Hello friends! Today I have a craft that we made 2 years ago. A cardboard skull laced with yarn. Great for both Halloween and Day of the Dead. Look at how great these look!

I am a sew and embroidery lover, so I made all sorts of things for Penelope to lace with, by poking holes into cardboard and using yarn to lace with. Typically I made sweet, cute things like whiskers on kittens, shapes, stars, it never dawned on me to lace Skull heads! But, for Halloween another mom suggested it and so here they are! Lacing is great for fine motor skills and a nice intro to the wonderful craft of sewing.

Tools for the Trade:

Cardboard– We had a brown box from an Amazon delivery, you can use a cereal box or something thinner if you wish or white foam board.

White Paint and Brush– Our box was brown, so we had to paint it white. You can also trace your Skull head onto white cardstock, cut it out and glue it down onto the cardboard if you want to skip the paint.

Awl– or other sharp object for hole making, such as a screw, nail, tip of scissors. Please be careful!

Yarn– Any color that you love!

Pencil– for marking holes

Xacto– or scissors

Yarn needle– or tape, you will want to wrap tape around the tips of your yarn so that they go into your holes easily. We have a blunt plastic yarn needle.

The How To:

1. Sketch a random skull shape head. You….can….do….it! I made a circle on top and a sort of oval below, you can see by the finished photos above, they aren’t exactly alike. Crafting with your child is not about perfection, it is about connection.

2. Use your Xacto to cut it out

3. Paint it white if you wish, (skip this step if you are glueing cardstock or using white foam or board.) Keep in mind that if you are using a thin cardboard such as a cereal box, the paint will make it curl. That’s okay, once dry, you can lay it under a heavy book for a while and it will flatten out.

Here are our cut out Skull heads drying after a coat of kids tempera paint.

4. Poke holes for Eyes, I made 8 holes in a circle formation, with One hole in the center of the circle.

Nose- One hole on top and 4 holes  below, making a triangular formation.

Mouth- I played around with the mouth shapes. The Blue yarn threaded skull has 5 holes above, 5 holes below.

The Purple yarn Skull has 5 holes on top 7 holes in the middle and 5 holes in the bottom in a sort of smile shape.

5. Thread your yarn needle with yarn, or wrap tape around the tip of your yarn so that it has a nice hard edge and can get through the holes easier.

6. Start sewing! Yarn up, yarn down, yarn all around!

Have fun connecting and crafting with your child!

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