Straight from the breakfast table, here’s a craft that children can do to help decorate for Halloween night. This craft is twice as sweet because it uses one-serving cereal boxes, those diminutive cubes that kids beg parents to buy for their tiny size and, often, their sugar content.

Experiment with different sizes and shapes of boxes to create a monster menagerie (round oatmeal containers work well, too, for example.) Fake fur can be costly, however; to keep costs low, stick with small boxes.

— Jennifer Forker, The Associated Press

Supplies:

• One-serving (0.95-ounce) cereal boxes (if using larger boxes, adjust supplies and measurements)
• Colorful fake fur fabric (¼ yard or smaller)
• Small Styrofoam balls and/or pompoms (various sizes)
• Pipe cleaners
• Markers
• Box cutter
• Sharp scissors
• White craft glue
• Ruler or tape measure
• Heavy-stock paper or poster board (for template)

Optional craft supplies:

• Felt (various colors)
• Googly eyes
• Stickers

1. Tape the cereal box closed. Using a box cutter or scissors, cut the box — an inch to 1½ inches from the top — on three sides (both ends and the front side, so the box flips open). Parents should cut the boxes and fabric for younger children.

2. With heavy-stock paper, create two templates: one for the monster body and the other for its head. For the body, measure the box length and width from the cut made in step 1.

3. For the monster head template, fold the heavy-stock paper over the top of the box (the end with the cut made in step 1). Mark where the paper hits the cut edge along the box circumference. Using this as your guide, cut the paper into the shape of a “plus” sign, to fit over the box top.

4. Once the templates are made, use them to cut out the monster body and head from fake fur fabric and/or felt. Beginning with the body, glue fabric onto the box. You need to use a lot of craft glue and hold for a few minutes to secure. Then, glue the monster head fabric or felt into place.

5. Decorate with the accessories, making sure an older teenager or adult pokes the holes necessary for adding arms, antennae, etc.

6. Once dry, these can be filled with wrapped Halloween candy.

SOURCE: RACHEL FULLER, A LIBRARIAN IN ARVADA, COLO.

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