Halloween crafts!

Welcome back! At A Quantum Leap Tutoring, just like everywhere else, we're continuing to gear up for Halloween. Maybe you've been decorating for weeks now, or maybe some of you, like me, are crossing your fingers that you'll find some spare time to dig out the cobwebs and blacklight this Saturday... or to run out to the store to buy some decorations when last year's turn out to have gone missing.

But not all Halloween decorations need be purchased, nor do you have to be Martha Stewart - or even an adult! - to make great-looking decorations. Today, we've rounded up some links to super-easy Halloween crafts for kids to do, with you or even on their own, to spruce up the house to an appropriate level of spookiness by Sunday.

I'm not a gifted crafter myself, so I loved all the free craft patterns and instructions on allfreecraft.com's Halloween craft page. Every project (scroll down) has its own step-by-step instructions - with photos, so everyone can look at the project before you go finding supplies and decide if it would be something worth making. My favorites are the Halloween in a Jar "snowglobe" and the CD Pumpkin. I'm always a fan of reusing things for crafts; of the three "R"s, recycle, reduce, and reuse, people most often forget about reusing, or it just doesn't occur to us! There's no need to go out and buy a bunch of supplies  for any of these crafts; use what you've  got. For instance, the Egg Carton Bat (another great craft for using something you've already got lying around) says you need black paint, but even a black marker would do.

Along the same lines, familyfun.go.com has a lot of great ideas for Halloween decorations. One I think is great and unique is the House-o'-Lantern, which gives instructions for making your whole house into a pumpkin of sorts! Even without the orange tissue paper this would be pretty neat-looking, I think. Best of all, this site has 40 last-minute costume ideas.

When the decorating and preparation are easy, that means no stress about getting everything done on top of studying. It's a great celebration, but it also comes at the time of year when lots of students are starting to really struggle in school. The review at the beginning of the year is over, and we're getting deep into the new material, and it's a time when we often need to reevaluate plans for students. Tutoring can be a great option to supplement when students are struggling with background concepts necessary for their schoolwork. Remember, A Quantum Leap Tutoring is always here for all your tutoring needs, so give yourself a little peace of mind and enjoy the spooky season!