Halloween Hullaballoo

How do you do Halloween? It is one of my favorite school parties. I have done so many things, for so many different ages, and I love it all. Some years we do Fall Parties, other years we get to do Halloween. Secretly, I prefer Halloween, but alas, it can't always be done. This past year in Kindergarten Readiness we had a great time. It was the last day of my Interim, so I wanted it to be a special day. Their little world was going to be rocked the very next day. :( I was so worried about them and how they would adjust. Their whole experience with school had been with me and now I was suddenly leaving them. I tried to prepare them, but I knew it would be hard. Soooo, to take their minds off of it, we partied hard. :)

We did center rotations. Thankfully, I had a few parents there to help out. We started out making spider webs. This is great for little hands and hand eye coordination. They loved it so that's an added bonus. All you do is punch holes around a black paper plate. Tie a long piece of yarn to one of the holes and let them string it across, over, under, and through, until they've used most of the thread. Them string a spider ring onto the end of the strand, and tie a not, securing the yarn to the plate. That's it. A moveable spider on a spider web. Fun, fun!

Then we did a cake walk. What's a party without a cake walk?! I printed out Halloween pictures on a full sheet of paper and taped them to the floor. Then I printed smaller versions of the picture onto little cards. We played Halloween music and the kids walked around the pictures on the floor. When the music stopped, the parent pulled out a picture and that child was the winner. They got a cupcake! Fun way to give out their cupcakes and play at the same time. Easy peasy!

We did the obligatory ring the pumpkin. There were little baby pumpkins on the floor. They stood back behind a line and tried to "ring" the pumpkins. We used necklace glow sticks to ring them, which the kiddos loved. I also put them in their goody bags so they could wear them trick or treating. :) 

This next activity is my favorite and a kid favorite too. Decorate a full size pumpkin with Mr. Potato Head pieces. I bought 2 different versions at an after Halloween sale a few years ago. Yea for sales! I've got a witch and a frankenstein. The kids loved making their faces, some crazy, some not. It was super easy, they would stay there playing around with the different pieces for quite a while, and no adult help was needed. You can use regular potato head pieces as well, the themed ones just make it more fun. I had a parent send in teh pumpkins and then I sent them back home for them to carve. It just pokes small holes in the rind, so the pumpkins are definitely usable. 

Finally, we tried to throw candy corn into mini plastic pumpkins. That's hard and we had "cheaters", but they loved it. It was a good counting activity too. 

Easy, fun activities that take less than an hour. I've got so many more ideas, but I think I'll leave you in suspense until next Halloween. :)