I'm not always one to try to keep up with viral trends on tik tok of instagram, but when I saw the "Thrifted ghost painting" trend take over last fall, I KNEW I had to try it out! I had such a fun time hunting for the perfect painting, creating my own ghostly touches, and sharing the experience with my kiddos that I started to think, "Hmm how can I recreate this concept but for kids in a classroom?"
So I put my teacher hat on and scoured my favorite halloween books and remembered Oliver Jeffers’ amazing book “There’s a Ghost in This House,”. If you haven't read this book, it is sooo much fun for kids and readers of all ages. What makes this book so fun is that when you turn the page, you go from seeing an empty spooky room to a room with secret little ghosts that appear thanks to a sheet of velum in between each page. I knew this was the direction I wanted to go in when I started brainstorming. The result is this fun, creative Halloween project that ties together storytelling, upcycling, and spooky art in a way that’s perfect for classrooms and homes.
Here’s how you can bring this Halloween art lesson into your classroom or home—and make it your own!
Materials You’ll Need
The best part of this project is how few materials it requires! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Thrifted or old books with pictures of houses or digital photos. I found this incredible book called "Georgia Architecture" at a thrift store with nothing but black and white photos of old homes in Georgia. I know this was definitely a diamond in the rough regarding this project, so I have provided several photo options to use in my full lesson here.
- Transparency paper or vellum/ tracing paper: This will add a fun, interactive elements to our project
- Acrylic paints or paint markers: White and black for the ghosts, and maybe also some yellow for lights or windows.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Choose Your Book Page
Start by selecting a page from your thrifted book. Encourage students to look for pages with interesting elements in a room like furniture, staircases, porches, etc. You could even talk about book recycling and the environmental benefits of using thrifted materials.
2. Sketch Out Your Ghosts
Lay your piece of transparency paper or tracing paper over top of your photo. Line it up so that all corners match, and trim if necessary. Next, tape the top of the paper on both sides of the top so that the tracing paper is attached but can be easily lifted.
If you decide to use tracing paper, you can lightly sketch the shape of your ghosts using a pencil. Ghosts are easy for children to draw—simple, rounded shapes will work perfectly.
If you are using transparency film, you can your photos in sharpie, or sketch them lightly on the photo and then trace them in sharpie if you are afraid of messing up.
You can also encourage creativity by allowing students to add funny or spooky expressions, hats, or other details to their ghosts. Have students draw their ghosts in interesting places that interact with objects in the photo (ex: a ghost peaking his head around a door frame).
3. Paint Your Ghosts
Once the sketch is done, use white acrylic paint or a paint marker to fill in the ghost shapes. The white will stand out against the text on the book page, creating a striking contrast.
If painting on tracing paper, paint right on top of the paper, and build up any details like black eyes and mouth at the end.
If painting on transparency paper, flip the sheet over to the back and paint the back of the clear film. This will allow your details that you drew of the ghost to show up on the front side. Once the paint is dry, you can flip it back over to the front side.
4. Add More Details
Students can also add additional spooky elements to their scene either on the top layer of clear paper or straight onto the background photo. You can paint the sky dark with black, add white stars or a full moon, paint the windows of any house yellow to make it look like the lights are on inside, and even paint things like bats or spiders.
5. Frame It!
After the artwork is dry, place the finished ghost painting inside a thrifted frame. The mismatched frames can add a vintage or eerie vibe to the finished pieces. These framed ghost paintings are perfect for classroom displays, home décor, or even as gifts!
This project is not only fun to do alone, but is even better when you are sharing the experience with others! Whether it's a family painting party with your kids, or hosting a girls night to allow everyone to create their own spooky work of art, this project allows you to connect with your loved ones and make memories.
My girlfriends and I had the best time getting together and creating our own ghost paintings, not to mention an excuse to make a whole bunch of festive food! :)
If you're interested in the FULL step by step lesson, you can download it here!
I hope yall give this project a shot and if you do, be sure to share it with me or tag me on Instagram (@artwithmrs.e) Oh and also, if you are lookin for more fun Halloween / fall projects, be sure to check our my Haunted House art project, There's a Monster in my Closet Lesson, and my Autumn landscape lesson.
Happy making!