Handprint Bats

Make a fun Handprint Bat using a simple bat body template, black cardstock, and your child’s own handprints. Add personality with a white paint pen, small googly eyes, scissors, and a glue stick. A quick and easy Halloween craft for young kids especially preschoolers and younger elementary.

If you’ve ever seen a video of bats, you know they can be a little creepy looking. But bats are actually quite fascinating! So even though Halloween typically means scary bats, these handprint bats are an adorable alternative. I’m the queen of making spooky decorations into something fun and family friendly!

This cutie little bat friend is just one of my favorite Halloween crafts. We make this witch on a broomstick craft almost every year because it’s so easy! And we love our DIY ghost garland to hang as decoration.

So this year, dive into Halloween crafts with your kids that they’ll have so much fun with! No spook, just fun…and maybe a few tasty treats like Oreo spiders along the way.

Why You’ll Love Handprint Bats

• This adorable Halloween craft can be used as something to play with or made into a DIY Halloween decoration! String them on a line of fishing line, ribbon, or twine to make the cutest little garland.
• You can make this easy craft in just five minutes. It’s a really great to make with large groups of children or a limited amount of time.
• This Halloween handprint craft needs minimal supplies making it really affordable. Just some card stock, googly eyes, paint pen, glue and scissors and you’re ready to go!

Supplies Needed to Make Handprint Bats

• Black cardstock – Construction paper works as well, your handprint bat just won’t be as sturdy. You can grab extra cardstock and make handprint spiders!
• Googly eyes – Use regular sized googly eyes to make this silly little Halloween handprint craft.
• White paint pen – If you are making this craft with younger children, keep in mind that you may need to help them with the white paint pen. These can be a little drippy at times and difficult to start with when they’re a new pen.
• Scissors – Safety scissors can be used in this activity!
• Glue stick – A plain school glue stick is all you need to glue all of the pieces together for your handprint bats.
• Handprint bat template and printer – You’ll need to print out this template to make the body for your handprint bat. If you don’t have a template, feel free to free-hand it!

How to Make a Bat Handprint Craft

1. Print the handprint bat template out on a sheet of computer paper and carefully cut it out.
2. Next, trace the template onto the piece of black cardstock and cut it out.
3. Then, trace two handprints onto black cardstock. If you are making this craft with littles, they may need help at this step to trace their hands!
4. Cut out each handprint and then glue one to either side of the bat body.
5. Glue googly eyes on the upper third of the body and then use a white paint pen to draw bat fangs. Just the letter “W” will work for the fangs!
6. Allow all glue to dry and set and then it’s ready to go!

How to Make this Educational

Like I mentioned earlier, bats are actually super fascinating! So while this craft can be super fun for Halloween, you can use it for educational purposes too. Teachers, here’s a simple way to make October 31st educational and still Halloween themed!

National Geographic has a great educational book for kids that teaches all about bats. National Geographic Kids also has great online resources and facts about bats for kids.

More bat books to read:

• Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
• Bats at the Beach and Bats at the Library by Brian Lies
• Nightsong by Ari Berk

And then, add in a science experiment and second craft all-in-one with these super cool coffee filter bats!

Pro Tips!

• Make a banner out of these bats by writing capital letters in the center of each body to spell out a word. You could make a banner that say “Happy Halloween!” all out of this bat handprint craft.
• Black or silver glitter on the handprints or body would add some fun sparkle to you craft.
• Glue a magnet to the back of your completed bat to make a fun Halloween magnet that you can proudly display on the fridge.

Did you learn anything new about bats when you made your handprint bats? Let us know what fun facts you found out!

More Halloween Crafts You’ll Love

• Yarn Ghosts are super easy and make the most adorable DIY decorations that you can add to your list!
• Make some Jack-o-Lantern look a-likes with this Toilet Paper Roll Pumpkin Craft!
• I wouldn’t get as freaked out by spiders if they were as cute as this Spider Craft!
• Use up those popsicle sticks you have laying around and make this Popsicle Stick Frankenstein Craft.