• Craft store straw hats make an ideal base for kid's crafts.scarecrow image by Andrew Kazmierski from Fotolia.com
  
  As a Halloween decoration or simply a piece of fall art, scarecrows and straw hats are a common art project when the leaves start to change color. Depending on the age of the child, scarecrow straw hat projects can mean either making a replica of a scarecrow's hat or using straw hats to create scarecrows.
  
  

Scarecrow's Straw Hat

• To make a scarecrow's straw hat, you'll need some summertime leftovers for the construction phase. Using a beach bucket as a mold, form a pair of paper grocery bags or some brown packing paper around the bucket, leaving enough material at the end to act as a brim. Once the hat is properly shaped, use a piece of masking tape around the base to hold the shape of the hat and remove it from the bucket. Rather than using actual straw to cover the hat, attach pieces of beige or light brown raffia to the hat's surface. Glue long strips to the crown and shorter ones to the brim of the hat to make it appear it's made out of straw. Tie a wide strip of brown or black ribbon around the rim of the hat and attach a few square pieces of construction paper or unfolded pieces of raffia as "patches" on your scarecrow straw hat.
  
  

Miniature Scarecrow

• Small straw hats brought at a craft store make an ideal base for miniature scarecrows. Using the crown of the hat as the scarecrow's face, have the children draw a face using markers. The scarecrow's hat is made using a triangular piece of construction paper or craft foam. Use feathered strips of light brown construction paper to act as bits of straw sticking out from under the hat. To make the body, glue wooden craft sticks together to create the limbs and torso. Cover the body with construction paper clothing. Feathered strips of construction paper at the cuffs of the shirt and pants can help make the scarecrow look like he's losing his stuffing.
  
  

Hanging Scarecrow

• Start with a large straw hat and a smaller one that's roughly the same size as the larger hat's crown. Using markers or paint, draw a face onto the crown of the big hat. You can alternatively use buttons to create the different parts of the face and glue them in place. Glue pieces of raffia along the brim of the hat so the straw looks scraggly. The smaller hat is meant to be the scarecrow's hat, so cut it in half down the middle and attach it to the other hat using craft or hot glue. Small construction paper or paint patches can be added to the scarecrow's hat.