Witch Candy Holder Craft

This craft can be made with the head only or the head and body.  I like the whole thing, but if you're looking for a smaller project, just do the head.  Older children can try their hand at painting the face onto the pot, but if they're nervous about it (or if they try it and it doesn't work out) I've provided a template face you can just glue on the front of the pot. I used 4 1/2 inch (diameter) terra cotta pots and my witch is about 1 foot tall -- she's a candy dish in my living room (just lift the hat for a treat). BUT, you can use any size pots you want -- if you have big outdoor plastic or terra cotta pots you can end up with a treat holder that's the size of a child!  You'll need to use black poster board instead of construction paper to make a hat big enough for a large version.  A child sized version would be such a neat treat holder for the trick or treaters that come to your door!

Materials:

• three terra cotta pots (you only need one pot if you're just doing the head)
  • instead of a terra cotta pot, you can use a green plastic pot or a margarine container
  • if you substitute a plastic container for the terra cotta, you'll need to rub the outside with coarse sandpaper to "rough it up" so the paint stays on.
     
• Terra cotta pot saucer (optional) -- this is the feet
   

• black and green acrylic paint  (Note: if you're using the template instead of painting the face, you won't need the green)
   
  • acrylic paint dries quickly so there isn't a lot of waiting time on this project.  It won't come out of clothes, so where something old or use a cover-up (dad's old shirts!)
     
  • TIP 1: in our household, we have black, white, red, blue and yellow paint.  We mix all our own colors.  This is more fun for the kids (my junior scientists) and is less expensive if you don't do projects that often.  I find that the paints dry out after a year... because we mix our own, we use the paints up -- when we buy the colors for each project, we end up having to throw paints away a lot.
     
  • TIP 2:  if you don't use acrylic paint that often, but have lots of tempra/poster paint in the house, just buy white acrylic paint.  Base coat the project with white acrylic and then paint overtop of it with the tempra/poster paints. 
     
• white liquid paper or acrylic paint (we used liquid paper because it has that nice tiny brush)
   
• black marker (permanent marker)
   
• black and green construction paper
   
• scissors
   
• scotch tape

Instructions:  

NOTE:  I only had to use one coat of paint    paint the first pot (the head) all black on the rim (this is the hair).  Paint 1/2 of the rest of the pot black    look at the unpainted part -- this will be the face.  You want most of it to be green (face color) and just the edges of it to be black (the hair)    look at the photo for guidance.

• paint two of the pots completely black (if you're only doing the head, skip this step)
    
• paint the outside and bottom of the saucer all green or all black (depending on what color you want her feet to be).  We used all green. (if you're only doing the head, skip this step)

Make the Hat

• Trace a dinner plate onto a piece of black construction paper. 
  
  • Cut it out.  
  • This is the hat rim.
      
• Trace the same dinner plate onto a second piece of black construction paper. 
  
  • Cut it out.  
  • Fold it in half and cut it in half.  
  • Roll into a cone and tape into a cone.
      
• tape the cone onto the circle to make a witch's hat (lid for your container)

Make the Arms  (if you're only doing the head, skip these steps)

• cut two 5" by 3" strips from black construction paper (measurements don't have to be exact).
    
• roll each strip around a pencil or fat marker to make a cylinder for the arm. 
    
• cut simple hand (mitten) shapes out of green construction paper (if you're stuck, I've included two hands on the printable template... feel free to use those).
    
• put a piece of scotch tape on one of the hands.  Insert it into the arm.
    
• Squash the other end of the arm (the end without the hand) and scotch tape it to the bottom of one of the pots you painted all black.
    
• Repeat with the other arm.

Make the Face:

• By now, the paint will be dry.  Use a permanent black marker to draw a wiggly mouth, a small nose, two goofy eyes and some eyebrows.
    
• Use liquid paper (or white paint) to paint the eyeballs white, dot a bit of white in the black part of the eyes and the top of the nose.  We used liquid paper.

Assemble the Witch: Use the black marker (or the liquid paper) to draw a line down the saucer so it looks like two feet.    Put the saucer, upside down, where your witch will be standing.    Put the black pot (without the arms) rightside up on top of the saucer.    Put the black pot (with the arms) upside down on top of that    Put the head (rightside up) on top of the arms    Fill the head with candy.    Put the hat on the head    NOTE:  You can use hot glue to put the witch together, but I like to just stack them... that way, when it's time to put away the Halloween decorations, I can stack the pots inside each other for easier storage (with a bit of paper towel between each to prevent scratching)

Nervous about painting?

• Not everyone is comfortable with their artistic abilities. 
  • Younger children (mine anyways) can get awfully frustrated when their artwork doesn't turn out as well as the photos do.  If this is one of the first big projects they've done, you may want to focus on painting the base colors and cheat a bit on the face. 
  • Have the child practice drawing the face once or twice on a piece of paper, before doing it on the pot.
  • Having the face template handy gives you something to refer to as you paint AND gives you something to glue on if you don't want to try painting the face (or if you try it and it doesn't work out).  I realize this isn't as artistic or creative an option as drawing it, but on occasion a fun/ stress free project is good for building confidence in young crafters.
  • If the template is needed, just let everything dry and then glue on the template face onto the pot (trim it as needed)
     
• The template face was made for the 4 1/2 inch terra cotta pots I used, but you could trim it to fit a pot of a similar size.
    

• Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
     
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers). 

OPTIONAL Template   (color)   or   (B&W)