5 Little Ghosts Felt Board and Poem

I found the Five Little Ghost poem in Twiggle Magazine and decided to make a felt haunted house and all the characters to go along with it.  Here's what I and two of my clerks, Robin & Mikayla came up with.

Aren't these adorable?!

We started with the Castle and ghosts.

The ghosts can be taken off and put back as needed for the poem.

I can't wait to share this with my Storytime kids!

UPDATE:  I did this in Storytime and the kids loved it.  I passed out the ghosts as we read the poem and had the kids bring them back up to the haunted house as they counted the ghost in the last verse.  We did this a couple times so everyone could have a chance to put something on the board.  On the second time around I passed out the monster, witch, skeleton, spider, and cat and had the kids bring up the item in their hand as they appeared in the poem.  This kept them engaged as well.

DIY Paper Pinwheel

After much searching on Pinterest and attempting many different methods, I found a great post about making paper pinwheels.  These will make great decorations and are simple enough for teens and older kids to make in a program.  I've already shown my finished to a couple of teens today and they are excited to decorate the Teen Lounge with paper pinwheels!

Here's what you will need:

• Paper (any kind will work.  I used colored copier paper because that is what I had on hand)
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Glue stick
• Paper clips

To make the large pinwheel I used three pieces of 81/2"x11" paper.  Take a piece of paper and fold it accordion style along the short end, like the picture below, until it's completely folded,.  Do this to all three pieces.

Once your pieces of paper are folded, fold each one in half and glue the middle pieces together.  I secured mine with paper clips while the glue dried.

Now that you have three fan-like pieces, glue them together side by side, to create a circle. Secure with pins.  This is your first pinwheel!

While that pinwheel is drying, cut three 4" squares out of different colored paper.  Fold and glue these together like the first pinwheel.

Glue the small pinwheel to the large pinwheel.

Now, you can have some fun with what you put on the middle.  I decided to go the easy route with this one and printed out some free tags from Chic Tags.  Add some ribbon to the back to hang from the ceiling or a wall and you're done.

Enjoy!

Paper Mache Pumpkin

I bought small, brown paper mache pumpkins for kids to color with markers and add glitter to for an evetn I did at the library.  I have some leftover pumpkins and have been dreaming up all the fun things I can do with them.  I decided to continue on with the paper mache route and use orange and yellow tissue paper.  

What you need:

• Orange and yellow tissue paper (or any colors you'd like)
• Mod Podge
• Small paint brush
• Paper mache pumpkin

Cut your tissue paper into one inch strips and then cut the strips into one inch squares.  I did not measure, just a rough guess.  The pieces do not need to be perfect..

Using the small paintbrush add a thin layer of Mod Podge to the pumpkin.  Place a piece of tissue paper on the Mod Podged area and use the paint brush to smooth the paper down.  I started at the top and worked around in a circle until the entire pumpkin was cover.  Once you are satisfied with your pumpkin, give it a nice top coat of Mod Podge to seal everything down.  I used a matte finish on my pumpkin so it's not too shiny.

I'm toying with the idea of adding some chunky glitter to this pumpkin.  Sometimes glitter just adds a nice touch, and by sometimes, I mean all the time!

Enjoy!!

Tissue Paper Owl

I got this idea from my favorite blog A Beautiful Mess.  I decided to simplify it a bit and use as a library craft.  After scrounging around in my craft supplies I came up with the following items to make this cute little owl.

• Styrofoam ball
• Tissue paper
• Scrap of felt
• Large wiggly eyes
• Pipe cleaners
• Scissors
• Glue stick

I cut my tissue paper into 3 inch strips and folded them in half.  I then cut the raw edges with scissors to make a fringe about 1 inch about apart.  Do not cut all the way through.  

Using the glue stick I went around the Styrofoam ball and wrapped the fringe in layers .  For the top, I used smaller pieces of fringe and layered them in a tight circle.  

The feet are made out of  pipe cleaners cut in half .

Cut a small triangle out of brown felt and stick some wiggly eyes on the front of the owl.  Stand back and admire your slightly ruffled, slightly circular owl.

Enjoy!