Great Halloween Decorations: Mummy Candy Holders
Mummy Candy Holders
There’s always candy around at Halloween. Teachers bring in candy, kids bring candy from home and parents are always bringing in some kind of candy for snacks. Let the kids make some mummy candy holders to place in the classroom. It will keep their candy together and also give you a little more control over how much candy each child eats.
Start with small coffee cans. Be sure there are no sharp edges and that the can is clean and dry. Other supplies needed are white construction paper, gauze, glue, scissors and crayons.
Place the white construction paper around the outside of the coffee can. Help with cutting the paper so it’s an exact fit to the can. Once the paper is cut place glue on the back and attach it to the can.
Attach the gauze from top to bottom of the can. Put a small amount of glue on the piece of gauze when you first start it and again on the end when the can is completely covered. This will keep the gauze from slipping when little hands grab the candy dish to get their piece of candy.
When those little drops of glue dry the kids can use the crayons to give their mummies some facial features. It can be just eyes peeping out or they can give them a mouth and nose too. Now you have a Halloween candy dish to hold all that scrumptious candy. If you sneak a piece that’s ok too, only the mummy will know and he’s not talking!
Great Halloween Decorations: Door Witch
Make A Door Witch
What would Halloween decorations be without a witch in the mix? Decorating the classroom door with a witch is pretty simple to do and doesn’t take a lot of items. You will need to help the kids a little with this project, but in the end they will have a witch to cover their classroom door to help keep the ghosts and goblins away.
Start with a plain piece of cardboard. Cut out a single sided pointed hat. With either paint or crayons, the kids can color it completely black. Now they have that wonderful pointed hat to place on the witch’s head.
Using another piece of cardboard, you can cut out the witch head. Be sure to bring the chin to an almost perfect point and don’t forget that long pointed nose. If you feel you’re not talented enough to cut out the perfect witch head, you can find a template online that can be used to trace the head on the cardboard first. Making the nose separate and attaching it with glue can make it easier when cutting out the head also.
Let the kids color the eyes and mouth onto the face of the witch. Don’t let them forget that big ole wart on her nose and of course no witch is complete without her pale green face.
Now for the perfect witch body – again you will need a piece of cardboard. It is best to have a long rectangular piece. There won’t be any cutting or drawing on this piece so as long as it fits on the door, any size will work.
Have the kids take a piece of black fabric and glue it to the cardboard. There will need to be a little extra on the front that will flow down the body like a cape. Have the kids glue some red rik rak around the edge of the fabric. They can also add glue glitter, stars or any other types of decorations they would like to give their witch some attitude.
She will also need her beautiful black shoes. Cut these out of cardboard either on your own or with the help of a traceable template. Have the kids color them black and place a red or silver buckle on the top of each.
Now that you have all the parts decorated and ready to go they will need to be glued together. Start with the shoes at the bottom of the body. Next comes the witch’s head and last, but not least, her hat. The witch is together and ready to hang on the classroom door.
Oh but wait, we almost forgot the broom. You can use a real broom or have the children make one with cardboard. Cut a piece of cardboard for the handle and color it brown. The bristles can be made with a piece of yellow construction paper that is cut in slits from one side to the middle of the paper. Attach the bristles to the handle with glue and add it beside the witch on the door.
Black Bat Stringers for Halloween
Pumpkins are a traditional Halloween decoration. There should always be a number of pumpkins of all shapes and sizes set about when you decorate. Pumpkins should not be the only decorations though.
Kids love to do crafts and making Halloween decorations can be a lot of fun for them. One decoration that is easy to make are bat stringers. With some folded black construction paper, a pencil, scissors and some string you can have bat stringers just about anywhere in the classroom.
On the edge of a piece of black construction paper you will need to trace with a pencil the shape of a bat or let the kids do it by using a template they can trace around. Once the bat has been traced help the kids fold their paper over and over until all the paper is under the piece with the traced bat.
Using the scissors the kids can cut around the traced bat. Make sure they know to stay on the line and they may need your help in turning the paper to complete the cut. When they have cut completely around the bat they can then unfold the paper. They will be excited to see their string of bats all together.
You can let them decorate their bats too. They can use a red crayon to create the eyes and other colored crayons, stickers or glitter to decorate any way they would like. You might find you have some very exciting looking bats to hang around the classroom.
Now that you have the bat stringers they will need to be hung. Make a small hole on each end of the stringer. Pull string through the holes and tie them off. Hang the stringers around the room from the ceiling. The kids will be thrilled to see their creations hanging all around the room above their heads and you’ll be batty over the excitement they create.
Make Halloween Greeting Cards
It may sound a little strange to make greeting cards for Halloween because most of us don’t do it or know of anyone who sends cards to family and friends on Halloween. Why not start new traditions with your preschoolers that they can carry on for years to come? What a surprise for their parents, grandparents and even their teacher to receive a greeting card that says Happy Halloween.
The most fun way for the kids to make these cards is with construction paper, crayons and their imagination. You might want to have some pictures of such things as pumpkins, ghosts, bats, a witch and so on available so the kids can have an idea of what they want to draw.
Start their cards by having them take one piece of black construction paper and folding it straight down the middle. This will be their actual card. Next, have them cut a piece of construction paper, any color they would like except for black or brown, slightly smaller than the one side of their card. They can paste this to the inside of card to write their message or sign their name to. Black can be a very hard color to write on and still be able to see it. By placing this on the inside of their card they should have no trouble seeing what they have written.
With other colors of construction paper they can make their designs. Whether it is a scary ghost, a good or bad witch or just a lot of pumpkins, let their imaginations run wild. When they are finished designing they can cut them out and paste them to front and the inside of the card.
With your help, the children can print their own little message inside the card and then sign their name. Now they have their own Halloween greeting cards to take home to their parents, grandparents or other family friends.
Inside Halloween Scavenger Hunt
If the weather is just unbearable or if you don’t have an area outside to do a scavenger hunt you can always have one in the classroom. Kids enjoy the hunt as much as they do going outside. Plus you have a little more control over where the kids will go and what they can find.
Most of the items you want the children to find such as pencils or a certain color crayon will mean the need for specific rules. You will have to explain to them that they have to find the items where you hid them not in their own belongings. This will make the hunt much more fun for all involved.
You can also hide things such as small pumpkins, Halloween treats and other goodies that might be harder to do if you were doing an outside hunt. Be sure that whatever you hide you make it easy for the children to find.
Start with something relatively easy to find. This game needs to be fun for the children and if you make the items things the children don’t know or have a hard time finding right at the beginning they will become bored and frustrated with the game.
Be sure each child has a bag to collect his or her treasures in. Choose bags that will fit the size and number of items they are looking for – brown paper lunch bags work great for this. Children can be upset easily if they start to lose items they have collected or can’t hold the bag because it’s too full.
Also put a time limit on how long you allow the children to look for a certain item. Sometimes they can have a hard time finding what they are looking for and their determination keeps them looking and looking. Remember not all the children will find every item so don’t let them stay at it too long before announcing the next item they should look for.
After you have finished the list, let the children see what all they have collected. They will be surprised at how many items they found and you will be too. Let them keep everything they found. You can also give a final prize to the person or persons who found the most items if you choose. This is a fun game for children and can be helpful in their learning experience at the same time.