Halloween Bats

After reading the book Bats by Gail Gibbons, we just couldn’t get enough of bats.

So, we decided to make our own version of the cardboard tube bat.

I had originally planned to hang these for a Halloween decoration, but the girls decided to use them as toys instead. They were tons of fun to play with!

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Supplies Needed:

Cardboard tube, cut in half
Black paint
Black construction paper
Glue
Googly eyes
White crayon
Hole punch
Yarn or string

To prep the project, I drew simple bats wings on our black construction paper.

I made the wings all one piece because you will attach your body to the middle. If you use white crayon, it is both easy to see and cut.

I also drew two small triangles for our ears.

The girls each took half of a cardboard tube and painted it black.

While they were waiting for the paint to dry, they cut out their wings and ears.

Once the paint was (almost) dry, we glued our cardboard tube to the middle of our wings.

Next we glued our ears to the top of our tubes.

The girls added googly eyes and drew a mouth and nose with the white crayon.

Once our bats were complete, we punched two holes on the top of each side of our wings.

To finish our bats, we ran a piece of yarn through both holes and tied it at the top.

It’s perfect for hanging… or trailing along behind as you run through the house.

We had tons of fun making and learning about bats.

We learned some fun facts. Did you know that bats have thumbs? Me neither!

We have a new favorite animal.

And, we now have new toys that we made ourselves.