Ever wanted to learn how to make a Halloween bat? This simple and fast craft will give parent and child a great project to work on together for the Halloween holiday season. You can easily make these bat decorations in bulk and pin them to curtains, blinds, soft furniture and even yourself. The possibilities abound.

• Recycle time! Cut the back off an empty cereal box to use as a sturdy template form.

• You can really personalize individual bats with just a little imagination. Try painting tribal patterns in bright paints for added flair.

• If you want to hang the bats from the ceiling, make sure to cover both the front and the back of the clothespin with a whole bat. Then, just tack fishing line or string to the ceiling and clip the bat on it.

• Trace the bat wings with a 3D glitter paint pen. It's sparkly yet mess free.

• Buy a bag of black sequins or plastic jewels to add some reflectivity during dramatic lighting.

It should take you no longer than 10 to 15 minutes to assemble one full bat. Since you will probably want a batch of these to hang around the house, think ahead and cut out the template on stacks of paper at a time, after which you can set up an assembly line of the supplies to quicken the process. For example, you could do all the cutting while your child does all the gluing.

1. Clothespins
2. Glue
3. Black Construction Paper
4. Scissors
5. Googly eyes
6. Paperclips
7. Pencil
8. Thin Cardboard (optional)
9. Glitter Paint Pen (optional)Bat Template

After you have your supplies gathered, you need to cut out the bat wings and body. If you plan to do multiple bats at once, don't stack more than six sheets of paper at a time. This will give you more control during the cutting phase.

1. Method 1:
   1. Hold the template sheet to your construction paper and secure it on all four corners with paperclips.
   2. Then, start cutting out the pieces directly.
2. Method 2:
   1. Cut out the template shapes from the printed page.
   2. Trace the shapes onto a piece of construction paper or thin cardboard to create a new template.
   3. Use a pencil with this new template and copy the shapes to your black project paper.

Now, that you have all your shapes cut out and collected. It's time to put it all together.

1. First, glue the wing shape to the middle of the clothespin.
2. Take the it and place a line of glue along its length.
3. Then, center the bat body over the glue to secure it.
4. Glue a pair of googly eyes on the face area.
5. Let the glue dry before adding extra decoration.