Simple Ghost Crafts – Dixie Ghosts

Simple ghost crafts are the name of the game right now.  It all started with these (almost too simple) Facial tissue ghosts.  Sammy and Madeline both became ghost making machines.  As fun as they are, a Mama can only take so many facial tissue ghosts.

So I began thinking of other simple ghost crafts.  We did one in my Kindergarten class using toilet paper rolls and cotton balls that were cute and fun, but I didn’t have very many toilet paper rolls – and I knew my ghost making machines would likely want to make plenty.  Luckily I had just bought Dixie Cups (for another activity) but thought they would work great.  And they did!

To make these Halloween Ghosts we used

• Dixie Cups
• Cotton Balls
• Glue
• Googly Eyes (because I am on a bit of a googly eyes kick right now)

The process is simple, and actually quite relaxing for wee ones – perhaps because of the softness of the cotton balls.  These ghost are really only two steps.

1. Spread glue over the Dixie cup.  We used liquid white glue and a paint brush, but a glue stick would work well too.
2. Stretch out the cotton balls into fluffs and stick onto the cup.  We had a wet cloth beside us as we worked to wipe fingers when they got glue-y.

As I predicted, these simple ghost crafts were a big hit – and something Sammy could do all on his own.  Benjamin even got in on the fun!  He was the cotton ball fluffer (with supervision of course).  It took him a little while to warm up to the feeling of the cotton balls, but once he did he took his job very seriously!  The ghost factory workers are expanding …

There was a lot of fine motor skills being practiced in this craft, and problem solving skills too.  If there was not enough glue on the cup the cotton didn’t stick too well, and adding more glue was very tricky (as the cotton would get all stuck).  After some thought and talking we decided it would be easier if Sammy could see the glue better, so we added a dot of green paint.  Then Sammy could clearly see where he had already put glue, and where more was needed, before sticking the cotton.

I think I will stick to some simple crafts and learning activities.  Sammy loves being able to do things completely independently right now.  When Madeline gets home from school he loves showing her his projects and announcing that he did it “all by mine’s self”.  AND I drank a coffee “all by mine’s self” too!

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