Come and have a look at our Halloween small world: take the tour and be inspired by our clever little spooky details to set up your own scary scene at home!
Halloween Small World
It’s Halloween, and for the first time ever I am a little bit excited about that this year. I grew up in Belgium, where we didn’t celebrate Halloween in those days (that makes me sound old – I’m not!). I think I first learned about Halloween through the movie Hocus Pocus. (Which I fully intend on forcing my husband to watch with me this year.) Over the past couple of years Halloween has become more popular all over the world and there is no escaping it. So I’ve decided to embrace it.
Lots of people have told me how Halloween above anything else was fun and a part of their family tradition: the decorating, costume making and trick or treating. Now, I’m all for making memories and having family fun so we’ll give it our best shot this year!
In preparation I’ve been working on a Halloween Small World scene. Noa has been curious about my ‘tinkering’ for weeks and cannot wait to be allowed in my studio and have a play. It’ll be an excellent opportunity for her to explore how Halloween is presented in all it’s stereotypes and I will try and answer all of her questions.
I already know that we’ll get the most ‘play’ out of our small world after Halloween, when children want to relive their adventures (over and over again). Small world play is perfectly suited for just that!
So, without further ado, here it is:
The bewitched park and graveyard (with giant spiders!)
The street, where families are out ‘trick or treating’ and you can see the entrance to the park, where the scary stuff is happening! The street and grass are leftover pieces of fabric. I used some thin painter’s tape to do the road markings.
The houses are made out of cardboard with a little felt ‘grass’ trim. The pumpkins are made from home made play-dough, shaped with a toothpick and have a tiny branch in them. The ‘bushes’ you see in the background are crochet flowers.
I drew the bricks on the cardboard wall and glued some images on I found in the newspaper. I like how it came out so well, looking a bit rough. The police man may or may not be dressed up!
This is the other side of the ‘old wall’. The mummy is wrapped in a cut up stretch bandage. The coffin is painted cardboard (wrapped in painter’s tape) and the little cage was a great ‘$2-shop’ find!
The haunted tree is a paper bag that was cut up and then I twisted the strips in pairs of two or three. The bats are hand drawn and cut out of thick black paper. I made the ghosts from scraps of curtain, a bit of polyester filling and thread. So simple and so awesome, right?
I love these spiders. I wanted to make some spiders using old buttons and it took me a while to come up with something that worked: pipe cleaners! I did ‘trim’ the hair back a bit so I could get 2 pipe cleaners through one buttonhole. (It’s a bit finicky so don’t use your smallest buttons.)
Gravestones for the graveyard. I admit feeling a bit uncomfortable making these one evening! I made these putting on a layer of glue, then the paper and another layer of glue. Voilà, easy as.
Our witches. Their hats are made out of felt and I added an old button. I made the capes out of black jersey (torn leggings). And the wand was a last minute thought: a branch with a star glued on top! Their broomsticks are just that: sticks, held together with wire. The altar is made up of driftwood and the little bowl was another excellent thrift store find. The book of spells is a Trade Aid treasure, bound in some rope. The flasks at the back are filled with dirt and sparkles.
I hope you enjoyed this small world and that it has given you some inspiration to ‘play Halloween’ for a bit longer.
And just in case you’re a small world play enthusiast like myself, you might want to have a look at our other small worlds or start by reading the beginner’s guide to small world play first.
Have fun and happy halloween!
Ann*
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I just love all the details you add to your small worlds! I would totally want to play with this one too!
Thanks! I do get a bit carried away with the details sometimes … Mama likes to play too!