HALLOWEEN: PK-4

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Jessica's Week

As glad as I am that we have made lots of friends here and that Taegan is able to participate in part time Montessori school as well as lots of extracurriculars this week got C-R-A-Z-Y. School pictures and open house, 3 Halloween parties, 4 trick or treating outings, a community parade, and kid friendly haunted hayride....I’m running on sugar fumes from all the mini candy bars I've been sneaking (shhh don't tell Taegan). We didn't have the opportunity to do much in the way of homeschool this week but the things we did were unique and just spooky enough for my ghoulish girl. Taegan’s favorites included helping me tape out a balance beam spider web game, making a tea bag ghost fly around the room, and painting a spooky light up decoration (michaels $3) for her windowsill.
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I signed up as a planner for her Montessori class party and had a great opportunity to lead 5 groups of 5 students through a 15-20min ghost theme activity. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to share photos of this but I started by introducing a "friendly bottle ghost" experiment I had set up ahead of time. Kids said the magic words and I poured baking soda from inside the balloon to make him inflate. We talked about how the "science magic" really works and then left the ghost on display while I read, "We're Going On a Ghost Hunt" by Kris Hirschmann. I passed around mystery boxes so kids could feel the rustling leaves, squishy swamp (slime), and the creaky bridge (Jacobs ladder). Adding a sensory element made it seem more like a real ghost story even though nothing was scary. We finished our time with a great tpt resource that allowed kids to practice terms from the book (above, under, behind, and inside) by gluing in baby ghosts before coloring. If you are planning a co-op or reg school party this combo was inexpensive, didn’t create a mess, and had everyone engaged and learning. It does require some parent prep time though so plan early or you’ll be up past midnight like me cutting out ghost books and filling balloons. ​

Ana's Week 

While Halloween is not my favorite holiday (I’ve always been of the opinion that Halloween is simply a hurdle to get over so we can start celebrating Christmas), Aria and my husband absolutely love all things monsters, spooky, and creepy. I think that in the last month, I’ve heard the word “boo” from Aria and Skylar at least 1,000 times, blankets over the head were all too common of an appearance once they fell in love with ghosts, and Aria told me boatloads of “sppoookkkyyy” (how she likes to say the word) stories. So, needless to say, I went all out this year for the family and I think they had an absolute blast!

I found some great Halloween games at Target, which I unfortunately can’t find the links for online, but all of which were great counting or movement activities. Check out Target next year and see what you can find. I’m happy to stuff these into my attic to use for years to come. I loaded up on fun spooky stuff at the dollar store, and even made gift bags with spooky bugs, rings, and stickers that kept Aria and her best friend busy during meals/car rides on our trip to Kansas City the weekend before Halloween. I bought a great Halloween bingo game that Aria and I played on the plane flight several times (Skylar stayed home with her awesome daddy, so I got time with just the 4-year-old!). We also decorated Aria’s bed with spiderwebs and spiders, decorated the house with boatloads of pumpkins and Halloween decorations, and even bought an amazing “color me” large Haunted House from Michael’s on sale for 60% off. That was perhaps the favorite hit of the week.

But there were loads of make-it-yourself projects we did during the week also! We made hanging bats out of toilet paper rolls, carved pumpkins and baked pumpkin seeds (which never seem to turn out as tasty as I want them to), painted pumpkins, did a monster balloon science experiment, made bat silhouette paintings, and decorated a Frankenstein head, among other great activities. My husband even got involved and made “poison apples” and pumpkin tarts with Aria.

We also went with friends to a great pumpkin patch, where we took hayrides, rode on a train around the pumpkin patch, jumped in bounce castles, and even climbed a giant hay mound. During the weekend we traveled to Kansas City to see my best friend, Lauryn, and her son, Ben, we visited a children’s farmstead called Deanna Rose, where the kids got to see spooky decorations while enjoying fun farm and play activities. Trick or treating was of course the penultimate experience of Halloween, and the kids had a blast going around and getting candy and then handing out candy upon our return.
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I might be coming around to the Halloween holiday celebrations after the fun that we had each year. We stayed busy with all of the activities, especially with a trip right in the middle of our unit, but we learned so much, had a blast, and got to enjoy a somewhat spooky celebration together. Aria can’t wait until next year, but I am so excited to start the countdown to Thanksgiving and Christmas! ​