Halloween is one of our favourite times of year! Growing up, we loved to go trick-or-treating and getting to pick a costume and often my mom would make us costumes. We had such great Halloween themed parties and still do. It is a great time for adults but also for kids as well (of course!! At my Home Daycare, we go all out! We love to decorate the outside of the house, our foyer and our Daycare space, including our classroom and shelves. The kids get dressed up, we have a Halloween Party with music and activities and at the end of the day they get to take home special loot bags and really look forward to it each year!
Planning activities for your little ones at home or in your classroom is really a lot of fun, inexpensive and there are so many great ideas out there. You may already have items laying around the house, you can use some printables and make a trip to your local discount Dollar Store for some materials to use in the Halloween themed activities. The kids really enjoy it, I enjoy it as the Teacher seeing how excited they get to explore and learn with the Halloween Activities (which I have on the shelves starting two weeks before Halloween).
Today, I will be sharing our Favourite Simple and Fun Halloween Activities that we have and expand on each year on our classroom shelves and that you can easily do at home with your little one(s)!
Decorate a pumpkin:
Print a pumpkin template and have the kids colour in, use stickers, foam stickers as well to create their pumpkin:
Book shelf books and decor:
I got this great Life Cycle of a Pumpkin chart from Montessori for Everyone.
Math lesson: Find the shape/Shape Hunt: circle items (can be pumpkins, bowls, containers, materials, etc)
Dry Orange Lentils scoop and pour into mini Halloween bucket
Sensorial Halloween Discovery Bin – use beans, Halloween stamps, foam shapes, orange pom poms, pumpkins, googly eyes, etc.
Sort & Match: Halloween foam items
Match the Halloween rings & pom pom transfer using tweezers into pumpkin ice tray:
Halloween Stamps:
Dot to Dot Pumpkin – can use a bingo dabber, stickers or pom poms from Cassie @ 3 Dinosaurs
Cut and Paste shelf – we have a year round shelf where we change items according to theme. For Halloween we add cutting strips and pumpkin templates. The kids cut the strips and glue onto paper and for the pumpkin template, they cut long strips of construction papers into squares and glue onto the pumpkin.
Wash a pumpkin – pumpkin bath
Life Cycle of a Pumpkin – can talk about how a pumpkin grows and have a real one in the classroom or at home to observe, decorate and/or carve. Add in this colouring sequence sheet here from A to Z Teachers Stuff.
Five Little pumpkins – read the story, the kids can colour in as well and act it out by holding pumpkins. Find the booklet here from Prekinders.
H is for Halloween sheet - using stickers to fill in, courtesy of Gifts of Curiosity.
Last but certainly not least, the kids get dressed up on Halloween! We have a party with music, freeze dance, colouring and arts and crafts activities, a special treat for snack, a movie and the kids get to make their own loot bags and colour them in as well as fill them with fun Halloween themed treats!
At our Home Daycare, we all look forward to this time of year! There are so many great ideas out there and opportunities to have some fun with your little ones and teach them some life skills, all about the season, while adding in some hands-on activities!
The best part of it all, is seeing their smiling faces, enthusiasm and excitement as they explore the activities and see all of the decor that we have added to the environment for them!
*Next week, I will be sharing our favourite Halloween decor items that we use in and around our home! Stay tuned!!*
Happy Halloween!
What are your favourite Halloween themed activities?