Spine-chilling as it sounds, a colony of bats hanging from the highest reaches of your house serve as the perfect welcome for guests -- if you're throwing a Halloween party. You can also clip these clothespin bats onto tree branches or bushes outdoors to greet trick-or-treaters.
Tools and Materials
Template
Pencil
Oak tag
Scissors
White pencil
Black construction paper
Mini hole punch or pushpin
Glue stick
Black spray paint
Wooden clothespins
Craft glue
Bat How-To
1. Draw a bat freehand or trace the template onto a piece of oak tag. Cut out the tracing.
2. Use your template to trace bats onto black construction paper with the white pencil; you will need two bat cutouts for each clothespin. Cut out each bat.
3. Use the hole punch or pushpin to make eyes in each cutout. Then, use glue stick to glue two bat cutouts together at wing tips. Spray the clothespins black, and allow them to dry.
4. Place a dab of craft glue onto the center of each side of the clothespin. Carefully slip a clothespin between two bat cutouts. Pinch bats to clothespin for a few seconds, until glue holds.
My son and I remake these every year, fun for a kid to make and clip all over the house! We glitter them!
Use black mat board - no need for oaktag and construction paper.
I made these bats years ago with my older boys and we hang them each year for Halloween. I was so happy to see the template still listed here when we were looking for a craft for my daughter's Indian Princess group to work on this week!
I made these cute creations with my third and fourth graders. We used glitter to outline the bats and googly eyes for a fun twist
If you put the clothespin in with the opening toward the tail, then they can be clipped upside down so they hang like real bats!
Very clever idea, thank you.
These are really cute! I made about 10 of them and they're hanging from my living room window. I used felt that makes them look more like bat hair and the wings flap whenever someone opens the front door. I also used some iron-on jewels for eyes.
great idea for my draculas house this yr
Great looking for Halloween