retailer says: "We are a family business and nothing matters to us more than our customers’ safety and that of their young families. Our expert quality team works constantly to ensure that all of our products comply with all relevant legal and regulatory requirements. Additionally, for this year’s Halloween (October 2016), we have independently tested all of our own label Halloween costumes under more rigorous conditions than are currently legally required by testing to the voluntary BRC Code of Practice. We are also cooperating fully with increased Trading Standards testing to ensure compliance with legal requirements. Although we have worked hard to ensure that all of our own label Halloween costumes pass all flammability standards, it is still really important that a constant watch is made on Halloween activities to avoid any close proximity to naked flames. For this reason, we have also introduced LED tea lights which can safely replace naked flames in traditional candle tea lights. We want our customers to have a safe and enjoyable Halloween." (credit:Wilko)

Marks & Spencer Witch Costume, £18-22(03 of06)

GH says: "Once again, the flame did not sever the 300mm trip thread on any of the tested samples, so it passes, but the samples did still burn for an average of 31.5 seconds. One of the samples burned for almost a minute and a half, and the majority of samples produced melted flaming debris in the test."

Retailer says: "Customer safety is our top priority. As with all our dress up items, this product was subjected to independent flammability tests under strict laboratory conditions to ensure it fully complies with the new British Retail Consortium (BRC) Code of Practice on flammability." (credit:Marks Spencer)

Tesco Glow In The Dark Skeleton, £7-10(04 of06)

GH says: "The flame did sever the 300mm trip thread on five of the samples but only reached the trip thread in under 25 seconds on one of the printed fleece samples. However, many of the other samples had borderline results, and almost all of them burned to the 300mm mark in about 20 to 30 seconds, continuing to burn after that time too. The result is unclear whether it would pass the nightwear standard, and we found that samples burned for 1 minute and 41 seconds on average."

Retailer says: "Our F&F dressing up costumes meet all recognised industry safety standards and are made from materials that have performed best in flammability tests. We’ve also reviewed the styling of all our costumes to make sure they don’t include any long floating and potentially hazardous fabrics that trail on the floor. All costumes are tested to Nightwear British Standard, EN71 toy standard and BRC Code of Conduct . We work with industry experts to ensure the most up to date, rigorous flammability testing is conducted on our garments. We still use pretty meshes, sparkles and shiny fabrics, but through stringent risk assessment and development, we ensure our garments are constructed in a way that will reduce the risk of flammability." (credit:Tesco)

TK Maxx Witch Halloween Costume, £19.99(05 of06)

GH says: "This witch costume was the least successful performer in our test, as the flame did spread quickly enough to sever the 300mm trip thread on two of the six samples tested. This result means that it fails to meet the nightwear standard. While the flaming only lasted for an average of 35 seconds, the samples of the costume burned very quickly."

Retailer says: "At TK Maxx, our customers are our top priority and the quality and safety of the merchandise we sell is paramount. Our products are tested to the applicable safety standards, and the item referred to in the article was fully tested and safe for use as set out in those standards. Customers who would like to return the item may do so at their nearby TK Maxx store or by contacting customer service at 01923 473561." (credit:TK Maxx)

Aldi Magic Boys Mummy, £3.99(06 of06)

GH says: "The flame did not sever the 300mm trip thread, meaning that it passes the nightwear standard, but the samples did burn for 27.8 seconds on average. While this is the shortest duration for the flame among the costumes tested, all of the samples of this costume produced flaming debris."

Retailer says: "We want to help make sure everyone stays safe this Halloween and customer safety is our number one priority. All of our dress up costumes have been independently tested under strict laboratory conditions. All costumes meet both the legislative flammability requirement of the European Toy Safety standard, EN71 Part 2 for Dress Up, and the BRC Modified EN71 Part 2 test." (credit:Aldi)