DIY Halloween Wood Blocks

Gather all your wood pieces. I used pallet scraps, so mine are all a bit different in size. If yours are too rough, give them a quick sand to smooth out any sharp edges and remove splinters.

You’ll also need a wood base to display your blocks—I had one left over from another project, but any sturdy piece will work.

To give our blocks that spooky, night-time vibe, I started by painting all the blocks with a solid coat of black acrylic craft paint. I also love that due to wood imperfections, the black will be visible which gives that extra spooky vibe.

Don’t forget to paint the flad wood base too—this will be the backdrop for your blocks when we’re done.

Let it all dry completely.

I went with four classic Halloween characters: a ghost, Frankenstein, Dracula, and a jack-o-lantern. You can totally switch it up with your favorite spooky characters!

I hand-drew them on a sheet of paper. As you can see, there’s no need for illustrator skills. Because these are monsters, imperfection is your best ally.

Ghost:

With a pencil, I hand draw the ghost’s face, giving it those classic, shocked eyes and mouth.

Then with a fine brush and white paint, I traced the eyes and mouth and then painted the whole block white as a second coat of paint.

Set it aside to dry.

Then I retouch the paint, lines, and shapes with the white and black paint and a fine brush.

Let it dry.

Jack-o-lantern:

I did the same as with the ghost, I drew on a triangle-eyed, jagged-toothed face.

Then with a fine brush, I traced the shapes with orange paint followed by painting the whole block with a second coat of orange paint.

Set it aside to dry.

Then I retouch the paint, lines, and shapes with orange and black paint and a fine brush.

Frankenstein:

I traced the shape of the hair at the top and a small part of the sides of the blocks.

Then I used green paint and covered the front side tracing and leaving the hair-like shape on the top.

Once dry, add details like scars, a stitched-up brow, sad eyes, and a sad mouth with creepy teeth coming out with your oil-based black and white markers or paint pens.

Dracula:

Just like like did with Frankenstein, I hand-drew the classic widow’s peak hair with a pencil and gave a little bit of face on the sides of the block.

Then, I painted with purple paint all the face area. Let it dry.

Once dry, I drew sharp fangs, and creepy eyes with my black and white oil base markers.

Feel free to get creative with the faces—you can make them as spooky or silly as you want!

Let them all dry well.

I hand-wrote “Trick or Treat!” on the front of the black base with my oil-based white marker. You can add any Halloween message you like. Have fun with it!

Once everything is dry, you can seal the blocks with a craft sealer to keep them looking fresh year after year.

Once all your characters are done and completely dry, it’s time to bring it all together.

I placed my four Halloween blocks on top of the black wood base, side by side, creating a fun little lineup of spooky monsters.

The Halloween Wood Blocks finished and ready to decorate the home

You can glue them down with a hot glue gun if you want them fixed in place, but I left mine loose so I can switch them around or even use them individually in different parts of the house.

And You’re Done!