Recycle Tins for Kids Halloween Crafts

Recycling tin cans into Halloween Lanterns

Those who follow my blog will know I'm currently completing an upcycling course with NCC online. What that basically translates to is I'm now hoarding every cardboard, tin and glass jar that comes into my house! So when I received my Halloween crafting bundle I knew I had made the right decision to wash all the soup cans (and the tuna and sweetcorn tins too).

Tins (and jars) make perfect lanterns for all occasions and we had great fun making bats, pumpkins and mummy lanterns.

Materials need to make Recycled Halloween Lanterns

* Tin cans or Jars
* Paint
* Materials to decorate the cans
* Wiggly eyes
* Bostik Glu Dots
* Scissors
* Sharpies
* Mod Podge / Glue
* LED tea lights

What materials we used to decorate halloween lanterns

The first step is to paint your tins and to leave to dry overnight.

Once the tins are dry, there is no limit as to how these can be decorated. We used several approaches to help you with some ideas.

Stick on Templates

We used the Bostik Glu dots to stick the pumpkin and bat cutouts onto the cans. As the foam is a bit heavy I found myself adding a peg to each end for the glue dots to hold. For an added extra touch I drilled holes in the eyes and mouth of the pumpkin (only do this when your little one isn't around).

adding the glue dots to the can to cover with a pumpkin

adding the glue dots to the can to cover with a bat

Using Web material and confetti pieces

We glued the spider web around a black can and whilst the glue was setting I drilled some holes in the gaps as I did with the pumpkin. When the glue was set, we covered the can with glue and placed various Halloween confetti pieces on it.

Using patterned paper

A very effective and simple way to decorate the cans is to use the glue dots on the can and wrap a piece of decorated paper around the tin. I tended to do this job whilst my son was busy with the glue, confetti and wiggly eyes.

Using Sharpies

A nice thick black marker will also make a great lantern, especially if filled in to give the effect of being cut out like a pumpkin.

These were just a few of the lanterns we created. We only stopped because we ran out of tins! If I had started my course a few months earlier then I feel my son would still be at the table creating these.

Do you have a favourite? I'm a little in love with the mummy!