DIY Halloween Flashlight Shadows

Last Halloween, Grandma Janie bought Tory a princess flashlight to use for trick-or-treating. She loved it. Tory used the flashlight on Halloween and slept with it every night following until the batteries finally ran out months later. I worried the flashlight tucked beside Tory's sleepy body would somehow heat up and spontaneously combust, but Andi lovingly reminded me to take a chill pill and let our (then) two-year-old daughter be a kid.

Mean mom alert: I never replaced the batteries in Tory's princess flashlight after they burned out because I was tired of the bedtime shenanigans surrounding it. Keeping tabs on that darn flashlight was a pain! (Okay, maybe I was still a little concerned it would light a fire in her bed or something.) Some time later, Tory discovered our household emergency flashlight in a pantry drawer and claimed it as her own. Now she plays "fashion show" with the grown-up flashlight by shining it on the foam letters mat set out in the living room, and projects the flashlight beam onto walls and furniture. One afternoon as I watched Tory play with the flashlight, a fun idea popped in my head ...

I grabbed a sheet of orange construction paper, a pair of scissors, a few pieces of tape and Tory's beloved flashlight. I traced the shape of the flashlight head onto a piece of construction paper,

... free-handed little "fold tabs" on each side of the flashlight head,

... and drew Halloween shapes in the center. Hey, look! My very impressive inner artiste is showing. 

Next, I cut out the circle flashlight shape with the tabs on the sides and cut out the inner jack-o-lantern and ghost shapes. I taped one of the stencils to the flashlight head ... and voila! Halloween flashlight shadows! 

These were ...  not very fancy, cost me zero dollars (because I had all the supplies on hand) and took about seven seconds to make so, of course, Tory LOVED them. Isn't that always the way with children? The days I spend an entire nap time setting up a craft for us to do together are times Tory is over it in less than a minute.  

Halloween flashlight shadows have been mighty popular at our house in the past week. The shadows even work in the daylight - just hold the flashlight head close to a wall or flat surface. We brought the flashlight to bedtime, too, and paired it with our favorite Halloween storybooks: Pinkalicious Pink or Treat, Peek a Who? and Where is Baby's Pumpkin?

Can't wait to make more flashlight shadows for everyday play or for future holidays to come!

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Linking up with Courtney, Jenny, Amanda and Jamie for a Countdown to Halloween.