Outside Halloween Scavenger Hunt
Everybody loves a scavenger hunt, even the youngest of children. If the weather permits why not conduct one of your own out on the playground? It’s easy and the children will have a lot of fun looking for their little treasures.
Each child will need a small bag to place treasures in. Once you have the kids outside you can start the hunt. You want to include things such as a certain colored leaf, acorns, a specific color or shaped rock and other items that are a part of nature.
You can also go out ahead of them and place small pumpkins or other Halloween items in the area for them to look for. If you have Halloween candy you can place that out for the children to find too; just be sure it is well wrapped to avoid any disasters with the outside elements including animals.
Keep it simple for the children. You might start out with having them find a white rock. Most areas have plenty of white rocks so it will be easy for each child to accomplish this. By doing something that is easy for them to find at the beginning they will begin to understand the game and feel more comfortable playing. Work your way up to the harder items such as an acorn or a pinecone.
Make sure all the items you mention are things the children will know about. If they have to ask what a certain object is they can become frustrated and may not want to participate in the game. Also be sure to set a time limit on the length of time you give them to find a certain object. Not all the children will find every object, but it’s more important to not allow them to become bored or frustrated so they can continue to enjoy the game.
Once you’re finished with your list of items have the children look into their bag. What a sense of accomplishment they will feel when they see just how many things they found.
Make Your Own Halloween Baby Pumpkins
Children love pumpkins at Halloween. Unfortunately pumpkins can be quite big and heavy for small children. They also have a hard time when it comes to carving a pumpkin even though their little hearts are set on it. Making their own baby pumpkins can alleviate some of those anxieties for smaller children. Here’s how to make them.
Gather up as many acorns as you can find. You will also need orange and green paint, a paint shirt or smock, small paintbrushes and a black and red fine point marker.
Have the kids help you clean any dirt off of the acorns so they will be easy to decorate. This will also help the children get used to working with something so small.
Once the acorns are clean and dry have the children lay them out on newspaper. Paint the bottom of the acorn orange. This will be the pumpkin. Once the orange paint has dried have them paint the top of the acorn green to look like the stem of the pumpkin.
When the green paint dries they can use the red and black markers to make the face on their pumpkin. The facial features will be small so remind the kids it’s ok to just have small dots for the eyes, a larger dot for the nose and a curvy line for the pumpkin mouth.
Once the marker dries thoroughly they will have pumpkins they can maneuver and place anywhere they want to in their home. You can also set up a place in the classroom for all the pumpkins – their own tiny pumpkin patch.
Halloween Party Goodie Bags
It’s time for that Halloween party at preschool and you want the children to have something different to take their goodies home in. Let them decorate goody bags the day before. Then you can take them home that night and fill them up. Won’t the kids be surprised to see their own creations filled with wonderful Halloween goodies the next day?
Supplies:
* Brown paper lunch bags (1 per child)
* Crayons
* Halloween stickers
* Construction paper
* Scissors
* Glue
Give each child a bag. Have them decorate the outside of the bag anyway they want. Using the craft items above they can create their own unique Halloween bag. Suggest ghosts, pumpkins, a witch, goblins and ghouls. Have them cut things out of construction paper or use stickers to decorate with. If they are talented at drawing, have them design their own pictures to color with the crayons. Just about any idea and craft item will work along with their own imaginations.
Once they have completed their bag have them place their name on the bottom of the bag. This will help you to make sure the right child gets the right bag.
Take the bags home and fill them with candy, inexpensive toys, pencils and fun Halloween gifts. Once filled, fold the top down and secure it with a Halloween sticker. Hand them back to the children or place them on their desk or table the next morning. Won’t they be surprised and excited about what they find inside?
Making Trick-or-Treat Halloween Buckets
Anybody who goes trick-or-treating needs something to collect all that great candy in. Here’s a craft you and your preschoolers can do to ensure they have just what they need when it comes time to go out for the night.
Supplies Needed:
* Plastic ice cream buckets or solid autumn colored buckets like you can find at the dollar store
* Crayons
* Black permanent marker
* Halloween stickers
* Construction paper
* Scissors
* Glue
* Glitter
* Any other type of craft items that will help them decorate
You might also consider some glow in the dark stickers or glitter to help illuminate their bucket.
Just let their imaginations run wild. They can make ghosts, bats, pumpkins and even a witch out of the construction paper. Place Halloween stickers all over their bucket or use the crayons and glitter to decorate with.
One suggestion is to have a few Halloween pictures lying around the table so the kids will have something to copy from. Sometimes it’s hard for little ones to think of ideas but with pictures to look at they might come up with some great ideas.
Once they have their bucket decorated, place each child’s name on the bottom with the permanent marker so no one gets the wrong bucket to take home. You can also place their first Halloween treat in their bucket if you would like.
One last thing you can do is to make sure they have lids to their buckets. They work hard for their candy and nobody wants to go home with an empty bucket.
Halloween School Mask
Kids love to dress up at Halloween and preschoolers are no exception. By making this easy Halloween mask they can dress up for their school party and parents won’t have to worry about trying to get them into their costumes or even worse – getting them out before it’s time to trick-or-treat.
Here’s your supply list:
* Construction Paper
* Safety Scissors
* Crayons
* Glue
* Hole Punch
* Elastic String
Help each child cut their first piece of construction paper so that it will fit over their face and come just slightly around the sides of their head. This will ensure the masks fits them well once complete.
Next, help each student cut out eyes for their mask. They need to be large enough that the children can easily see through them once the mask is placed on their head. This will ensue no one wearing a mask will get hurt by running into things or falling down.
Then let them go for it. They can make their mask to be anything they want. They can cut out facial pieces from other pieces of construction paper and glue them on, use crayons to draw their face, or whatever their imaginations lead them to create.
Once they have finished decorating their masks, help them to place a hole on both sides. Tie off a piece of elastic string through one hole. Pull the string around the back of their head and tie it off in the other hole.
Now they have their own Halloween mask. You can even play the costume game by turning it into the Scariest or Funniest Mask game.