Think of today’s project as a Halloween Gingerbread House, minus the candy and snow of course…..I live in a city that popularized McMansions and for that reason alone I’m excited about the Halloween craft idea I’m sharing today: Haunted MINI Mansions. I guess you could call these the polar opposite of McMansions! All kidding aside these are easy, colorful, and sweet Halloween crafts for families to make together. Make a whole slew of haunted mini mansions and you’ve got your very own DIY haunted village!
Now we’ve done a variation of this project before. You might remember them as Clay Decorated Houses. I couldn’t help but want to revisit that craft now that Halloween is on its way because I knew the project would make super cute haunted houses. And I think I was right on the money!
This project is one that requires a little time and effort. Each house took me about 30-60 minutes. My daughter made hers in less time and forgo the clay smooshed walls.
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Halloween Crafts: Haunted Mini Mansions
Materials
- Colorful Non-drying Modeling Clay
- Wood Birdhouses like these or these (we purchased ours at the craft store for about $1 each)
- Halloween Figurines The ones I originally used are no longer available but here are some options: Scary monster figurines or these Halloween figurines
- Chipboard/cardboard
- Scissors
- Wood glue
- Glitter– This color looks good with Halloween decor!
Instructions
- Step One Open up clay and soften by kneading it in your hands
- Step Two Break off a chunk of clay and press into wood. Smooth it out and press to spread it on wood surface to create a colorful façade.
- Step Three Make details out of clay and decorate the house! It’s all in the details!
- Step Four Cut a piece of chipboard or cardboard roughly 1/2″ wider than the base of the birdhouse. Glue it to the bottom of the house. This will act as the base for the “ground” clay.
- Step Five Add clay to cover up the wood base and make these look “grounded”
- Step Six Glam it up with a little glitter and add a little glow-in-the-dark Halloween figurine for fun!
Don’t forget the glitter!
You’re done! You can keep these around for next year by wrapping them carefully in plastic and putting them in a safe place.
By the way, I couldn’t help but share the amazing mini clay pumpkins my daughter made to accompany our haunted houses. Sweet, huh?
Looks Like
Mary Blair. Never heard of her? Apparently not many have, but you probably all have seen her work. Ms. Blair was a concept artist and illustrator for Disney and worked on three films you have undoubtedly seen: Peter Pan, Cinderella, and Alice in Wonderland. She also played a large role in the design of the It’s a Small World Ride at Disneyland. Her work is colorful, exciting, and infused with style. Find out more about her here on the Huffington Post. Making miniature worlds with an animated feel made me think of her!
Conclusion
I’m too much of a modernist to bust out with miniature anything in my house, that is until the holidays roll around and I become a kid again, true to me ever loving small world heart! These are so easy to make and such a lovely little fantasy world to create. I hope you’ll add them to your list of must try Halloween crafts!
More
For more Halloween fun here on Babble Dabble Do hop on over to these projects:
Barber. H says
Wow, great handmade items for children. My kids really love the colorful things like these.
Alexson@Dress The Yard says
What a great blog post! I really enjoyed reading it. The instructions of Halloween crafts hunted mini mansions are so good and I’m looking forward to give it a try. My little boy really like is going to love it.
Ana Dziengel says
Yay!