Kid Craft: Puffy Ghosts

I love to do crafts (cook, play, anything!!) with my little guy. I wish we did them more often and I’m determined to make a better effort to make that happen. It’s a great bonding experience, it’s a lot of fun, and for my little guy who has some minor sensory aversions (heaven forbid ANYTHING gets on his hands) it’s a terrific opportunity for him to get messy without a lot of pressure.

Halloween is just a week away so I knew we needed to make another Halloween craft before that holiday flies on by. We already made a Jack-o-Lantern busy bag but Buddy has shown a lot of interest in ghosts over the past few weeks so I wanted to target this experience towards our floating friends. After digging through my Pinterest Halloween board for a while, I came across an old pin of a round-up post of ghost crafts. Bingo. No Time for Flash Cards provided the inspiration for this ghoulish craft!

You will need:

white liquid glue

shaving cream

brown paper bags (grocery sized)

black marker

bowl, spoon, 1/4 cup measuring cup

popsicle/craft sticks (optional)

google eyes

black construction paper

scissors

wet paper towels (I don’t need to tell you what these are for right? This is MESSY!)

First, cut out the side of the bag that doesn’t have a seam. Draw a ghost shape on it. Easy enough right?

Mix 1/4 cup glue with 2/3-3/4 cup shaving cream. Mix well.

Let your kiddo do as much of this as you feel comfortable with. Personalities and how they handle things vary so much from kiddo to kiddo. Just use your judgement. I let Buddy do most of the work this time around; including shaking the shaving cream, which may have been the best part. 🙂

Mix it up really well!

Then you’re ready to spread it on.

This is where things got a little interesting (slow) for us. As I mentioned before, Buddy isn’t a fan of sticking his hands into stuff like this. He went with the one-finger-approach. I apologize for his choice of finger. 😉 But then I “helped” him use more of his hand. If your child really isn’t interested in getting messy, try a popsicle or craft stick or even the back of a spoon. Less mess, they get to keep their hands clean, and you can continue to introduce more sensory experiences over time.

And this only induced a tiny bit of panic.

But we overcame. Go slow if your child is a little nervous about gooey sensory experiences. Leave yourself lots of time so there’s no pressure. Buddy asked me for “help” several times. I helped him move his hand around the paper bag, which helped him get more comfortable with the feel. The more low-pressure situations you can present them with to explore these mediums, the better.

Spread the goo aaaaaall over the ghost.

Then stick on some eyes!

Then cut out and stick on a mouth. When asked what shape he wanted, Buddy didn’t even hesitate. Oval it is!

Allow to dry completely (we made ours right after lunch…wasn’t dry until after dinner, and even then, not completely until the next day) and cut out. I made one too. 🙂

These are so cute! We stuck them on our pantry door to add a little holiday flair to the kitchen. Great experience, and Buddy talks about them all day! I can’t wait to get messy with him again!