If you need an easy bat craft this Halloween, try out our easy paper plate bat craft! All you need are paper plates & craft paper to get started!

As October rolls around, you find Halloween-themed decorations, costumes and other items everywhere, especially in stores. You’ll notice ghosts, witches, Jack-o-lanterns, skeletons and more, but one thing that always surprises me is the appearance of bats!

Bats aren’t fictional monsters like ghosts or witches – they’re living creatures that actually inhabit our planet. So why are they associated with Halloween?

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Why are bats associated with Halloween?

Thousands of years before the Roman Empire, Europe was inhabited by Celts, who celebrated Samhain, a harvest festival, towards the end of the year. It was considered to be a time when supernatural elements interacted with mortals.

To ward off evil spirits, the Celts wore costumes and lit bonfires. The fires attracted insects like moths, which in turn attracted bats. Soon, bats became a common sight during Samhain, and gradually came to be associated with the festival.

It is believed that even though customs changed and October 31st came to be celebrated as All Hallows’ Eve, some associations remained, and that is the case with bats!

So bats are now a thing during Halloween, and we’re going with the flow – with a cute and easy paper plate bat craft for kids!

Easy and Fun Paper Plate Bat Craft for Kids

Supplies required:

Colored craft papers
Paper plate
Acrylic paint
Paint brush
Scissors
Pencil
Craft glue
Sharpies

How to make the Paper Plate Bat Craft:

1. Download and print the Paper Plate Bat Craft template. The template includes parts of the bat, like the head, wings, eyes, mouth, fangs and cheeks.

2. Trace the eyes, mouth, fangs and cheeks of the paper plate bat craft on craft paper of the appropriate colors and cut them out. We’ve used white for the eyes and fangs, as well as pink for the mouth and cheeks. Use a marker to draw pupils inside the eyes. Put away all your cutouts for now.

3. Let’s move on to the paper plates – one will form the base of the paper plate bat craft, while the other will become the wings. Cut one paper plate into two halves – each half will be a wing for the bat.

4. Let’s go back to the paper plate bat craft template. Use the head template on the full paper plate to trace the outline of the bat’s head and ears. Cut along this traced line. Now, use the wing template on each paper plate half and trace the outline in pencil so that the wing’s curved edge is along the straight edge of the paper plate half. You should end up with pieces as shown below.

5. Apply a coat or two of black acrylic paint on the paper plate that’ll be the bat’s head. Remember to let the first coat dry before applying the second.

6. Stick the eyes on the head paper plate, under the ears. Stick the cheek spots under the eyes as shown below.

7. Glue the mouth in between the cheek spots, and the fangs on top of the mouth so that all their top edges align. your paper plate bat craft is coming together nicely!

8. Paint the bat’s wings with black acrylic paint. You can apply multiple coats – remember to let the first coat dry before applying the second.

9. Once all the parts are dry, attach the wings on either side of the bat’s head.

There you go – your cute little paper plate bat craft is ready!

Isn’t this paper plate bat craft absolutely adorable? It’s hard to think of bats as cute, but this guy certainly is! You can create multiple paper plate bats and hang them up, or string each one up separately and hang them from the doorway. There are so many ways to add these bats to your Halloween decor and give your space a spooky makeover!

If you’d like to check out more bat crafts for Halloween, here you go: