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!
- 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.
- Start by drawing an outline of ghost on the paper bag. Set aside.
- Mix together 3/4 cup of shaving cream with 1/4 cup of white glue.
- Explore!
- Add your gloopy mix to the paper ghost!
- Explore some more.
- 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!
- Add the mouth right on top
- Add the googly eyes.
- Let dry , depending on how thick your puffy paint is it may take hours.
- 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.
teachingmybookworms says
fun we are doing and post a craft today you might like!
.-= teachingmybookworms´s last blog ..Our Jack o Lanterns: Happy Pumpkin and Vampire Pumpkin =-.
Carrie says
Oh, my goodness, I LOVE this craft – my one-year-old will LOVE playing with the puffy paint!!! You have such wonderful ideas – where do you come up with them all???
.-= Carrie´s last blog ..Tot School – Fall Fun Edition! =-.
admin says
I brainstorm a lot 🙂
Elissa says
Wow – if you want to see messy you should come to my house. Very fun but everyone needed a bath and I had to clean the kitchen! Eventually I’ll post som epics on my own blog if you’d like to see 🙂
.-= Elissa´s last blog ..Ahhh fall =-.
admin says
I would love it!
Paula says
That looks like tons of fun! I’ll try to set that up for them
.-= Paula´s last blog ..Life update 4/15/09 =-.
Annette says
what a great idea, I know the kids will love it. Thanks for sharing this.
Kristen says
This sounds like a great craft that kids would love (because it’s messy;) Recently I did a “Glue Ghost” craft with the kids I work with. They loved it! It’s not quite as messy but just as fun. All you need is wax paper, school glue (we used washable), and googly eyes. Make a ghost out of the glue on the wax paper, set the eyes where you want them (and some kids used several eyes), and let it dry completely. When it’s dry, peel the ghost from the wax paper and there you have it!
Thanks for sharing! I may be letting the kiddos get extra messy on this rainy day today.
Sal-my-gal says
We just tried this. My girls had a lot of fun with it. I’m excited for them to dry (someday :>) so I can cut them out and put them on their art wall. Thanks!
Ally from Zwaggle says
How cute is that? It looks like lots of fun, too…
Katherine Marie says
What amazing mess of JOY— your ghost creation is out of this world!!!
.-= Katherine Marie´s last blog ..Lollypop Garden =-.
Amanda says
How cute, it came out perfect 🙂
.-= Amanda´s last blog ..Halloween Monster Treat Bags =-.
Trish says
Adorable! I so want to do this puffy paint with the kids at school. Am I biting off more than I can chew?
.-= Trish´s last blog ..Spectacular Spiders =-.
admin says
No you can do it – just have bowls ready for them to wash off in , and be warned it can take a long time to dry! You can do it Trish!!
Andrea says
I did this today with my son & daycare kids & they LOVED it!!
I was so much fun for them & suprisingly they didn’t make too much of a mess of it!
I actually had to encourage them at first to get their hands in it!! lol
Katie says
We just made snowmen with the shaving cream/glue concoction — what fun! Thank you for the idea.
Lenetta @ Nettacow says
This is going in my craft-a-day box Christmas gift for my nieces – I’m thinking we’ll do snowmen or something as well. Thanks!
.-= Lenetta @ Nettacow´s last blog ..Link Roundup – Snowed In Again Edition =-.
Amanda says
i have featured this as well, too cute! http://funfamilycrafts.com/puffy-paint-ghosts/
Alaina says
This project was a lot of fun I added glow on the dark glue which was a fun add
Lauren says
Made this with my 2-year-old this afternoon! He is a little sensory defensive so I had to be careful to present it in a laidback, no pressure way (who knew ghost art was a high pressure situation?!) but he LOVED it! Thanks for sharing! I’ll be posting our creation and linking to you on my blog tomorrow!
Kathy says
This is what I have been looking for…I am tired of normal cut out projects…children need sensory and tactile learning in pre-kindergarten. I am doing it for Halloween Week at school! Thank you for sharing!
Tammy says
We did this at school today and the kiddos loved it. It was good for different levels of play too. My typically developing son was there and really enjoyed it, as well as my students with developmental disabilities. For some it was a painting activity, for others, a very fun sensory experience with the “paint” all over the place. Also, we cut out arms and the head of the large paper grocery bags and made costumes out of it.