I bought
Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O'Connel for my son at a grocery store checkout line (ha!) and I tell ya, he loooves it. I've wanted to "make" it for over a year and I finally did it! In the story, a witch moves into a haunted house that 10 ghosts live in. She gets the ghosts out by scaring them with her spooky props (or dressing up as something spooky - like a vampire). It was a pinch labor intensive, but I think I'll get some wear out of it. Though I love the book and intended the house to be FOR the book, I have found it cumbersome to actually use.
I've updated this post below and added a ghost rhyme a co-worker found online for me, and it seems to work a lot better.
The haunted house itself is made of a box lid. The ghosts in the haunted house are made of cardstock with a small magnet on the bottom. I needed a way to get them in and out pretty easily, and magnets just seemed to be a good idea. The back of the house is below. The ghosts extend past the curtains by a bit so they are easy to take off as they get scared away.
Here is a cute ghost rhyme found on
Twigglemagazine.com that turns out to be super cute for this house. Obviously, you'll change it to
Ten Little Ghosts and adjust accordingly. I added my felt faces to sticks so they can pop out, scare the ghost, and then be put back. All in all, this rhyme works better than the original idea I had - one of those cases where the book works better on its own!
Five Little Ghosts
Five little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
Along came a funny skeleton and chased one ghost away.
Four little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
Along came a giant monster and chased one ghost away.
Three little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
Along came a tiny spider and chased one ghost away.
Two little ghosts in a haunted house at play,
Along came an ugly witch and chased one ghost away.
One little ghost in a haunted house at play,
Along came a big fat cat and chased the ghost away.
Can you find the ghosts and say:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ghosts come back and play!
Flannel Friday is having a Halloween Extravaganza today;
Miss Mary is hosting the Boo Bash! You can get overloaded with Flannel Friday fun over at
Pinterest. Happy Halloween, everyone!