Invitation to Paint Floating Ghosts & Witch Hats

Spooky season is here, and today we invited the children to dive into some spirited fun with our Floating Ghosts & Witch Hats Action Art experience! This festive invitation combined creativity, movement, and exploration for a truly BOO-tiful process art adventure.

To set up the invitation, we prepared @discountschoolsupply paint cups filled with vibrant @colorations.artoflearning Fluorescent Paints. Our floating ghosts were crafted from balloons wrapped in white paper tablecloths and tied with fishing wire to hang from tree branches. With paintbrushes in hand and glowing colors ready, the children were invited to bring their ghostly friends and witch hats to life through paint!

Action art is a full-body, process-driven approach where the emphasis is on exploration and experimentation rather than the final product. While the end results are always beautiful, the true learning happens through the act of creating. As the children painted, they engaged in rich conversations, practiced collaboration and cooperation, and navigated the space together — all while joyfully expressing their creativity.

The physical nature of this activity supported multiple areas of development. From gripping and re-gripping the ghosts to keep them steady, balancing and reaching to paint every side, or holding a paint cup in one hand while painting with the other — children were fully immersed in the creative process. This experience strengthened fine and gross motor skills, hand–eye coordination, and bilateral coordination (using both sides of the body simultaneously). It also encouraged focus, persistence, and problem-solving as they adapted to painting moving 3D objects!

Every time we offer children opportunities to create in innovative, open-ended ways, we see firsthand the power and importance of process art in early childhood. These moments of discovery remind us that art is more than a product — it’s a joyful, dynamic way for children to think, move, explore, and connect.