Painted Ghost Craft for Toddlers (Sponge Stamping)
This painted ghost craft is a sweet and easy Halloween craft for toddlers and preschoolers!
The toddlers and preschoolers in my daycare have made some really cute ghost crafts lately, and we’re adding another one to the collection today.
The hooligans have been exploring stamping and printmaking at craft time lately. The other day, we made a stamped ghost craft using styrofoam pieces, and today, I thought we would use some of the sponges we’ve been using as loose parts in the playroom to stamp our ghosts.
The girls loved this activity because it combined two favourites: paint and stamping.
I loved it because it was easy enough for the kids to do with very little help, and the stamped ghosts turned out super-cute!
Supplies for your painted ghost craft:
- black and white paint
- sponges
- corks
- cardboard (a cereal box would work well)
- styrofoam meat tray (always sterilize in the dishwasher first)
- jar lids
- raffia & hole punch
Stamping your ghosts:
Trim the top two corners of your sponge to round the top of your sponge a little.
Pour some white paint into the styrofoam tray and let your little ones dip their sponges and stamp onto the cardboard.
The sponges soaked up quite a bit of paint so I had to frequently add more white paint to the tray. I showed the girls how to press down hard enough on their sponges to flatten them right out, using two hands if one didn’t make a dark enough print.
We didn’t bother to let our painted ghosts dry before moving on to the next step; I poured a little black paint into the jar lids and they dipped their corks into it and stamped eyes all over their ghosts. You won’t need as much black paint as you see in the photo; I ended up scooping some out because I could see it was going to be far more than they needed.
When they were finished, I punched two holes in the top of each piece of cardboard and tied some raffia through the holes so they can hang their ghosts on a door knob when they get home.
Aren’t they sweet? And how easy was that?
More Halloween Stamping Crafts for Toddlers and Preschoolers:
Smoosh and Stamp Pumpkins
Painted Pumpkins
Stamped Footprint Ghost
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
