halloween bath

was not THAT easy to get ghost shapes - but practice makes...

 As a surprise I fixed a halloween bath for my 8 year old. Michael was full of excitement wondering what I was up to in the bathroom. I was inspired by the Boo bath posted by  Growing A Jeweled Rose http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2012/09/boo-bath-halloween-fun.html and all that is needed is black food colouring, shaving foam and to cut out paper eyes and mouths.

this one was Michael's favourite ghost

 Michael was delighted and eagerly got into the bath - although he was concerned about the depth - as he could not see the bottom (although in this case he was worried it was not going to be deep enough) - but it might be worth considering that not being able to see the bottom might worry some children.

face to face with the ghosts

Michael wondered if they could be picked up

carefully he lifted them up

and then one by one splashed them down

loudly exclaiming how wonderful the shaving foam felt

mixing it all up was fun!

before the bath was over Michael had turned himself into a ghost - he was white from head to toe,  he was almost purring from the sensory delight!

photo opportunity with his favourite ghost before it too met with destruction!

I think far too often that we forget that older children still need to have their inner child fed. Both Michael's 11 year old sisters came in to get a handful of shaving foam to play with - one of them smearing it all over her face! I get reminded about what Ken Robinson says about creativity -
While 98% of children 3-5 years of age scored at the genius level on the creativity test, only 32% of the same children did so at ages 8-10, and then only 10% at 13-15 years of age. The researchers also gave the same test to a large group of adults over the age of 25 and only 2% of scored at the genius level. http://thebiggeridea.co.uk/?p=9   

 So by offering my children the chance to play, to get in touch with their inner child, I also hope to support them in maintaining their creativity throughout their life. Time will tell I suppose...

Oh, and just in case you were wondering - yes it did make a mess - but there was no problems cleaning it up - in fact Michael stayed in the bath with the shower - to clean all the grey goo off himself and to clean the bath - when he got out I just finished off the last bit. Michael enjoyed the clean up almost as much...