Ghost Coloring Pages

The ghosts on these pages are not trying to scare anyone. They drink hot chocolate, knit scarves, bake bread and fall asleep in the leaves. These ghost coloring pages are the gentle side of October, made for children who like Halloween but not the frights.

Most of the ghosts are the round, wavy-hemmed kind with two dot eyes and a smile. One floats over a pumpkin patch, one holds a mug of hot chocolate with marshmallows, one wears a witch hat and shouts a playful boo, one rides a broom with a jack-o'-lantern, and one pops out of a carved pumpkin under a flight of bats. Three little ghosts chase each other around a lamppost, a ghost family drifts above an old house, a ghost shares a bowl of candy with a cat, and another hugs a cat whose fur stands straight up in surprise.

Then the cozy ghosts, the ones that make this collection different. A ghost rakes autumn leaves in a scarf, hides in the leaf pile with only its eyes showing, knits a very long scarf, bakes bread in a cottage kitchen, rocks on the porch with a cat at its feet, naps in a canopy bed in a nightcap, wraps up in a patchwork quilt, swings from a candle chandelier, sits on a crescent moon, holds an umbrella in the rain, blows dandelion seeds and soap bubbles, carries a lantern under stone arches, and dances with a friendly skeleton in a ballroom. There is a ghost in big round glasses, a ghost bride with a bouquet, a ghost serving cupcakes to little monsters, a ghost floating from a teapot while a mouse watches, and a child in a bedsheet costume with bunny slippers. For slower hands: a ghost mandala around the moon, a tiny ghost lost among cobwebs, and a border of ghosts and bats.

Why ghosts wear sheets

The idea of a ghost as a white sheet with eye holes is surprisingly old. In the past, the dead were buried wrapped in a white cloth, a burial shroud, so a figure rising from the grave was imagined still wearing it. Stage plays in the 1800s used a white sheet as the cheapest ghost costume of all, and cartoons in the 20th century rounded it off into the friendly shape on these pages. The bedsheet costume page closes the circle: it is still the easiest costume to make at home, and the eye holes are the only thing to measure.

What color is a ghost?

A ghost is the one Halloween subject where white is the right answer, and white paper is already white. That leaves two good ways to color these pages.

Leave the ghost white and color everything around it: a deep blue or purple night sky, orange pumpkins, brown leaves, a yellow moon. The ghost then glows by contrast, which is exactly how ghosts are supposed to look. A very light gray or pale blue along one edge of the ghost adds a little shape without losing the glow.

Or make it a party ghost in pastel pink, mint or lavender, which suits the cozy pages, the quilt and the teacup especially, and turns the whole set into something closer to a sticker sheet than a haunted house.

Round shapes for toddlers, cobwebs for patient hands

Most of these ghosts are quick to color: a round white shape, two eyes and a smile, with little around it, which suits a child of two or three who is just starting to stay inside the lines. Quick to color, above the grid, gathers them:

• Border of ghosts and bats
• Ghost in big round glasses
• Ghost riding a broom with a pumpkin

The detailed pages are the ones with a whole setting, the old house under a ghost family, the cobwebs, the ghost mandala around the moon. They suit an older child or an adult who wants a long, calm October page. Lots of detail opens on:

• Tiny ghost among cobwebs
• Ghost family over an old house
• Ghost mandala around the moon

Ghosts in stories that are not scary

Friendly ghosts have a long history in children's books and films. Casper, the friendly ghost, first appeared in the 1940s and spent every story trying to make friends while everyone ran away. Georgie, the shy little ghost of a picture book series begun in 1944, lived in an attic and made the stairs creak each night. Reading one of these stories while coloring the teacup ghost or the knitting ghost turns the page into a small reading nook, and gives a nervous child a ghost to feel sorry for rather than afraid of.

A not-scary Halloween for little ones

For a toddler's first Halloween, or a child who finds the season frightening, these pages are a good way in. A ghost who drinks hot chocolate and knits a scarf is hard to be afraid of. Color the bedsheet costume page before making a real one together, and the ghost stops being a monster and becomes something the child can be.

The finished ghosts, cut out and taped to a window with the white side facing out, make a friendly haunted house from the street. The ghost on the moon, hung by a thread, turns slowly in the draft.

Printing a stack of ghosts

The pages are free downloads: 300 dpi PDFs drawn to A4 size. On A4 they print at 100 %, and on US Letter "fit to page" shrinks each ghost by about six percent, wavy hem included. The printing guide points straight to that option. Collect a pile of ghosts with Add to pack and they print together as one file. The Halloween coloring pages and the pumpkin coloring pages fill the rest of October.