Egg Carton Bats Preschool Craft

Our preschoolers have been talking about bats a lot (a fabulous October theme!), so today we made this adorable Egg Carton Bats Craft:

It's easy to make, the kiddos can each personalize their bat, they make a great toy or decoration, and painting is an excellent small muscle strengthener!

So here's the easy step by step for Egg Carton Bats!

Simple Supplies:

* egg carton (cut into 3 "bumps" for each bat)

* self-adhesive wiggly eyes (These were provided to us by CraftProjectIdeas, and we have absolutely loved them!)

* paint (we used black, brown, blue, and white)

* paint brushes and paint tins

* ribbon and hot glue gun with glue (optional, if you want the hanger)

Easy How-to:

1- Look at pictures of bats so your children can see some of the color and variation in an animal that is often drawn all black.  There are some excellent bat pictures here.

2- Let your children paint their egg cartons.

3- After the bats are dry, let your children put eyes on.  If you don't have the self-adhesive eyes, you can use hot glue or normal school glue...just give it time to dry.

4- Add a ribbon for hanging (or flying!) with a dot of hot glue on the top of the bat's head.

That's it!  You now have your very own bat!

A Few Fun Bat Facts:

* There are over a thousand species of bats!

* Most bats eat insects or fruit.

* One brown bat can eat over 1,000 mosquitoes in an hour!

* Some bats can live 30 years!

* Bats use echolocation to find their way around the dark.

More egg carton bats!  You can find loads of egg carton bats around the internet!  Check out these ladies' fun variations on this great preschool project:  Laura's Crafty Life, Crafts by Courtney, and Happy Clippings

More fun Halloween-y crafts!  Have you seen all of these?

A Giant "Spooky" Ghost:

Rainbow Pumpkin:

5 Little Pumpkins:

Glow-in-the-Dark Spider Webs:

Happy Educating!

Carla