Going Batty

I'm not so big on the spooky side of Halloween. That being said, when I saw these clothespin bats, I was all over them. I'm a sucker for anything having to do with clothespins (one of my favorite fine motor activities).

And besides, I got to spray paint clothespins black. Aren't they too too cool?

So basically, I printed out a template, we traced it, and cut out bunches of bats. Then Jack glued one bat to each side of every clothespin. That's it. (The instructions said to punch out eyes and glue the tips of the bat wings together. We skipped both of those steps. I thought the wings looked better unattached -- it gives the illusion of flying, in my opinion.)

Once Jack got the drift of the project he really got into the zone. It was interesting to watch him organize his materials assembly-line style. He said he was a bat processor. And, from the look on his face, I'm sure you can tell that bat processing is serious business. We do not take our bats lightly around here. 

When they dried, we strung some fishing line over the fireplace and Jack clipped the bats up. They make a spooky-cool garland and a super-cool fine motor activity. Happy boy. Happy mama.

At night the bats have been "flying away" (ie. mom takes them down and puts them in a basket) and in the morning Jack pins them back up again so they can sleep (being nocturnal creatures and all).

We've also found some other clever places to clip them, including on the light over the kitchen table (which casts a creepy shadow on the wall). I'm thinking they would also be great with letters on them, as in a garland spelling out H-A-P-P-Y   H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N). Or maybe clipped onto treat bags. 

Right now I'm trying to keep things simple so I don't drive myself batty. I keep repeating: simple is good... simple is good....

Here's wishing you a nice, not-so-spooky, simple Halloween of your own.

Comments

[Anne]

Oh! Those are great! I like the flying illusion. I'm so glad you're back to blogging - I've missed reading your posts!

[Jan Scott]

These are wonderful and I love how they look along your fireplace. I'll have to keep this idea filed away for next year.

[urban craft]

these are great. Wish I would have seen them sooner. I had zero creative halloween decorations this year. And that spider web stuff over the bushes, I don't count as creative, for me at least.

[Stephanie]

I still absolutely adore this blog. It's one of my favorites. I love that you embrace the natural joy children have for learning and doing. Keep it up!