The Teacher's Corner
Puzzles and Activities
Cheesecloth Ghost
"To make a cheesecloth ghost, I spread out two long pieces of wax paper so that they're slightly overlapping and I tape them to a counter so they won't move. I spread out the same number of toilet paper tubes on the wax paper as I have children and I place a gourd upside down inside of each tube. I use four yards of cheesecloth to make the ghosts which I cut into 14"x14" squares - one for each child. I pour lots of glue into a large rectangular foil pan so that the glue covers the whole bottom and I add a 1/4 cup of water. My children soak the cheesecloth in the glue until it's completely saturated.
Together, we open the cloth as much as it will stretch out so that it remains square. We drape the cheesecloth carefully over the gourd so that the cloth is in the center. The children write their names on the wax paper next to their project and let it dry for twenty-four hours. When they're dry, the students squeeze the gourd away from the cloth and it keeps its shape. The children glue on plastic eyeballs and an insect. It looks just like a ghost!"
Submitted by: Marie Hlavin HlavinM@email-removed, a kindergarten teacher. This tip was published in the NEA's Weekly "Works4Me" Email list.
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