Monster Eyes Made Easy

Bring the Spooky Factor to Your Home

Want an easy craft project to bring some spooky decor to your home and yard? Trying to reign in your Halloween spending but still want plenty of pizzazz? Try making your own Monster Eyes with materials you most likely already have laying around the house.

To make a set of two eyes (and who says you have to stop at two?) gather two paper plates, construction paper in the color of your choice (you’ll need two to four sheets), black paper, scissors, and glue. In a pinch, you can even use a black marker to color white paper for the pupil. Pipe cleaners and heavy duty tape will help attach these eyeballs to certain surfaces.

Find some leftover paper plates. Mismatched plates work great, as long as the backs are white. Flip the plate over, and trace the dimensions of the inner circle on the colored paper. We used construction paper but any kind will work. Cut out the circle to fit the back of the paper plate. Then, use a glass or other round item (a roll of tape works well, too) to trace a smaller circle onto the black paper. Cut out your smaller circle and position it on top of the larger colored circle you made.

Glue the black circle onto the colored circle you made. You can make your eyes centered, or align them at the edge of the colored circle for more variety in expression. Once the glue dries, attach the colored circle to the center of the back side of the paper plate. A border of white should show all around the edges. If you need extra attachment or run low on glue, you can also staple the paper to the plate.

If you want to attach the eyes to a surface rather than hanging them, grab some pipe cleaners and heavy duty tape. Lay the pipe cleaner down the center surface of the reverse side of the plate (not covered with the eyeball). Tape along the length and voila! You’ve got a bendable way to stick the eyeballs in bushes or around the house. Want something studier? Chopsticks also work well for adding these eyeballs to potted plants or the dirt in your yard. 

For extra credit, we covered the colored construction paper background of our eyes with glow in the dark paint. We spray painted the cut out circles before the glue step of the process, and waited for the paint to dry. We also covered our finished product in a clear coat to give it more weather resistance. We had both these things left over from other projects. If you don’t have any clear coat spray paint handy, clear plastic food wrap can also help protect the plates from wet weather.

This quick project packs a lot of personality. You can make multiple pairs with different colors for the eyes, or give your monster more than two eyeballs. Even young kids will have no trouble helping out with this simple project.

Happy monster hosting!