Witch Frog DIY Light Up Halloween Decoration

This witch frog DIY light-up Halloween decoration is the perfect unique outdoor decoration. The witch and frog have a long-standing relationship, but the frog seems to be rare in Halloween decorations.

Frogs and witchcraft have a long history together. Shakespeare included a frog in the opening scene of Macbeth. In the witch’s cauldron, they are cooking up “Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog. ”

The frog in Grimm’s Frog Prince fairy tale had a spell placed on it that turned him into a frog. Although witches are very popular for Halloween decorations, with witch hats, witch brooms, black cats, spell books, and cauldrons, you rarely if ever see a Halloween frog. Today’s Halloween craft decoration remedies that.

This Halloween frog is not only adorable and fun for Halloween he is a functional Halloween prop for your front yard or front porch. These frogs began as garden statues and come with a solar panel and eyes that light up. They will be hilarious on Halloween while illuminating the path to your front door for trick-and-treaters.

The Halloween Frog Before

Every year you will see assorted frogs pop up in the garden decor at both Dollar Tree and Dollar Store. These were more than perfect for my Halloween frog idea.

Image of the Before

The best part of these frogs is that they are about 8 inches high, and solid enough they won’t blow over in October winds. The frogs came with a solar power panel on the back that you turn on to make the googly eyes light up at night. They were $4 each, so I splurged and bought two.

How to Make a Frog DIY Outdoor Halloween Decoration

Supplies

You can make these Halloween frogs for under $10 each. Besides the frog, you will need.

Before you purchase supplies I want to note. The paint I chose was a glow-in-the-dark bright neon green. Although so fun I was concerned it may not provide good coverage and it didn’t cover my frog very well. I began by painting the entire frog in Zinsser 123 primer to cover the greys and whites of the original frog. If I was going to make another frog I recommend starting with green paint first. If you want to use glow-in-the-dark paint I would put one or two coats on at the end.

With that out of the way, I want to say I love the final result, these Halloween frogs are beyond cute.

Step One – Tape

Begin by taping off the googly eyes and the back solar panel, ensuring the tape goes in the seams. This will protect the lights.

Step Two – Paint the Frog

Next paint your frog with a white primer or a dark green acrylic paint. Once dried apply three or more coats of the glow-in-the-dark paint while allowing the paint to dry well between coats. (An hour)

Keep an eye on your frog as it dries because the glow-in-the-dark paint tends to spread into the various creases and valleys on your frog. If this happens, go back in with a dry brush and spread the paint out again.

Step 3 – Adding a Swampy Eerie Look

The green glow-in-the-dark paint is extremely bright green, Hubs felt it was perfect for kids without distressing it, but I wanted a less cheerful more eerie look.

Using a darker leaf green I dry brushed on another coat, with a Dollar Tree rough bristled brush. I used a tiny bit of paint, removed most of it onto a rag, and then applied it to the frog. I added more paint into the crevices on the frog, then lightly tapped it all over in spots and buffed it with a paint rag to remove any access.

After the leaf green paint, I used brown aging wax in the crevices, especially around the mouth. I put the wax on with a rag.

As a final touch, I flecked on brown specks as well. The entire process is in the video tutorial posted at the end of the post.

Step Four- Make the Witch’s Hat

​The Paper Pattern

Print out the free witch hat pattern, hopefully, the pattern is the perfect size. I suggest testing the pattern on your frog first, then adjusting it if necessary.

My garden frog has two large googly eyes on top which was a challenge to make a hat for. Using felt makes it easier because it’s a solid fabric with a bit of stretch, but I still cut out the paper pattern and tested the size of my frog before cutting the felt. That way you can draw the pattern a bit larger or smaller without wasting felt.

Cutting the Felt

Pin the brim pattern to the felt, and cut out the outside circle of the brim first. Then fold it in half and cut out the inside. Remove the pattern.

For the top of the hat, cut out the paper pattern along the side marked fold. Fold your felt and lay the pattern across the fold, pin it in place, and cut out. Remove the pattern. To make the long cone shape, line up the two long seams, and pin them in place. Sew a narrow seam 1/8 inch from the edge, then sew a zigzag stitch along the edge to strengthen the seam.

Fit the felt cone up through the bottom of the brim. Test the fit on your frog, once you have the brim where you want it, hand stitch the hat brim to the cone.

Step 5 – Decorating the Witch’s Hat

I went into my bits of old raffia and moss and cut them into tiny pieces with scissors. Then I sprayed the felt hat with spray-on adhesive and added the bits of moss. There was no real pattern to it. Once the frog is like you want it, use a hot glue gun to attach the hat to the frog and add any larger embellishments. I considered using cinnamon to make it even more grungy but decided against it.

I love how these DIY Halloween witch frogs look both cheerful and scruffy enough they could come from a swamp or popped out of a cauldron.

You could also accessorize your frog with a DIY witches broom, a rubber snake, or a DIY help me sign.

Halloween Frog DIY Video Tutorial

For these DIY outdoor Halloween decorations with witchy frogs, I suggest watching the video. It would be especially helpful in how you can fit the witch’s hat to the little frog’s head.

This is my first Halloween post for this year, I have several more including witch brooms, a new witch with a cauldron, and other outdoor Halloween decorations. It’s still warm here making it fun to be creative outside.

Other Witchy Halloween Outdoor Decoration Ideas