Halloween {Candy Corn} Day

• Read “Julius’s Candy Corn” by Kevin Henkes … I love these simple, little books from Kevin Henkes. This one came in a set of five books that my kids absolutely love. I was thrilled that it is still available here. The set comes with:
  • Julius’s Candy Corn
  • Shiela Rae’s Peppermint Stick
  • Owen’s Marshmallow Chick
  • Wemberly’s Ice Cream Star
  • Lily’s Chocolate Heart        …………… love them all!

• Preschool Journal Page
  1. Write “candy corn”
  2. Draw a picture of candy corn
  3. Put candy corn stickers all over page.

• Candy Corn Squares … my preschoolers enjoyed making these today. I love that they were practicing so many skills … colors, cutting, and sorting!
  1. Draw a simple candy corn outline on black paper with a white crayon.
  2. Cut white, yellow, and orange paper into strips.
  3. Give the kids one strip of each color and show them how to snip the paper to make squares.
  4. Use glue sticks to glue the squares to each section.
     1. TIP: I just smeared glue stick all over one section at a time and they filled it with colored squares.
  5. I love how differently my 4 and 2-year-olds pictures came out!

• Candy Corn Counting … this has been a favorite activity since my 8-year-old was about 3-years-old. I made these with craft foam paper and they’ve survived wonderfully all these years. See how I made them here.
  1. Number each candy corn 1-10.
  2. Add that many dots to each candy corn. I like to do this so if my kids don’t recognize the number, they can count the dots to find out.
  3. Use real candy corn to count out each number.

• Candy Corn Roll & Remove Game
  1. Print this festive game board from Princess and the Tot.
  2. Place one candy corn in each box.
  3. Roll two dice.
  4. Add up the numbers and eat the candy corn in that number’s box!
  5. See how we have played this game before (plus a free any-time-of-the-year game board!) by clicking here.

• Candy Corn Trail Mix … this was out after-school snack today. Mmm.
  1. You can do any combination you like. We used
     • Popcorn
     • Cheez-It Trail Mix
     • Candy corn
     • Reese’s Pieces
  2. All of the Reese’s and candy corn were falling to the bottom, so I melted a little white candy melt, drizzled it on top and mixed it in. Worked much better.

Halloween {Bats} Day

• Read “Brooms Are for Flying” by Michael Rex 
  1. This is a very fun get-up-and-move book for Halloween. We loved it!
  2. As you read, do the actions with the kids!

• Preschool Journal Page
  1. Practice writing “Bats”
  2. Draw a picture of a bat.
  3. Put bat stickers all over the page.

• Bat Rhyming
  1. Print these great bat rhyming mats and words from First Grade Parade.
  2. Cut the word picture cards apart.
  3. Have the kids choose one, then decide if it rhymes with BAT or does not rhyme with BAT. Place in on the correct mat.

 

• Go on a bat hunt
  1. Cut out several bat patterns on black paper. Free printable from Family Fun here or from Twisty Noodle here.
  2. Add googly eyes.
  3. With a white crayon or ink pen, write one bit of bat information on each bat. Get great bat facts for kids at KidZone.
  4. Put the bats on the walls (and ceilings!) around the house.
  5. Turn off the lights and give the kids flashlights or headlamps.
  6. Go on a bat hunt.
  7. When you find a bat, read the information to the kids.

 

• Make bat-covered candy!
  1. Okay, these are much cuter than they sound
  2. Print and cut out the template from Skip To My Lou here on black paper. Mini-sized candy bar cover here!
  3. Use glue dots to attach Hershey’s candy bars inside the bats.
  4. Add googly eyes.
  5. Fold the wings over the candy bar. So cute!

Halloween {Monster} Day

So, my husband and I just got home from a vacation on the East coast. My mom came and stayed with our kids. They had a great time and didn’t even notice that we were gone. I left our Halloween week preschool plans and she was wonderful and did them all with the kids. Thanks Mom!!

 

• Read “Happy Birthday, Frankie” by Sarah Weeks
  1. My kids think this book is hilarious. I liked it too. A little girl tries to put Frankie together, using the song “The head bone’s connected to the neck bone…” but she finds out it’s harder than she thinks to get him put together in the right order
• Read “My Monster Mama Loves Me So” by Laura Beck
  1. If you’ve never read this one you should. A cute little monster mama story.

• Preschool Journal Halloween Page
  1. Practice writing “Monster”
  2. Draw a picture of a monster!
  3. Stick monster stickers all over page. If you’re looking for monster stickers, Amazon has some here.

• Monster Math … inspired by Oopsey Daisy’s Monster Pack
  1. Cut a mouth shape out of a small paper plate.
  2. Staple it to another small paper plate.
  3. Have the kids color their monster and decorate him with googly eyes. 
  4. Have a dice and a bowl of monster food (candy corn, M&M’s, blocks, army men)
  5. Roll the die, identify the number and feed your monster that many pieces of food.

• Monster Memory Match
  1. Print 2 copies of this great game board here
  2. Cut the monsters apart.
  3. Spread all of the cards out on the floor upside-down.
  4. Play a game of Monster memory match!

• Monster Eyes in Rice
  1. Fill a bin with rice. I think I actually grabbed barley from the bulk section. It worked great.
  2. Add a package of googly eyes and mix into the rice.
  3. Print out this cute monster outline. Click here to download.
  4. Let the kids search through the rice to find the eyes. 
  5. Place the eyes on the large monster outline!

   

• NOTE: Because Grandma is fun, she also added a few coins in the rice that the kids could search for

• Play Monster Mash
  1. OK, not everyone will be able to do this, but I remember playing this game when I was little and loving it. So I checked e-bay and now I have this fun game to play with my own kids! You can also get used games on Amazon here.   
  2. Another fun monster mix-up game here. Print 2 copies and have the kids copy the monster you create & vice-versa!

 

• Play Don’t Eat (Monster) Pete … my kids love this game!
  1. Print this cute, cute game board from The Teacher Wife.
  2. RULES:
     • Put a candy on each monster (candy corn, M&M, whatever)
     • Send one of the kids out of the room
     • Choose one monster to be “Pete”
     • Have the child come back into the room.
     • They eat one candy at a time. If they start to grab the “Pete” candy, the other kids shout “Don’t Eat Pete!”
     • Refill the board and start again
• Monster Mouth Snack
  1. Cut two apple slices
  2. Spread with peanut butter
  3. Add lots of monster mini marshmallow teeth
  4. Add grape eyes.
• Monster Face Pizzas … so cute from Oopsey Daisy

          

• Monster Pops
  1. These monster pop makers are so cute.
  2. Make a favorite green monster smoothie and freeze.
     • Our Favorite Green Monster Recipe:
       1. Mix vanilla yogurt, frozen strawberries, 1/4 cup frozen OJ concentrate, ice cubes, 2 handfuls of fresh or frozen spinach, 1 cup of milk and 1 tsp. vanilla in a blender.
       2. Pour into monster pop molds.
       3. Freeze.
  3. Or simply fill with apple juice and freeze for a yummy snack.

Halloween {Ghost} Day

  

• Read “Ghosts in the House!” by Kazuno Kohara
  1. Love this book! This is one of my new favorite Halloween books. Most ghost books are a little creepy, but this one is fun and cute. My kids and I loved the artwork.
  2. A little girl (who is not just a girl, but a witch!) moves into a new house. There are ghosts living there, but she knows just what to do. She simply catches the ghosts, washes them, hangs them on the clothesline to dry and uses them for curtains and blankets and a tablecloth.
• Read “Bedtime for Boo” by Mickie Matheis
  1. Another cute (not creepy) Halloween ghost book. We enjoyed this one.
  2. Little Boo goes out for his first night of haunting and comes home not sleepy one bit. His Mama ghost tells him to listen to the sounds all around until he falls asleep. Cute.

• Cotton Ball Ghost Puppets … I handed these to the kids to play with as we read our stories. They lasted for a little while
  1. Simply poke a wooden skewer into a cotton ball (and fluff up a bit).
  2. Add sticky googly eyes.

• Preschool Journal Page
  1. Practice writing Gg and “Ghost” … my 4-year-old wasn’t in the mood for writing which is fine. I encourage it, but don’t push it. He enjoyed the stickers.
  2. Draw a ghost!
  3. Put ghost stickers all over page

• Invisible Ghost Painting
  1. Use a white crayon to draw Gg and ghosts all over white cardstock.
  2. Use a Do-A-Dot marker to “catch” the ghosts and Gs. 
  3. My kids never get tired of doing these.

 

• Ghost art and narration … I love doing these! They always turn out so cute.
  1. Have the kids retell the story “Ghosts in the House” in their own words.
  2. Type their story word for word and print it out on orange paper.
  3. Have the kids draw a black Halloween scene on the orange paper.
  4. Cut a ghost shape out of vellum. Glue on top of your Halloween scene to look just like the artwork in the book

 

• Make ghost windsocks
  1. Cut out two black circle eyes and an black oval mouth.
  2. Glue to a piece of white cardstock.
  3. Slip the page into a clear page protector.
  4. Cut a white garbage bag into strips.
  5. Tape to the bottom of the ghost face.
  6. Roll into a tube and hang!

• Oreo ghost treats … we’re using our imaginations on these … they were sure yummy! 
  1. Melt white candy melts.
  2. Dip Oreos in the candy melts
  3. Add candy eyes (or two chocolate chip eyes!)
  4. Let dry on wax paper.