Candy Corn Stick Arm Characters

By: Paula Bales for STYROFOAM Brand Foam

Kids will love helping create these funky candy corn stick arm characters. These "corny" characters would make a great addition to a Halloween spread, or can be displayed in a child's room year round.

Materials:

STYROFOAM Brand Foam:
- Cones, one each: 15" x 4"; 9" x 4"; 6" x 3"
- Balls: 2", two; 1-1/2", four; 1", six
Acrylic paints: black; orange; white; yellow
Wooden dowels: 3/8"; 1/4"; 3/16"
Wooden ball knobs: 5/8", two; 1/2", four; 3/8", two
Wooden ball, 3/4"
Paintbrushes: medium flat; stiff round; liner
Disposable palette
Water basin
Paper towels
Scissors
Utility knife or craft snips
Thick, white craft glue
Serrated knife
Candle stub or paraffin
Fine-line black permanent marker
Pencil
Ruler
Wooden skewers
Craft-tip set for acrylic paints (optional)

Steps:

Wax serrated knife with candle stub or paraffin. Cut following from tops of foam cones: 8" from large cone; 3-3/4" from medium cone; 1-1/2" from small cone. Set aside cone tops for future projects. Use scrap foam to round off tops of remaining cone sections as shown in photo.
Insert wooden skewers into bottom of cones and foam balls. Holding skewer, paint foam balls white. Place skewers in heavy glass or jar; let dry.
Holding large cone by skewer, paint cone base and 2"-wide stripe around bottom orange. Paint 3"-wide middle stripe yellow; paint cone top white. Repeat for remaining cones, decreasing stripe measurements as follows: medium cone, 1-3/4" bottom, 2-1/2" middle; small cone, 1-1/2" bottom, 2" middle.
Use liner brush or craft-tip set and black paint to outline stripes. Place skewers in heavy glass or jar; let dry.
Use utility knife to cut two 5-1/2" lengths (arms) and two 8" lengths (legs) from 3/8" dowel for large candy. Cut two 4-1/2" arms and two 7" legs from 1/4" dowel for medium candy. Cut two 3-1/2" arms and two 5" legs from 3/16" dowel for small candy.
Paint legs orange and arms yellow. Push dowel ends into scrap foam to dry.
Paint two ball knobs of each size black for eyes; use brush handle to add white highlight dot to each eye. Paint remaining ball knobs and wooden ball orange for noses. Let dry.
Twist and glue appropriate arms and legs into foam ball hands and feet as follows: large candy, 1-1/2" hands, 2" feet; medium candy, 1" hands, 1-1/2" feet; small candy, 1" hands and feet.
Use photo as placement guide to glue and twist arms and legs into cone bodies.
Use photo as guide to glue eyes and nose to yellow stripe as follows: large candy, 5/8" eyes, ball nose; medium candy, 1/2" eyes, ball knob nose; small candy, 3/8" eyes, remaining nose.
Use stiff brush and small amount of paint to brush cheeks orange. Use black marker to draw facial features.