Puffy Paint  Ghost

This is not a neat craft, have wet paper towels ready- put on an old shirt and have fun.  We have made this puffy paint a few times and I absolutely adore how it dries. It really dries puffy- although it takes a while to dry fully so put it somewhere high until it’s done.  I love doing art with this because it combines crafting with a great sensory experience. The glue and shaving cream make a really great squishy texture, just be warned, it flings really really easily, I found some all the way across the room this afternoon!

1. Gather your materials. You will need some shaving cream , white glue, some black paper, googly eyes, and a paper grocery bag or other large thick paper.
2. Start by drawing an outline of ghost on the paper bag. Set aside.
3. Mix together 3/4 cup of shaving cream with 1/4 cup of white glue.
4. Explore!
5. Add your gloopy mix to the paper ghost!
6. Explore some more.
7. While your child is exploring cut out a mouth, we did a zig zag per my son’s request, make any kind of mouth you want!
8. Add the mouth right on top
9. Add the googly eyes.
10. Let dry , depending on how thick your puffy paint is it may take hours.
11. Cut out when dry!

For more check out my FamilyEducation.com blog. All week long we are doing ghost crafts!

Books

A Halloween Happeningby Adrienne Adams is a curious book about a group of witches that are putting together a special party for the children on Halloween. The text is long but my son sat through the whole thing asking questions about the witches and the giant tower of pumpkins they built for the party. The book makes efforts to  explain that witches aren’t bad, just different.   I said that this book is curious because much of it had me scratching my head , the main event of the party are bat glider rides the witches take each child on. I wanted to think this was okay but all I could think was ” Don’t get in cars ( or gliders) with strangers!”.

Wobble, the witch cat by Mary Calhoun is a vintage story that is charming and much loved by my son. Wobble is a cat who belongs to Maggie a kind old witch , but Wobble hates riding on Maggie’s slippery broom. The other cats tease him and with Halloween coming up he decides to get rid of Maggie’s broom. When Maggie can’t find her magic broom, all she finds is a vacuum cleaner, but will it fly?  My son loves vacuum cleaners and thought it was hilarious that a witch would try to fly on one. I liked the  idea that witches sweep the sky so that the children can be safe under the stars on Halloween night.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! by Lucille Colandro was a huge hit! It’s a reworking of the classic song ” There was an old lady who swallowed a fly” only this one swallows a whole bunch of Halloween creatures, like a goblin, ghost and of course a bat.  She continues to swallow bigger and bigger things much to my son’s amazement! He was giggling through the whole book and the end when the old lay belches he laughed hysterically. It was predictable but I have to admit was a really fun , silly read.