Handprint Bat Craft Activity for Preschoolers
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Halloween is the perfect time to introduce fun, spooky, and creative fall activities to preschoolers, and the Handprint Bat Craft is a delightful way to do just that.
This simple project encourages fine motor skills, sensory development, and creativity while helping children learn about bats, Halloween, and shapes. Using just a few supplies like cardstock, glue, markers, and googly eyes, that you probably already have on hand, preschoolers can make their own adorable bat friend to display for the season.
This craft not only provides a great opportunity for art exploration but also gives kids a chance to work on their cutting, tracing, and gluing skills. Plus, it makes an adorable keepsake for parents to treasure as they watch those little handprints grow over time.
Why Handprint Crafts Are Great for Preschoolers
Handprint crafts are popular in early childhood classrooms and home daycares for many reasons. They offer a personal touch—each bat’s wings are unique to the child’s own hands. They also create lasting memories for families and caregivers. When children create something using their own bodies, it helps them connect more deeply to the activity.
Handprint crafts encourage preschoolers to engage with sensory materials like glue and markers, explore spatial awareness through placement and design, and feel pride in seeing their finished work. These crafts can also be adapted for any holiday or season, and the bat version is a Halloween favorite.
Learning Objectives for This Craft:
- Improve fine motor skills through tracing, cutting, and gluing
- Promote creativity and self-expression
- Support shape and size recognition (circles, hand shapes)
- Encourage discussion about bats, Halloween, and nocturnal animals
- Provide practice following directions in sequence
Supplies Needed for Handprint Bat Craft
To make this cute Halloween bat, you’ll only need a few basic supplies—many of which you may already have in your craft cabinet.
- Cardstock – black for the bat’s body and wings, plus any background color of choice
- Googly eyes – small size, to create fun and expressive bat faces
- Markers – white for drawing fangs, yellow for background designs
- Glue – regular white glue or glue sticks
- Scissors – child-safe scissors for cutting handprints and bat body shapes
How to Make the Handprint Bat Craft
This activity is best done one-on-one or in small groups, depending on the age and skill level of the children. It’s also helpful to pre-cut some of the materials for younger children who are still developing their scissor skills.
Handprint Bat Craft
Ingredients
- Cardstock black for the bat’s body and wings plus any background color of choice
- Googly eyes – small size
- Markers white for drawing fangs, yellow for background designs
- Glue
- Scissors
Instructions
- Begin by helping each child place one hand flat on the black cardstock. Use a white colored pencil or light crayon to trace around their hand. Repeat the process with the other hand. Each child will need two handprints to form the bat’s wings.
- Using safety scissors, have the children cut out their handprints along the traced lines.
- From the remaining black cardstock, cut a circle to serve as the bat’s body. A small bowl or cup can be used to trace a perfect circle.
- Let the children choose a background color of cardstock. Purple, orange, or deep blue are all festive Halloween options. Place the paper horizontally (landscape orientation), which gives the bat enough space to spread its wings across the page.
- Have the children glue their handprint cutouts on either side of the page, palm side down and fingers pointing outward.
- Now glue the black circle right in the center of the two handprints so it overlaps slightly.
- Let each child choose two small googly eyes to place near the top of the circle.
- Using a white marker or paint pen, show the children how to draw a simple “W” under the eyes to represent fangs.
- Give the children a yellow marker and encourage them to draw bats flying in the distance. These can be small bat shapes or simple flying “M” curves that suggest motion. They can also add stars, the moon, or even pumpkins if they like.
Tips for Success
- Prepare handprint tracings in advance for very young children to save time and reduce frustration
- Allow freedom for each child to choose their background color and decoration ideas
- Encourage kids to tell a story about their bat to add a literacy element to the craft
Ways to Extend the Activity
If you’d like to build on the Handprint Bat Craft, consider adding some of these ideas for a multi-sensory, multi-subject learning experience:
- Read a Book About Bats: Pair the craft with a bat-themed picture book like Stellaluna by Janell Cannon or Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies.
- Sing a Song: Incorporate a Halloween or bat-themed song like “Five Little Bats Flying in the Night.”
- Explore Science: Talk about nocturnal animals, bat habitats, and how bats help the environment by eating insects.
- Make It a Puppet: Attach a popsicle stick to the back of the bat and turn it into a Halloween puppet for pretend play.
- Include Writing Practice: Older preschoolers can write their name or a short sentence like “My bat is flying” on the background.
Benefits of Halloween Crafts for Preschoolers
Holiday-themed crafts help preschoolers connect to the world around them. The Handprint Bat Craft introduces themes of fall, night animals, and Halloween in a fun and non-scary way. Children build confidence as they complete a project from start to finish, especially when they can see their own hands represented in the final creation.
Crafts also offer a break from screens and structured activities, giving kids the chance to use their hands, move their bodies, and express their emotions through colors and shapes. It’s a playful, low-pressure way to develop school readiness skills.
The Handprint Bat Craft is a festive, simple, and engaging activity for preschoolers that blends art, creativity, and early learning. With just a few common supplies and a little imagination, kids can create their own bat buddy to celebrate Halloween. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or daycare provider, this project is a wonderful way to make memories with your little ones while also sneaking in some developmental learning.
From practicing scissor skills to identifying shapes and expressing themselves through drawing, kids will be proud to show off their spooky handprint bat. And best of all, it’s quick to set up, easy to clean, and tons of fun for everyone involved.
Halloween Fun for Kids
For more Halloween ideas, check these out:
