Crafts
*Make pumpkin clickers - Glue a circle cut from the orange paper to fit on top of the lid of a baby food jar. cut out
shapes for the jack o' lantern's face and glue on top of the circle. When dry, if you press the center of the lid it
will make a clicking sound.
*Tissue ghosts - Use kleenex or tissue paper, fill
center of a square with a cotton ball, tie, and add face.
*Fingerpaint with orange and black.
*Black cat treat bags - Cut a lunch bag to make 2 ears, paint black, when dry add facial features from construction paper and a black handle.
*Ghosts - dip large pieces of white cloth in liquid starch and then drape over a javex jug, let dry. Your ghost will harden and stand like a statue. Use markers or felt for eyes and mouth.
*Make witches - Cut a 3" piece from the nylon and stuff with cotton, this will be the head. Sew a few stitches for the eyes, nose and mouth of your witch. Make a small cone shape with the black construction paper for the hat and a large cone for the dress and attach the head to the dress with glue. Glue wool for hair onto the top of the head, then attach the hat with glue. You can add a brim to the hat by cutting a circle (donut shape) that will just fit over the hat and stay in place. You can make a broomstick by tying small pieces of twigs to a larger one with string and gluing to the dress of your witch. Decorate the hat and dress with sticky stars (glow in the dark ones are really neat for this project!).
*Cut and paste with black and orange materials.
*Pompom spiders - Cut 2 black pipecleaners into quarters, using a gluegun, glue to a large black pompom - 4 on either side for the legs; add a smaller pompom for the head then glue on googly eyes, bend the pipecleaners so the spider can stand.
*Paper Plate Spider Puppet - paint a paper plateblack and let dry. Cut strips from construction paper and staple to plate - 4 on each side. Add circle stickers for eyes. Poke a hole in the center of the plate and add a piece of string, knotting it so it will stay. Add a loop to the top of the string to hold to make the spider 'walk'.
*Sponge Bats - Take a large piece of black paper and glue a large yellow circle on it for the moon. Cut a bat shape from sponge or you can purchase a bat shaped sponge fairly cheaply at the store. Dip the sponge in black paint and make bat prints across the moonlit sky. You can add glow in the dark star stickers to the night sky for a really neat effect.
*Clay Pot Bats - Turn a clay pot upside down and paint black. Cut bat wings from black fun foam or construction paper. Glue the wings to the back of the clay pot and add googly eyes to the front.
*Bat Note or Artwork Holder - Paint a clothes pin black. Glue fun foam or construction paper wings to the back. Add small googly eyes or cut from felt or paper. Add a magnet to the back and can be used on the fridge to hold notes. If the children make pairs of bats, they could hold pieces of artwork on the fridge also.
*Pop Bottle Bat - This looks really neat set up in a tree especially on a windy night when the wind makes the bag rustle! Cut a black garbage bag in 1/2. Cover a 2 litre pop bottle with the 1/2 bag cutting away extra and stuffing the last bit into the opening of the bottle. Replace the lid on to hold the bag secure. Fold the other piece of bag in 1/2 lengthwise. Cut a bat wing shape out leaving the fold intact. Place a long stick into the fold and secure with tape or using a glue gun. When I made these with the children, I used the glue gun first and then for extra support, added a the packing tape in an X form in the center of the wing span. From the scraps left over of the bag, cut out 2 bat ears and tape/glue gun on. Cut out 2 eyes from tin foil or reflective paper or you can use glow in the dark stickers. Attach. Place your bat in the tree using the stick in the wings to secure it in the tree branches.
*Pumpkin Votive Holders - Use watered down white glue to cover the outside of a baby food jar with orange tissue paper. Let dry. Add a votive candle to the jar. Older children may want to make a face using black or yellow tissue paper.
*Pumpkin Heads - Purchase real mini pumpkins and paint faces on them.
*Witch's Hat - Make a cone to fit child's head. Cut off excess paper from the bottom. Cut a brim from black construction paper and cut out the center to fit on the cone. Cut slits in the bottom of the cone (about 1" long) and bend upwards. Staple the brim to the cone. Cut stars from yellow construction paper to decorate the hat.
Science
*Open up a pumpkin and your let your sensory experience begin... mushy pulp, slippery seeds, the smell of pumpkin, the smooth outside and the rough stem.
*Plant pumpkin seeds (soak in water until it sprouts).
*Echolocation - Bats use their sense of hearing to locate food. Make up sound bottles and have the children test their own sense of hearing by matching the pairs of sounds.
Block Area
*Add plastic Halloween props.
Dramatic Play
Songs:Circle Time
*Ghosts Have Come to School Today
*1,2,3 Little witches
*5 Little pumpkins sitting on a gate (Raffi) Stories
*Clifford's Halloween
*Franklin's Halloween
*The biggest Pumpkin ever
*Boo, guess who
*The Witch grows up Games:
*The Goblins in the Dark (Follow the directions in the song - below)
*Pin the nose on the witch - cut out a witch shape from bristle board and paint or colour. Cut out enough noses for each child to have one. Using a blindfold on the child, turn them around 3 times and then have them place their nose on the bristle board witch using mac tac on the back of the nose.
*Pumpkin bean bag toss - paint a large pumpkin shape onto several boxes of varying sizes. Create a pumpkin patch that the children can toss their bean bags into.
*Bob for apples
*Sound Location Game - Have one child sit in the center of a circle blindfolded. Then point to one child to say this person's name or make a sound (use an instrument/blow a whistle/etc) The blindfolded child must use their sense of hearing to point in the direction or to the person that made the noise.
*Pass the Pumpkin - Use a mini, plastic, or felt pumpkin for this game. Have the children sit in a circle and pass the pumpkin around to music. When the music stops, the child holding the pumpkin is 'caught'. Continue playing.
Water & Sand Play
*Add plastic halloween items to water.
*Have orange water and black funnels in the water table.
Outdoor Play
*Play running games with orange and black streamers.
*Play balloon volleyball with orange and black balloons.
Field Trips / Special Days
Songs
1, 2, 3 Little Witches
(sung to:1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little...)
Ghosts have come to School Today
(sung to:Mary Had A Little Lamb)
Pumpkins have such happy grins, happy grins, happy grins
Pumpkins have such happy grins,
It's Halloween at last!
Black cats ride on witches brooms, witches brooms, witches brooms
Black cats ride on witches brooms
It's Halloween at last!
The Goblin's in the Dark
(sung to:The Farmer in the Dell)
The Goblin picks a witch
The Goblin picks a witch
Hi, ho on Halloween's the Goblin picks a witch
The witch picks a cat... etc
The cat picks a bat... etc
The bat picks a ghost.... etc
The ghost says "BOO"
The ghost says "BOO"
Hi, ho on Halloween the ghost says "BOO"!
Pass the Magic Broomstick
(stand in a circle and have children pass a child sized broom around the circle while chanting...)
Ride it, ride it, ride it, ride the magic broom
ride it, ride it, ride it, all around the room.
Bones
Feel your finger, feel your toes
Grab your elbow, pinch your nose
Touch your ankle, tap your knees
Give your chin a little squeeze
You'll feel something hard inside
And it cannot be denied
What you feel is hard as stone
And it's something called a bone.
There are bones, bones, bones, bones
Bones inside of you
Bones, bones, bones, bones
More than just a few
So many you can't count them
Amazing but it's true
There are bones, bones, bones, bones
Bones... inside of you!
There are bones inside your hand
In your feet to help you stand
In your elbow and your heel
Lots of lovely bones to feel
Though bones are hard to see
Still you have them just like me
They are not outside but in
Yes, they're underneath your skin
There are bones, bones, bones, bones
Bones... inside of you
Bones, bones, bones, bones
More than just a few
So many you can't count them
Amazing but it's true
There are bones, bones, bones, bones
Bones... inside of you!
If you had no bones at all
Then you couldn't run or crawl
And you couldn't stand up straight
Or eat dinner off your plate
Without bones we'd all fall down
Just like puddles on the ground
Just like melted ice-cream cones
If we didn't have our bones
There are bones, bones, bones, bones
Bones inside of you
Bones, bones, bones, bones
More than just a few
So many you can't count them
Amazing but it's true
There are bones, bones, bones, bones
Bones... inside of you!
Little Bat
(sung to:Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
Bats Are Sleeping
(sung to:Frere Jacques)
One Little, Two little, Three little Pumpkins
Let's get dad to carve the pumpkin,
Let's get mom to carve the pumpkin,
Let's all go to carve the pumpkin,
Just for Halloween night.
Don't eat the seeds until mom cooks them,
Don't eat the seeds until dad cooks them,
Don't eat the seeds until we cook them,
Then they'll taste just right.
Jack o Lantern
(sung to:I'm a Little Teapot)
Once I Had a Pumpkin
(sung to:Did You Ever See a Lassie?)
So I made a jack-o-lantern, a jack-o-lantern, a jack-o-lantern,
So I made a jack-o-lantern, with a big funny face.
With big eyes and a big nose, and a big mouth with big teeth.
So I made a jack-o-lantern with a big funny face.
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