Free Build A Bat Craft Template Printable for Halloween
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Use this free Bat Craft Template Printable to build a bat for Halloween (or any time of year!).
This fun craft helps children with their cutting and pasting skills and the opportunity to get creative with other materials, too—like sticking on pieces of fur fabric or googly eyes, for example.
Build A Paper Bat Template
Halloween season is just around the corner, and what better way to kick off the spookiest season of them all than with a delightful DIY project?
Picture this: adorable paper bats hanging from the ceiling or adorning your bulletin board.
With our free printable bat templates, this easy Halloween craft is a breeze to complete.
And guess what? We’re offering two different sizes to make that can be used in various Halloween projects.
Whether you’re a crafty adult or looking for great activities for young kids, this easy bat craft is an all-around win!
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Introducing Bruce the Bat!
Hey there, Halloween enthusiasts! Are you tired of the same old Halloween crafts and looking for something that’s both simple and fun?
Well, our bat craft template printable is perfect for you.
It’s a paper Halloween bat that you can cut and build yourself, and we even provide all the pieces: body and head, wings, ears, and those cute bat feet!
If you are a regular on The Purple Pumpkin Blog, you’ll notice that our buildable characters have a cute, chubby style.
And if they are animals, they are anthropomorphic, which means they have human traits – like standing on two legs instead of four.
Our Free Printable Buildable Paper Halloween Characters are part of a wider set of other characters that are a great activity for kids of all ages. Whether that is at home, at an activity group or club, during homeschool, or in the classroom!
You can find links to all our other buildable characters a the bottom of this post.
And if you’re really batty for bats, you might also like our Cute Bat Craftivity – Halloween Kids Craft & Creative Writing Project and our Free Printable Bat Coloring Sheet & Line Activity for Halloween!
Tap the buttons below to save the bat printable to your Pinterest boards or Facebook page for later!
What Is In The Bat Craft Template Printable?
The pieces in the free template to assemble Bruce the Bat are:
- Head/Body
- Ears
- Wings
- Feet
There are two sizes for this cute free printable paper bat:
- Regular – with all the pieces on one sheet of paper and creates a character around 5″/13cm tall. (This is the image at the top of the post.)
- Large – with the pieces spread over several sheets. This creates a character around 8″/20cm tall.
If you don’t want the full colour bat, we have a black-and-white version to color. Check out our Printable Color & Build a Bat in the Purple Pumpkin Printables Shop!
Where Are The Downloads?
- The two sizes of the printable templates are included in the download.
- You will find the free PDF download links further down this page, surrounded by a purple box.
- Tap the purple download buttons to save the file(s) to your device.
- I’ve provided two paper sizes – A4 and US Letter (8.5″ x 11″) – use the size that is appropriate for your printer.
- Visit The Purple Pumpkin Printables Shop for more awesome printables and products!
Why You’ll Love This Craft
- Fine Motor Skills: This craft isn’t just fun; it’s also a great way to develop fine motor skills in little hands.
- Different Sizes: You can choose between regular (13cm/5″) and large (20cm/8″) sizes to fit your crafting needs.
- Classroom Use: Teachers, this is a great activity to bring the Halloween spirit into your classroom. The templates are in PDF format, making it easy for school use.
How To Use the Build a Bat Printable
Download the high-quality PDF download at the bottom of this post and print as many copies as you need onto white paper. You can print the free Halloween printable at home, school, office, or at a Print Shop. Then, cut all the pieces out with scissors.
The Halloween bat printables are suitable for children of all ages; however, the regular-size Bruce the Bat is suitable for older children who are more skilled at cutting or for those looking to hone their fine motor skills.
The large size should be a lot easier for younger children—or you can cut them out for them—you know your children, so you will know what suits them best.
Once cut, place the pieces in the correct order to figure out where everything goes before sticking them in place with a glue stick or sticky tape.
We like using this roller glue because it is easy to use and has less sticky mess!
Craft Projects Using our Free Printable Bats Templates
If you want to take your paper bat craft to the next level, here are some fun ways you can use the free printable template:
Adding Dimension: Mount the bat cut outs onto a larger piece of black construction paper and use other craft materials to embellish it. For example, glitter, craft foam, or tissue paper, to name a few.
Laminating: For really little kids who can’t yet use scissors, they can still make this fun Halloween craft! Here’s how—use a laminator to laminate the printable and cut out each bat shape, leaving a tiny margin around them. Then, place some velcro dots so that the bat can be assembled without cutting or gluing.
Moveable Bat Wings: Use split pins to construct the bat instead of glue to make the bat’s wings moveable.
Everybody Loves Puppets: Grab some popsicle sticks and the regular-sized free printable Halloween bats to make little puppets for Halloween role-playing or storytelling.
Spooky Decorations: Attach several bats to some ribbon or string and hang them as bunting. They would make great decorations for a Halloween Party or to hang around your classroom. Add black paper to the back of each bat for a neater finish.
Bat Mobile: Similarly to the previous idea, assemble several bats and glue them back to back with some ribbon in between. Hang at different lengths to a wire hanger and you have a cute Halloween decoration.
Roll-A-Bat Game: This idea is based on the classic dice game and is so much fun to play – especially for young children!
To set up, print, and cut enough bat pieces for each player. Assign a number to each piece—for example—Body (1), Left Wing (2), Right Wing (3), Left Leg (4), Right Leg (5), Ears (6).
After rolling the die, the player picks up the corresponding bat piece to build their bat. If players roll a number for a bat piece they already have, they skip their turn. The first player to collect all the bat parts and assemble their bat is the winner!
Facts About Bats
To make any of these Halloween activities more educational, you can discuss bat facts as you do them.
- Bats come in various sizes. The world’s smallest bat is the bumblebee bat, which is about the size of a thumb, while the world’s largest bat, the flying fox, can have a wingspan of up to 6 feet!
- Did you know there are over 1,400 different species of bats? That’s a lot of bats, making them the second most common group of mammals after rodents.
- While vampire bats do exist, they’re not as scary as you might think! They usually feed on the blood of cattle and birds, and they rarely bite humans.
- Bats are nocturnal animals, which means they are most active at night. During the day, they like to hang out—literally!—in places like caves or tree branches.
- The large bat known as the “flying fox” doesn’t eat insects like many other bats. Instead, it enjoys a fruit diet, making it an important pollinator for many plants.
- Many species of bats use echolocation to navigate. They make high-pitched sounds that bounce back after hitting an object, helping them understand their surroundings.
- Believe it or not, there is a species of bat that can’t fly! The New Zealand lesser short-tailed bat prefers to scuttle around on the ground.
- Bats are social creatures; some species live in colonies that can number in the thousands. That’s one big bat family!
- Bats help control insect populations, pollinate plants, and disperse seeds. They play a vital role in many ecosystems around the world.
- Bats make their homes in various places like caves, tree branches, and even human-made structures like barns or bridges.
Bat Craft Template Printable Downloads
Click the download link to save the printable file(s) to your computer.
The Shop opens in a new tab/window.
Visit The Purple Pumpkin Shop for more awesome printables and products!
Other Halloween Characters in This Series
You could mix up the different elements for added fun to create completely new Halloween characters!
Other Buildable Characters!
We have lots of other buildable characters that you may like to download:
- Build An Animal Series
- Build A Person Series
- Build A Halloween Character Series
- Build A Christmas Character Series
- Build A Star Wars Character Series
- Build A Disney Character Series
- Build An Olaf
The post is part of the Crafty October series on The Purple Pumpkin Blog. Check out Crafty October from 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012 for awesome Halloween ideas and inspiration; including recipes, printables, crafts, and more!
The free printables are in PDF format and can be opened with the free-to-use Adobe Acrobat Reader (or other PDF Readers). If the download is a Zip File, it can be downloaded with WinZip, WinRar, or other software typically bundled on computers. Printables designed and created by The Purple Pumpkin Blog and its Designers are for PERSONAL USE ONLY and NOT FOR RESALE under any circumstances. Please read our full Terms and Conditions. You are welcome to print these free printables at an online print shop or print shop in-store if you don’t have access to a printer; however, some print shops may not print licensed characters. Colors may vary slightly on printing due to different screen and printer settings. You may share this free printable blog post on social media, including Pinterest, and on your blog/website with a link to this blog post. Please DO NOT share the PDF on social media or your blog/website. If you use any of our printables, it would be awesome to know about it! Post a picture on the social media platform you hang out on, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. Use the hashtag #TPPBprintables so we can find you!