This Halloween kids craft is perfect for school-aged children that love making dioramas. Our frightening funkins (better known as carvable foam pumpkins) are a spooktacular activity to make together.
If you’re a regular We Know Stuff reader, you’re already aware of my sister’s love of Funkins. She thinks that they are amazing and offer up endless amounts of Halloween fun. She’s right on target with that!
Personally, I love when she comes up with “keeper crafts” that her family can decorate with each year. Last Halloween, she had her kids design and decorate their own funkins. (My favorite was my nephew’s puking vampire!)
I also love the house number funkins craft she made the year before. I loved it so much that I tried to convince her that it was acceptable to keep funkins out year round. But, she ignored me and put her funkins away right after Halloween. So each fall, I just sit around waiting to see what she will come up with next.
This year, she threw me for a loop. She tossed a bag of Funkins on my doorstep along with some woodland creatures, floral foam and moss. Although she didn’t leave me a note inside the bag, she did include a torn out page from her latest Country Living magazine, so I knew exactly what to do with them.
I wasn’t sure why she wanted me to do this craft, so I called her to find out what was up:
“Why did you leave those Funkins on my doorstep? Funkins are your thing…I don’t want to make any Funkins; I have a hard enough time with real pumpkins. Take them away!”
She laughed at me and said:
“Go carve some Funkins, it’s good for your kids!”
I knew that she meant that sitting down and crafting with my kids would be good for both them and me. She knows that I’ve been out of my kid-inspired crafting groove for quite some time now, and I knew that she was trying to spark up my mom craftiness.
I have to admit, I appreciated it. I am lucky enough to have a sister that knows what makes me happy and will nonchalantly throw a bag of crafts on my doorstep whenever I need a pick me up!
FRIGHTENING FUNKINS (CARVABLE FOAM PUMPKINS)
Materials:
- Funkins (ours are from Michael’s)
- Elmers Glue
- Floral foam (Styrofoam disk)
- Dried Moss
- Rocks
- Sticks for trees
- Toy Animals (we have more Schleich animals that we ever thought possible!)
Directions:
Step 1: Using a serrated knife, cut out an opening in the Funkins for your child.
Step 2: Have them paint the inside of theFunkins black with acrylic paint. (Or, you can use black spray paint like my sister did on hers; Rust-Oleum is our preferred brand.)
Step 3: Once the paint has dried completely, let your children create their own woodland scene by glueing moss, rocks, and sticks to the styrofoam disk. Allow glue to dry thoroughly.
Step 4: Place the woodland scene inside the pumpkin and have them place their creatures in the pumpkin.
Step 5: If your kids want to create some ambiance, cover a small battery-operated tea light with some of the leftover moss and hide it inside the Funkins. (Or, you can get super crafty like my nephew. He wanted his creepy three-headed dog to be able to “howl at the moon”, so they covered a tea light in black electrical tape, drilled a tiny hole into the back of the Funkins and just popped the “flame” into the hole. The black tape disguised the tea light and the flame poking through really looks like a moon!)
Step 6: Find a great place to display your children’s creations!
Thanks for Reading!
Daniele
Want more Halloween crafts?
How cool. You could use this over and over each year and remember making them. It’s like a diorama 🙂 I had to google that word because I couldn’t think of it.