Gustavo the Shy Ghost Halloween Art Project for Kids

My students specifically requested a ghost project so I went searching for a quick project I could do last minute. This project was inspired by some cute projects I saw online, then I adapted them to suit my students.

You can check them out here and here.

This project is inspired by the book: Gustavo the Shy Ghost (Gustavo le petit fantôme) by Flavia Z. Drago.

If you don’t have access to these in your library, I’ve included a couple options for read alouds on YouTube in both French and English.

Suggested grade: K-3

Time required: ~30 minutes

Materials:

• White paper (2 per student, or if using a colourful background, 1 per student)

• Coloured paper (if choosing this version - 1 per student)

• Pencil

• Sharpie

• Grey & pink chalk pastel (or crayon)

• Paint sticks (or crayons or pastels)

• Scissors & glue stick

*printer weight paper is suitable for this project

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Steps:

GHOST

• Begin by drawing a simple ghost shape. Think of it like a long upside down U with a squiggle bottom.

• Draw two eyes, a smile and hands coming together.

• Trace the ghost in Sharpie and erase any pencil lines. Fill in the eyes.

• Use a grey chalk pastel to go along the edge, then pull inward with the pad of your finger to create a shadow.

• Use a pink chalk pastel to make two circles on the cheeks. Use the pad of your finger to soften them.

  • Instead of pastel, you can use a crayon for this part!

• Cut out your ghost.

BACKGROUND

In my sample I used tempera paint sticks. They’re a no-mess way of adding a lot of beautiful colour to a piece. If you don’t have these, you can use crayons or oil pastels. You could even paint it!

• Using the paint sticks, create a bunch of little circles, almost like pompoms all around the page.

• We’ll be gluing the ghost in the middle so no need to fill the middle in completely.

• Once complete, you can glue the ghost into the centre!