Salt Dough Ghosts and Paper Bag Trees

Lots of kiddos have a Fall Break so today I am posting an easy activity that nurtures those creative juices and gets them in the mood for fall festivities! This activity could also be used for a party activity "take home".

Materials:

• 1 cup of flour
• 1 cup of salt
• 1/2 cup of boiling water
• bowl
• wooden spoon
• fine-point Sharpie marker

1. Combine the flour, salt, and water in a bowl. Stir the mixture with spoon until smooth.
2. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and shape into a ghost, flattening the base so it will stand up.
3. Microwave the ghosts on a plate one or two at a time for 20 to 30 second intervals until the dough is fairly firm. No more than 2minutes in total. Let the ghosts cool because they will get quite hot.
4. Use the fine point Sharpie to draw on eyes and a mouth.
5. Twist paper bags into tree trunk. You will need to tear down from the top of the bag to make branches.

I also bring out the marshmallow pumpkins and candy corns to help decorate a table top scene. Ghosts peer out from behind the "twisty" trees! Cute! Cute! Cute!

If the kids want "more" I dye the dough black with food coloring to make black cats. Sometimes I'll dye it orange for pumpkins because the candy gets eaten from the scene too quickly. I tried making bats to hanging from the twisty trees, but the weight of them caused the trees to fall over.