I’m not sure if moms and dads out there are going to hate me or thank me for introducing them to ghost hands! I’m not sure if I should thank my friend Christie for introducing it to my kids but I’m paying it forward by introducing it to the world!
I warn you now. It’s messy. Sticky and messy. And yuck. But fun. So much fun!
We were over at our friends’ (and neighbours) house. It was the first warm Sunday afternoon of the Spring and we were enjoying a visit by the campfire after an outdoor spaghetti dinner. The sounds of approaching summer could be heard over the sound of the dirt bikes and quads the kids took turns riding. Later, the kids made s’mores while the adults visited.
Christie asked my kids if they had ever heard of “ghost hands”. They had not and she kindly decided to teach them. I wasn’t too thrilled with that at first since it’s so messy but it turned into the most fun our family has had in a long while.
The kids weren’t the only ones who were laughing! If you can get past the messy factor, you’re going to love this one! I know there will never be another campfire where my kids don’t ask to do ghost hands!
Ghost hands are about as cheap and easy as family entertainment gets!
You only need one item, marshmallows. You could of course do it anywhere but I would HIGHLY recommend you only do this outside!
This doesn’t have to be a campfire activity, but it does make sense to have it be because then everyone is already outside, having fun, and there are often marshmallows on hand to roast over the fire or to make s’mores with.
The ghost hands process is very straightforward. Take one large marshmallow and start to work it between your hands. Work it until it is squishy and just keep smooshing it. It will eventually get to a point where when you pull your hands apart, strings of ooey-gooey marshmallow mush will connect the hands. That’s when you know you have achieved Ghost Hands!
Now it’s up to you what you do with your ghost hands. You can play with the mess you’ve created and enjoy the sensory experience or you can chase your parents, siblings and friends around the yard, pretending that you are going to touch their hair with your ghost hands if you catch them!
You can put your hands down on the grass and the grass will stick to them, creating a sea creature hands type of effect. You can try to catch mosquitos in the white web you’ve created. There’s no end to the fun that can be had with just that one marshmallow! If you want to, you can even lick your hands (eww)!
These pictures were taken before the kids got the idea to chase the adults around the yard, gooey hands outstretched, reaching for our hair! You can see Christie’s delight though in having taught my kids something that will surely be creating messes for me for years to come!
Note to parents:
This washes off easily. Just bring out a basin of warm, soapy water and your kids will lose their ghost hands and you won’t have to worry about them making sticky handprints in the house!
I wasn’t sure how this one would go over with some of our SPD (sensory processing disorder) kids but they loved it and there were no issues.
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Minute to Win It Family Fun Night
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This is also great practise for sewing buttons!
My girls have been proudly wearing them everywhere. Granola Girl says she feels like Rapunzel because when her hair is in the sock bun, it looks like she has so much hair!
To create this busy bag, simply attach magnet pieces to each end of the popsicle sticks. I used the adhesive kind of magnet strip, but I found that I still needed to glue them in place as the adhesive didn’t hold well enough.
They can be used to play on the fridge or any other magnetic surface such as a