It’s Spooky Season! What better way to celebrate than reading a creepy book and creating your own haunted house using an old dollhouse or a house from a Christmas village?
I started with a cheap dollhouse and painted it black. When it was dry, I used just a tiny bit of white paint to age the house. It’s important not to have much paint on your brush and to keep your touch very light and moving in one direction. This step brings out the details and makes the house look weathered.
Now for the fun part! Personalize your haunted house however you want! Add cobwebs, suspicious stains, or cursed objects. Clearly, my house has a mold problem, but the creepy ghost twins don’t mind.
We have Haunted House Take and Make kits available beginning October 18th while supplies last.
My best friend and I love to paint so we decided to make a friendship painting together! We combined our favorite things–rainbows, slothicorns and unicorns and made a beautiful painting! Grab your best pal and paint along with us on our YouTube channel.
Here is what you’ll need to get started. This is the exact list of what we used, but you can deviate from the list and make it your own!
- Canvas. We used a 4×4 canvas.
- Acrylic paint. We used the following colors and mixed them to make other colors:
- White
- Blue
- Black
- Red
- Yellow
- Purple
- Green
- Orange
- Brush. We used a small flat brush for the background and sometimes a Sharpie for the details.
- Water cup and towel. You will want to rinse and squeeze your brush between each color.
- Paper plate. We used a paper plate to mix my colors.
Optional supplies.
- Hair dryer. You can use a hair dryer to make your dry time a little faster.
- Apron or drop cloth. We used acrylic paint which is sometimes difficult to get out of fabric, so if you are a messy painter you may want to cover up anything you don’t intend to paint.
- Snacks. Each painting will take you about 30 minutes to complete if you use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process. Creativity takes a lot of brainpower, so you’ll want to have some sparkling water handy to stay hydrated and maybe snack nearby. Make sure to wash your hands before you eat!
We would love to see your finished artwork. Snap a pic and send it to us at kids@dbrl.org.
Is your inner ethereal garden witch itching to grow something green and spoopy this fall? Have no fear, for spooky terrariums are here! Today I’m going to walk you through building your own terrarium to bring the green inside (since everything outside is going to ground for the season). The first thing you are going to need is an interesting container for your terrarium. Many craft stores will have fish bowls or glass jars that will work well, but I highly recommend checking out garage sales for unique old glass pieces for super cheap prices. Continue reading “DIY Haunted Terrarium”
Earlier this summer, we invited library patrons of all ages to tell us about themselves in just six words. We had an overwhelming response of nearly 115 submissions! You can view the full album of Six-Word Memoirs on the library’s Facebook page. In the meantime, here is a collection of memoirs from the 24 teens who participated in this online program. Continue reading “Six-Word Memoirs: Teen Showcase”
