Below are three simple Halloween projects you can make with scrap wood. Each project should take less than an hour and is perfect for kids/tweens/teens. So go ahead! Get the fam-sters involved! Note that I'm not the orginator of any of these projects. Ideas were taken from various online pictures.

Step 1: Tools/Materials

Tools:

Table or Miter Saw
Sander
Pen/Pencil
Paint brush

Materials:

4x4 by 24 inches
2x6 by 28 inches
Pallet wood
Glue
Paint

Step 2: Post Ghost

Oh noooo! Ghost posts!

Step 3: Ghost Build

Cut 4x4 lumber to 5.5", 7.5" and 9.5" long. Sand to round the edges and remove any major blemishes. Paint each post white. Once the paint has dried, use a pencil to sketch the eyes, nose and mouth to one side of the post. If you are really good at painting, you can skip the sketch part. Using glossy black paint, fill in the sketched features for each ghost post face. Another option is the also paint a ghost face to the opposite side.

Step 4: Black Background

As you can see, we painted two opposide sides of each post. Some faces are friendly and some are sort of scary.

Step 5: Added Color

Add some pumpkin lights to jazz up the ghosts.

Step 6: Candy Corn

These are really cute additions to the mantle decor. First step is to paint the white tops and yellow bottoms. Once this dries, paint the orange middle. Boom! you're done! Add these to the front porch pumpkins and mums or use them inside.

Step 7: Candy Corn Build

Cut 2x6 as shown. I used a miter saw set to 15 degrees for the angles.

Step 8: Candy Corn Build

Remove upper tips from each piece. Use a sander to round the edges.

Step 9: Black Background

Very graphic!

Step 10: Added Color

These look great with the pumpkin lights and ghost posts on the mantle. This decor will transition from fall to Thanksgiving right into Christmas.

Step 11: Scary Pallet Paintings

For the teens/tweens in your house, they can create these graphic art displays from pallet wood. I had my kids paint the pictures. Yes, it was torture to be away from the computer! But hey, it's for halloween. Besides, they can still go trick or treating. You, on the other hand, can only LOOK at candy.

Step 12: Cut Pallet Wood

Cut 3 of the long piece and 2 of the shorter piece. Note that the size is arbitrary. I wanted something in the rough order of paper size (8.5" x 11")

Step 13: Assemble

Use the 2 shorter pieces to attach the sheet together. I used glue and wood clamps for this attachment. For a more detailed description, see video of my previous project.

Step 14: Add Jack to the Door

Depending on your age, you might not understand this picture. This might help refresh your memory. For my wife, this is not a good memory.

Step 15: Fun With Sugar Skulls

This painting was done with the aid of a sugar skull template purchased from Michaels for about $2.00. Our daughter could not stop talking about this project. Then, we had her do it. Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?