halloween fun: tissue ghosts

a halloween classic: tissue paper ghosts

i can remember making armies of these ghosts (much to my mother's chagrin). i would often end up using an entire box of tissue and boy, did i get in trouble for that. you can make these with the traditional tissue, paper towels, tissue paper, fabric, cheesecloth or white plastic grocery sacks. whatever you choose, your kidlets will cotton to this like candy corn! this weekend, i whipped one up for the nephew (who is seven) and he made his own not ten minutes later and his had angry eyes!

what you need:
*tissue, tissue paper, fabric, cheesecloth or white grocery sacks
*scrap paper, newspaper, phone book pages, etc.
*string or yarn, twist ties or thin masking tape
*markers, permanent markers if using plastic

scrumdilly-do it!

Gather your supplies and get comfy. You can grab a box of tissue from the dollar store for cheap (i found cheesecloth there as well) but if using new supplies doesn't sit well with ya, see if you have any old white t-shirts or sheets you can cut up. Plastic grocery sacks can be cut up as well.. You will want your pieces to be about the size of a kleenex type tissue.

For each ghost, you will need two squares of tissue, etc. Pick up one piece of tissue and wad it up into a ball. You can have your kidlets race to see who wads theirs first or you can have them make monster-hulk faces as they wad/squeeze.Next, hold the balled up piece of tissue in one hand and plop a nice flat sheet over the ball with the other hand and twist to create a neck.Tie a piece of string or yarn to secure the neck. If you stick with white, it will blend into the ghost, you don't have to just check with your kidlet. Twist-ties would be awesome with this, you could also use cut pipe-cleaners.
Using your markers, add your face. Warn your kidlets that due to the tissue's texture, if the pens are held to the surface for too long they will weep into the paper and make big splotches of color. Some kidlets may begin experimenting with this while others may have a mini freak out. I remember discovering this on my own and being frustrated at first but then figuring out how to make the face quickly and being quite proud of myself!

Ta-da! You're kidlets have made their first ghost. Now it is time for an army of them!

You can hang these up in your doorway or home. I would not recommend hanging them outside unless you used plastic bags. They can be tied to a long sting for a banner or they can be "stitched" together with a needle and thread. Your kidlets can also glue them to a foam wreath or make your own wreath from a spare piece of cardboard. There are all sorts of boo-tee-ful things you can do with these ghosts! Have fun and don't forget to add your pics to the flickr group!