You may or may not choose to celebrate Halloween with your young child. Toddlers have a great deal of difficulty understanding the difference between fact and fantasy, so common symbols and sights of this holiday can be truly frightening for them. Giving your child hands-on, safe opportunities to explore scary things can help him understand and feel more in control.

1. Egg-Carton Bat

   Activity for an individual child
   Age group: 30–40 months
   Duration of activity: 15 minutes

   Popular culture has done much to malign the reputation of bats. Most bats are harmless and even helpful in keeping the insect population in check. You can talk to your child about bats while you do this craft.

   What You'll Need

   • 1 cardboard egg carton
   • Scissors
   • Black tempera paint
   • Red tempera paint
   • Small paintbrushes
   • Black construction paper
   • White craft glue

   1. Cut off one cup of the egg carton. This will be the bat's body.

   2. Let your child paint the cup black and them use the red paint to add facial features.

   3. While the paint is drying, cut out two wings from the construction paper. Each wing should be no longer than 2 inches long.

   4. Show your child how to glue the wings onto the bat.

2. Tissue Paper Ghosts

   Activity for an individual child
   Age group: 30–40 months
   Duration of activity: 10 minutes

   This is such a simple activity with a very cute result. Your child may want to make a lot of ghosts and then hang them around the house for decoration.

   What You'll Need

   • Tissue paper such as Kleenex
   • Cotton balls
   • Masking tape
   • Yarn cut into 12-inch sections
   • Fine-tip black marker

   1. Show your child how to drape the sheet of tissue paper over the cotton ball.

   2. Help your child secure the cotton ball by wrapping a piece of masking tape tightly below. This will form the neck. If you wish to hang the ghost later, stick a piece of yarn under the tape.

   3. Your child can use the marker to draw on the eyes and mouth. Hang the ghost where the breeze will catch it and make it fly.

3. Paper Plate Spiders

   Activity for an individual child
   Age group: 30–40 months
   Duration of activity: 15 minutes

   Even if your child is afraid of spiders, he is still likely to enjoy this cute craft.

   What You'll Need

   • 2 paper plates
   • Crayons
   • Hole punch
   • 2 feet of yarn
   • 8 strips black construction paper
   • White craft glue

   1. Let your child color the front of the plates. He can draw in a face for the spider if he wishes.

   2. Punch a hole in the center of one of the plates. Knot the end and thread the yarn through the hole from front to back. This will be used to hang the spider.

   3. Help your child glue the black strips onto the back of one plate. These are the spider's legs — they should be evenly spaced and should stick out past the rim of the plate.

   4. Glue the two plates together back to back to complete the spider.

4. Masks

   Activity for an individual child
   Age group: 18–40 months
   Duration of activity: 15 minutes

   Masks can be particularly frightening for a young child, who may not recognize the transformed face as someone he knows and may not understand that the transformation is temporary. This activity may help your child overcome any fear, but if he is reluctant to wear the mask, don't force him.

   What You'll Need

   • Paper plate
   • Scissors
   • Crayons and markers
   • Craft stick
   • White craft glue
   • Mirror

   1. Cut wide holes in the paper plate to make eyes and a mouth.

   2. Have your child decorate the back of the plate to create a face.

   3. Glue the craft stick onto the bottom to serve as a handle. Your child can then hold up the mask to his face. Let him see himself in a mirror.

5. Spider Webs

   Activity for an individual child
   Age group: 18–40 months
   Duration of activity: 15 minutes

   Your toddler will enjoy making this unusual craft.

   What You'll Need

   • White craft glue
   • Shallow bowl
   • 1 cup cooked spaghetti, cooled
   • Waxed paper

   1. Pour some glue into the shallow bowl.

   2. Show your child how to dip each noodle individually into the glue. Have him hold the noodle over the bowl to let any excess glue to drip off.

   3. Let him arrange the noodles onto the wax paper in his version of a cobweb design.

   4. When the design is dry, you can lift it off the paper and hang it from the ceiling.