Paper Plate Ghost Craft (FREE Printable Template)

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Paper Plate Ghost Craft

This easy ghost craft is designed to be a ‘little sister craft’ to our movable ghost paper plate craft. The two designs are similar but this one is definitely easier as you don’t have to make the ghost. If you want something a little more suitable for older kids then be sure to check that one out as well.

I love making Halloween paper plate crafts because they’re a material so many of us have at home. You can find some more ideas at the end of this page if you’ve got some paper plates left over and you’d like to make some more easy Halloween decorations.

Materials You’ll Need

• Paper plate
• Black paint
• Paintbrush
• Ghost template (see below)
• Coloured markers / felt tip pens
• Optional – chalk pens or coloured star stickers

Printable Ghost Template

You can of course draw a ghost shape yourself but if you’d like to use the one that I’ve used it’s our free printable ghost template.

I’ve also shared a lot of ideas for using it so if you’re having a day of making a lot of Halloween crafts it could be a good choice and give you a bit of inspiration.

How To Make Your Ghost Craft

This craft is easy peasy to make but looks super effective. If you are using white paper plates then start by painting your paper plate black. You can of course just buy black paper plates if you would prefer but I think that painting is half the fun.

I always find getting the black paint out a little more nerve wracking than other colours but to date as long as I’ve stuck to washable kids paints I haven’t had any issues.

If you don’t have any black paint you could use a blue paint for your sky instead.

While your paint is drying print out your ghost template.

Draw in some black ovals for your ghost’s eyes and draw in a mouth and then cut your ghost shape out. I’ve also added some pink cheeks for my ghost because I thought they made it look a bit cuter and I can’t resist cute crafts.

You could also draw on eyebrows or use googly eyes for your ghost but I quite like the simplicity of just drawing them on, go with what your child enjoys though!

Once your paint is dry draw in your stars. I’ve used a chalk paint pen for this as they’re pretty reliable at being able to draw over other colours but you can find other suggestions for decorating in my ideas for adapting this craft below.

Once you’ve finished decorating your sky you can glue your ghost template onto the front of the paper plate.

Ideas For Adapting This Craft

I’ve made mine quite a cute and friendly little ghost but you don’t have too! Why not have yours with a wide open mouth rather than a smile.

Chalk pens are great for drawing on paint but they are a bit expensive. I’ve used Posca pens who I  worked with years ago but these ones are ones that I’ve bought myself as I use them a lot. If you don’t want to buy chalk pens why not use star stickers for adding some stars to the sky.

You could add more to your paper plate if you like – just make sure you work out where your ghost will go first so that it won’t be covered. Use chalk pens or cut out some coloured paper to add a tiny scene at the bottom, maybe some gravestones or the outline of a house.

If you cut out the middle of the paper plate and stuck the ghost nearer to the edge then you could totally adapt this to make a Halloween paper plate wreath craft.

More Paper Plate Halloween Crafts

Grab an egg box to make this fun paper plate witch craft with a 3D nose.

These paper plate bats were made by my son when he was in preschool and were a huge hit with him.

I made these monsters using paper bowls but you could easily change this to be a paper plate monster craft just by swapping that material. I love that there’s no correct way to make a monster so it’s a good craft for encouraging creativity.