Easy Halloween Craft: Googly Eye Bats

Whoa – are those Googly Eye Bats looking at me! Yes, they are and we had so much fun making this easy Halloween craft to add to the DIY Halloween decorations this year. Loving this Halloween craft for kids and toddlers. My craft stash seemed to have a googly eye explosion over the summer and I was looking a Halloween googly eye craft idea to use the craft stash of goggly eyes.

This is also an upcycle Halloween craft using cardboard boxes as the base and while I love Amazon Prime the boxes do tend to accumulate. This is a Halloween craft for preschoolers as there is no right or wrong or perfect way to make the googly eye bats. If the kids like glue and magic markers this is a Halloween craft which aims to please!

Materials

Googly Eyes

Bat template

Cardboard

Black Marker or black acrylic paint

Scissors

Clear drying craft glue or glue gun

Exacto (optional)

How To Make Easy Halloween Craft – Googly Eye Bats

Directions

Search the internet to find a downloadable and free templates of bats. I found mine here.
Cut out the bats from the template.
Place the templates on a heavy piece of cardboard (Resuse your box from Amazon!) This makes a sturdy base for the googly eye bats.
Trace the outline of the bat onto the cardboard.
Cut out the bat from the cardboard. This can take a wee bit of muscle and should be cut out by an adult. I used an exacto blade.
If using a thinner piece of cardboard the bat can be cut out with scissors.
The edges of the cut out bat from the cardboard does not have to be precise as the edges will be covered.
Highly suggested but optional, color the cardboard bat black. The quickest way is to use black acrylic paint (it will take seconds to paint and dries in a few minutes.)
The second way and this is a great Halloween craft for preschoolers is to color the bat black with magic markers. A fun way to include toddlers and preschoolers in making a Halloween craft.
Bring on the googly eyes! Any size, any shape will work.
Bring on the glue!
For the googly eye bats I used the clear craft glue to make the googly eyes stick. I did not peel off the self stick adhesive on the back of the googly eyes before gluing. I have found that while googly eyes come with a self stick adhesive the adhesive is not strong enough for googly eye crafts.
In the small bat above I used both stick glue (the purple) and white craft glue. Each are clear drying glues and will disappear after the glue dries.
For the large bat I decided to line the edges with googly eyes. I originally was going to fill the whole bat with googly eyes, but after lining the edges – I liked the bat as is!
TIP: Place the EYES of the bat first. Then glue line the edges of the bat with googly eyes. For this bat I used the same size of googly eye because I had alot of googly eyes to use of each type.
For the small bat I filled the entire bat with googly eyes. Again I placed the eyes first of the bat and then worked at filling in the remainder of the body of the bat.
I randomly selected googly eyes from the googly eye stash with not a thought to shape or design.

Question: How many googly eyes does it take to make a bat?! This is my go to source for googly eyes as the selection of sizes and shapes is wonderful. I made both of the bats with about one of the square sections in the googly eye box.

How To Make A Halloween Googly Bat Kitchen Magnet

There are many Halloween decoration uses for the bats when decorating for Halloween. Attach a loop of invisible wire to the back of the bat and let the bats fly! One of my favorite is to make the bats refrigerator magnets. So easy to turn this bat into a magnet!

All that is needed to turn the bat into a refrigerator bat is to glue a round magnet on the back of the bat. I love this pack of round magnets and it is amazing how handy they have become for my craft projects!

Halloween Craft For Preschoolers

The Googly Eye Bats really offer an opportunity for kids of all ages to participate. Besides the cutting out of the bat from the cardboard which is adults only, preschoolers and toddlers can participate in this craft.

Color the bats black with acrylic paint or black magic markers
Pick out the googly eyes to use
Turn over the googly eyes, eye side up, to use on the bat
Coat parts of the bat with glue to place the googly eyes
Place the googly eyes on the bat

How To Make Googly Eyes Stick?

If you have crafted with googly eyes… well these little guys can be slippery to work with and it is key for a googly eye craft that the googly eyes solidly adhere.

I have used a few methods to make googly eyes stick to all types of materials and through trial and error have come up with my favorites. As a result I’ve used so many googly eyes for crafting I have more experience than I’d every imagine. I’ve reviewed my favorite ways to tame a googly eye with glue here.

Looking For More Halloween Googly Eye Ideas?

I made this Halloween Mason Jar Vase by recycling an old mason jar and using paint and googly eyes.

This easy Mason Jar craft is an attention grabber. The Halloween Googly Eye Vase can also glow by adding battery operated tea lights because this creates a spooky vase to add to the Halloween decor. Learn how to turn your Mason Jar into a Halloween google eye craft here.