Ghost Coloring Pages

A good ghost story often pauses just before the important bit. Someone lowers their voice, the listeners lean in, and an ordinary room becomes much harder to leave with the lights off. Half the pleasure comes from waiting for the fright, even when everybody knows what sort of story has been chosen.

That teasing mixture of laughter and nerves gives Ghost coloring pages their Halloween appeal. A ghost can be a threatening presence in one telling and an absurd nuisance in the next. It depends on when the storyteller chooses to let everyone breathe again.

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A Ghost That Lets the Background Show

This ghost's broad, empty body would suit a layer of tracing paper. Place a piece over the drawing and use dark markers to follow the outer shape, eyes, and smiling mouth.

A few pale blue marks along the long folds will give the sheet some shape. Keep most of the body clear, then slide the original page out from underneath the tracing.

Hold the new ghost over striped wrapping paper, a magazine page, or a dark book cover. Each background will show through differently. Try one with a bold pattern, then one that is nearly plain, and choose which makes the face easiest to spot. The same small ghost can become much harder to find against busy print.

Put Some Age into the Graveyard Stones

The gravestone marked RIP is close enough to give the stone a little weathering. Leave those three letters legible while making the surface around them look as though it has spent years outside.

Use uneven patches of gray on the stones, with a dark brown house and white ghosts. A little dull green near the foot of the closest stone can suggest moss.

You could add one thin crack from the stone's upper edge, stopping before it reaches the lettering. Give a neighboring marker a worn corner instead of another identical crack. The farther stones need fewer marks, so the small changes on the nearest ones remain easy to notice along the path.

Let the Broom Bell Spoil a Quiet Entrance

A bell dangling from a ghost's broom is an awkward accessory for anyone hoping to arrive unnoticed. The bell hangs on a short chain near the handle, where the ghost has both hands busy holding on.

Try a pale gray ghost with a brown broom and a golden bell. You could write a small TING! beside the bell, leaving its short chain visible.

Add a caption underneath: So much for sneaking in. Read the sound effect first, pause, and then read the caption, as though the ghost has only just noticed the problem. A second reader could try the line in a very serious voice and see whether that makes the unfortunate entrance funnier.

Put a Paper Door in Front of the Ghost

The ghost in this doorway can become a small Halloween surprise beneath a paper flap. Use the arched opening as a guide for a new door cut from plain paper, with help for the curved top if needed.

Try a dark green house with a rusty red paper door, leaving the ghost white. Attach the new door along one side with a narrow strip of tape so it opens and closes.

Fold the flap closed, then test that it opens clear of the face. You could write Knock, knock on the outside and let someone discover who answers. Add a small paper tab at the free edge if the door is fiddly to lift.

Give the Swing Two Rough Ropes

The ropes on this swing already have a twisted pattern, quite different from the ghost's long, smooth folds. A short piece of ordinary string beside the page can help show how those little twists run into one another.

Choose tan ropes and a brown seat, with a pale violet ghost against a darker sky. Follow the printed twist lines with a slightly darker brown on just one edge of each strand.

Carry that same edge down the rope, pausing at the ghost's hands. On the seat, a few short lines following the plank can suggest wood. Leave the ghost's larger folds mostly plain beside those rougher surfaces, so the swing feels like something solid beneath its wispy rider.