One Halloween display, a roomful of children, and only so much table space: a shared cardboard haunted house gives everyone a piece of the project without asking everyone to build an entire house.
Make a flat cardboard house facade, then let small teams create paper windows, friendly ghosts, pumpkins, and bats. Arrange their pieces together and glue them onto one wall display. Children can work at separate tables while the house becomes the shared finishing point.
This tutorial is an original group-collage design for school and after-school programs. It uses a large, lightweight base and flat decorations so the finished display is easier to assemble and store. Keep the spooky details playful and suitable for your group.
Plan the Display Before Craft Day
Choose the wall or bulletin board first, check its usable space, and follow your program’s display rules. For a sample layout, use a cardboard body about 24" wide by 30" tall, with roof peaks bringing the total height to about 36". These are suggested design dimensions, not a required template.
For a class of 25, five teams of five can each contribute five main decorations. That gives every child a visible contribution and produces about 25 pieces to arrange. Test their size against your base before cutting a whole stack.
Plan an adult preparation period plus one decorating session. If children will paint the base, use a first session for painting and a later session for collage after it dries. Drying depends on the paint, glue, layer thickness, and room conditions; do not promise a fixed completion time.
Materials You Will Need
- Clean, dry corrugated cardboard from packaging, large enough for the body and two roof triangles
- Construction paper in yellow, orange, white, black, and any accent colors
- Purple or another dark tempera paint suitable for cardboard, black paint for the roof, brushes, and palettes; colored paper covering is an alternative
- Paper-and-cardboard adhesive tested on your actual materials
- Markers, pencils, and age-appropriate scissors for paper pieces
- Strong tape for joining the cardboard on the back, table protection, shallow supply trays, and scrap-paper collection bins
- A display fastening method approved for your wall or bulletin board and the finished piece’s weight
Adults should inspect recycled cardboard, remove staples and other unwanted fasteners, and handle all heavy-cardboard cutting and mounting. Prepare large paper shapes for children who need cutting support. Use paint and adhesive according to the product directions.
Give Every Team a Clear Job
Use the assignments below as a starting plan. Children can draw and decorate their own piece even when an adult has prepared the shape. Place a sample at each table so the group can see the scale without needing every decoration to look identical.
| Team | Contribution for five children | Preparation |
|---|---|---|
| Window designers | Five yellow windows with drawn frames or silhouettes | Prepare five large rectangles |
| Friendly ghost makers | Five white ghosts with expressive faces | Offer large rounded shapes |
| Pumpkin decorators | Five orange pumpkins | Prepare chunky circles or pumpkin outlines |
| Bat artists | Five black bats | Provide simple wing shapes and light paper eyes |
| House-detail designers | Five accents: a door and four shutters or brick patches | Show the spaces available on the base |
These are project roles, not ability labels. Let children swap tasks or offer two choices within each team. A child who prefers drawing can add window details; a child who likes arranging can help place the completed pieces.
Step-by-Step: Build Your Cardboard Haunted House
1. Cut and Join the House Base
An adult cuts a broad rectangle for the house body and two triangular roof peaks of different heights. Lay the pieces flat with the roof triangles overlapping the top edge of the body. Tape the overlapping joins firmly on the back, keeping the front clear for decorating.
Keep the outline simple and the corners manageable. Leave windows and doors as paper decorations rather than cutting openings in the cardboard. Place the base flat on a protected table and check that the joins hold when an adult lifts it.
2. Add the Background Color
Paint the body purple and the roof black, using paint suitable for the cardboard. Let it dry fully before attaching paper. If you want one collage session with less wet cleanup, an adult can prepare the painted base ahead, or cover the body and roof with colored paper using your tested adhesive.
Test a small piece first. Too much wet material can distort cardboard, so avoid soaking the base and keep it flat while it dries.
3. Make the Team Decorations
Hand out one main shape per child. Add friendly expressions to ghosts, draw lines or patterns on pumpkins, and decorate windows with curtains, silhouettes, or silly eyes. Keep the pieces large enough to read from across the room.
For bats, use a simple black wing shape with light paper eyes. For the house-detail team, make an orange door and large shutters or brick patches. Save small scraps for accents after everyone’s main piece is finished.
4. Arrange Everything Before Gluing
Bring the finished decorations to the dry base. Start with the door near the bottom, windows across the body, pumpkins along the lower edge, and bats and ghosts in the remaining spaces. Keep the main pieces on the cardboard base. Any extra bats around the house can be mounted separately with an approved method.
Let children suggest positions, then have one or two helpers move pieces while the rest observe. Make sure each child’s contribution has a visible place. Photograph the arrangement for staff reference before pieces are lifted for gluing.
5. Attach the Paper Pieces
Work with one small team at a time at the assembly table. Apply a thin, even layer of the tested adhesive to each paper piece, press it into position, and leave the collage flat while the attachments set. Adults can help reach the center without children leaning onto wet glue.
6. Check and Display the Finished House
Once everything is dry and secure, an adult gently checks the corners of the decorations and the cardboard joins. Repair loose pieces before lifting. Add a separate group credit card or title label, then mount the house with your approved fastening method.
Support the whole display rather than relying on one small strip of tape. Keep it clear of doorways and required signs, and check it periodically while it is up. For a larger display, make several separately mounted house panels instead of one oversized heavy piece.
Keep the Group Session Moving
With the base prepared and dry, a possible decorating-session plan is five minutes for the demonstration, 15–20 minutes for team work, 10 minutes for arranging and assembly, and five minutes for cleanup. This is a planning estimate, not a tested completion guarantee; glue-setting time and adult mounting happen afterward.
- Avoid a crowded assembly table: Bring one team over at a time
- Keep everyone involved: Give each child a main decoration before offering extras
- Support different abilities: Offer precut shapes, large brushes, or a drawing-only task
- Plan for early finishers: Invite them to decorate the group credit card or sort reusable scraps
Simple Variations and Easy Fixes
For a gentler theme: Use smiling ghosts, bright windows, and friendly pumpkins. For a harvest display, keep the house shape and replace bats and ghosts with leaves, apples, and woodland animals.
If the layout feels crowded: Choose larger, simpler decorations and save extras for a separate border. If glue does not hold, check that the background is dry and retry with an adhesive suited to the painted surface. If the cardboard bends, reduce wet coverage next time and use smaller panels.
When the display comes down, store it flat if you plan to reuse it. Keep a photo of the finished work and collect clean paper offcuts for another collage session.
Gather the Supplies for Your Group Display
A shared haunted house works best when the base is ready, the jobs are clear, and every child has room to contribute. Gather your paper colors, test the adhesive, and let each team add a little personality to the neighborhood’s newest spooky address.
Explore EconoCrafts’ art supplies to prepare the paint, paper, and glue for your classroom collage.
About EconoCrafts
Since 1956, EconoCrafts has helped schools and after-school programs, summer camps, recreation centers, senior centers, nursing homes, hospitals, churches, VBS programs, libraries, and families run successful arts and crafts programs. We supply affordable art supplies, ready-to-use craft kits, and engaging activities that make planning and leading creative projects easier. Whether you’re organizing one classroom activity or an entire season of programming, EconoCrafts helps you spend less time preparing and more time creating.
