Inside: 28 easy skull and skeleton craft ideas and DIYs you will want to make for a spooky Halloween.
Every Halloween, my son would wear the same costume, a cute skeleton. It was, in fact, a pair of skeleton PJs. He would wear them day and night for the whole month of October! As he grew, the trousers became so short that they practically ended at his knees.
He finally agreed to get a new costume. But this was also a full-body, stretchy skeleton that covered his head. It was scary rather than cute, but at least by then, he only wore it one day of the year!
As we always associate Halloween decorations with skeletons, I have collected some of the best skeleton craft ideas. Many are easy and affordable to make, as Halloween isn’t just for kids! I’m sure the adults would enjoy making many of them, too.
28 Of The Best Skeleton Craft Ideas
Many of the skull and skeleton ideas here are stylish Halloween decorations I’m thrilled to have hanging on my walls for October.
There is something for everyone, from upcycled Halloween decorations made with old bottles and wine corks to painted t-shirts and slippers to cool skeleton art for the walls.
10 Minute Skull and Crossbones Place Card Holders
Budget-friendly skull and crossbones place card holders are perfect for any Halloween tablescape.
Halloween Crafts – Paper Plate Skeleton
The kids will have fun helping to make this friendly-looking skeleton decoration. All you need are some paper plates and Sharpies.
A Spooky Wine Corks
Turn wine corks into Halloween decorations by painting on skeletons. There is another skeleton design with this craft and the Nightmare Before Christmas character above.
A Spooky DIY Skull Decor
This illuminated upcycle can be made with a vintage skull or the entire skeleton. The site provides free printable vintage skeleton illustrations for this craft.
Scandinavian DIY Halloween Felt Decorations
Give your Halloween decorations a Scandinavian feel with these simple embroidered skulls.
Skeleton Lights With Old Bottles
The skeleton on this bottle looks more friendly than scary. It's fun to light up your porch by upcycling old bottles.
Stitch a Floppy Felt Skeleton
Spooky season is here, and it’s a perfect time to make a fun and floppy skeleton plush! This DIY project uses simple sewing to combine all the bones into a Halloween decoration that doubles as a soft toy.
Skeleton Hands Halloween Wreath
Use cheap dollar-store plastic skeleton hands to make this spooktacular wreath for the front door.
Repurposed Skeleton Hand Ice Tongs – A Humerus Halloween Craft
Make your guest smile with these spooky, repurposed skeleton ice tongs.
SKULL ROCKS! Perfect for Halloween or just because!
Paint rocks white and then have fun making decorative scary skull faces with Sharpies.
Spooky Skeleton Hands
A super clever Halloween craft idea, use Sharpies on latex gloves to create skeleton hands and then illuminate them with tea lights.
Skeleton Flamingo Tote
If you have a Cricut machine, this is a fun skeleton craft idea. It's a little more quirky than your usual Halloween bags.
Felt Skull Halloween Pillow {Target Knock-Off}
A felt cross and bones felt pillow that's too good for Halloween. I'd have this on my couch all year around.
Skele-Tee DIY
You don't need fancy crafting machines to make this skeleton t-shirt, just freezer paper and paint.
Halloween Craft:Paper Skull Lanterns
Update some plain paper lanterns with black tissue paper and glue for a spooky Halloween version.
Glowing Skull String Art
This skull looks even cooler after dark as it glows!
DIY Printed Halloween Candles -
Did you know you can transfer images to candles using tissue paper? These DIY Skull and Skeleton Candles are a great way to make some inexpensive Halloween decorations!
Painted Skeleton Feet Shoes Tutorial
A skeleton craft to go with the t-shirt above. Fun slippers to wear on your feet whilst taking the kids trick-or-treating!
DIY Halloween Skeleton Hand Wall Decor
They are perfect Halloween wall vignettes. I love the idea of using it as a dried flower vase or just showing off tiny pumpkins. And quite possibly a key holder for all of October.
Vintage Halloween Decor | Skeleton Silhouettes
Upcycle some round vintage picture frames and add skeleton silhoute for stylish Halloween decor.
DIY Skeleton Hands Vase | My Dollar Store DIY
Surround a glass vase with painted dollar store skeleton hands for a stylish but creepy Halloween decoration.
DIY Trick-or-Treat Bag that GLOWS in the DARK!
A fun DIY trick-or-treat bag that GLOWS in the DARK! It’s such a cute, personalized design that is perfect for Halloween!
DIY Card Stock Skeleton
This homemade card stock skeleton is so bold and perfect, and you can see him as you’re pulling up the block. It’s so cool. I positioned him so that his hands needed to be holding something; you could put anything that you wanted in his hands.
Skeleton Painted Flamingo: Halloween Decoration
Give a garden flamingo a creepy make over with this skeleton craft.
DIY Skeleton Bottles
Air dry clay is used to make the creepy skeleton hands and skulls on these cool Halloween bottles.
Salt Dough Bones
Make enough of these salt dough bones, and soon you'll be able to make a whole skeleton.
Disney Haunted Mansion Halloween Frame with Grim Grinnin' Ghosts
This Disney Haunted Mansion Frame for Halloween adds the perfect amount of spookiness to your Halloween decor!
Day of the Dead Paper Puppet Template
A basic Skeleton Paper Puppet Template – that you can embellish with flowers and hearts and anything you wish… And it has an additional printable page – with Day of the Dead accessories – such as roses, marigolds, top hats and hair pieces.
Free Printable Skulls And Skeletons
Check out these two downloads on Pictureboxblue if you want some cool vintage Halloween art prints. Both collections of images are in the Public Domain. So they are Copyright-free, and you can use them however you wish.
Niki | Life as a LEO Wife
Wednesday 12th of October 2022
Great roundup! I bet your son was an adorable skeleton! Thanks for sharing on Crafty Creators!
Claire Armstrong
Wednesday 12th of October 2022
Thank you so much, yes he was very cute!
Michelle
Monday 10th of October 2022
I neeeeeed some of those skeleton shoes. They would totally creep my hubby out, and I actually adapted your cute Scandinavian skulls tutorial to make a bookmark for my son's girlfriend. She loved it!!
Claire Armstrong
Monday 10th of October 2022
Yeah, I wouldn't mind a pair of those slippers. Good to hear she liked the bookmark.
Michele Morin
Thursday 6th of October 2022
Love that your son was obsessed with the pajamas!
Claire Armstrong
Thursday 6th of October 2022
Yes, he wore spiderman PJs the rest of the year 🤣
Janice
Thursday 6th of October 2022
The skull rocks would be a great craft activity for kids
Claire Armstrong
Thursday 6th of October 2022
Yes, I think they would enjoy finding the rocks and then making the faces.