Theme & Activities

Halloween
Open thematic poster

CIRCLE TIME

Circle time is a very important part of the day. Make sure it is a group activity, a discussion period, a transition, a calm period, and the period used to introduce the theme of the week or day. One suggestion for the Halloween theme is to display drawings of costumes children plan to wear for trick or treating. One at a time, throughout the week, they can present their drawing to the group.

DISCUSSION PERIOD

We suggests an imaginary game to play with children. (Open thematic letter-Zilda the witch) Print the letters and prepare a scenario. Use a shiny envelope or glue sparkles onto a plain envelope. Insert a letter each day, hiding it in different areas of the daycare. Have children search for the letter and read it to the group. When you are done, have them search for the item the witch left behind!

AREA SETUP AND DECORATIONS

Using orange tape, transform your circle time area so it looks like a large pumpkin. Provide children with Halloween stickers and have them stick them on the floor. Add orange lights and a Halloween garland you made with the group with black and orange construction paper. Hang pumpkin, witch, bat, and ghost shapes from the ceiling. (Open Halloween workshops) Print and use to identify your special Halloween workshops.

Candy wreath
Cut a wreath shape out of cardboard. Have children paint candy on it

Halloween tree
Make Halloween decorations with the group. Give each child a tree branch. Have them decorate a clean, empty can. Fill it with sand to hold the branch up. Each child will have his very own Halloween tree. You may also choose to make one large collective tree using a larger branch placed in a bucket filled with sand. The branches may be painted and you can even add sparkles. Hang all the Halloween decorations children make in the tree.

Halloween tablecloth
Purchase a paper tablecloth. Cut Halloween designs or items out of magazines and flyers. Have children glue them onto the tablecloth. You will have a perfect tablecloth for your Halloween party!

Halloween garland
Cut several strips of black and orange construction paper. Link them together, alternating colors. Hang the garland from the ceiling.

Miniature ghosts
Make a ball with one Kleenex and place it in the center of another Kleenex so it looks like a ghost head. Tie ribbon or string around the head and hang from the ceiling. Children will enjoy making several of these. It is a very simple decoration to make!

The scarecrow
Gather old clothing items (shirt, pants, shoes, hat) and stuff them with fabric or other clothing items. Use a pumpkin for a head. You can use clothing from your costume box. Sit your scarecrow on a chair indoors or outdoors.

Spiders
Join four pipe cleaners together in the center so you have eight spider legs. Attach elastic string to the middle of the body. Children will love holding the end of the string and making up and down movements to make their spider dance!

ACTIVITY SHEETS

(Open Activity sheets - Halloween booklet)

Print and follow instructions.

VARIOUS WORKSHOPS

Have fun with these wonderful workshop ideas provided by Caroline Allard.

Construction or building blocks:

Use blocks to build haunted houses
Miniature decorations which can be used to decorate doll houses, your toy garage, or haunted houses built with blocks
Plastic insects (especially spiders)...you will need many, they will be popular!
Hang a spider web in one corner to set the mood
Deposit a hay bale in one corner. Children will love building on it! (Beware of allergies!)
Miniature decorative squash
Use fabric on the floor or on the walls to change the setting

Arts & crafts:

Paper and cardboard in every shade of Halloween: orange, black, purple, and green
Models of cats, bats, pumpkins, witches, hats, candy...they can be cut out and used to make collages, painted, coloured, or children can add crumpled pieces of tissue paper to them
Make a piñata shaped like a pumpkin and fill it with Halloween treats
Recycled materials can be used to make a model ghost town
Monster, robot, or other types of masks. Children will enjoy parading them in the daycare or outside
Hats of all kinds made from cardboard and decorations
Collages and crafts using candy! Children will surely eat some along the way, beware of allergies!
Confetti, foam shapes, Halloween-coloured sparkles, feathers, shiny glue, etc. They can all be used to decorate individual miniature pumpkins or one large pumpkin as part of a collective project

Drawing:

Drawings and pictures related to the theme: cats, witches, pumpkins, costumes, etc.
Drawing with waxed crayons or candles
Halloween stencils

Role play:

Costumes, hats, jewellery, etc.
Makeup, either you paint their faces or you let children paint their friends' face or even their own if you provide mirrors
Kitchen items such as glasses, utensils, Halloween bowls. Children will pretend they to cook in a haunted kitchen
A witch's cauldron and cooking utensils such as large spoons. Children can stir their concoction (dried orange, black, or white lentils are perfect!) Add a few plastic spiders just for fun!
Using old spice bottles, children can pretend to create witch spices using Halloween items such as miniature pumpkins, insects, or ghosts. Remember to seal the containers with hot glue.
Have parents bring various clothing items to the daycare to add to your costume box
A puppet theatre and puppets which resemble Halloween characters
Old white sheets (or tulle which is better to see where they are going) to transform children into little ghosts.
Capes (old sheets) on which children may draw to transform them into vampire, magician or superhero capes
Various accessories such as plastic or rubber fingers, oversized glasses and a plastic nose, wigs, etc.

Manipulation:

Halloween memory game using educatall pictures
Halloween puzzles
Orange or black modeling dough and Halloween-shaped cookie cutters
Lotto game or other board games adapted to the age of your group
Finger puppets
Halloween-coloured fabric with various textures
Pumpkin seeds can be used for counting and sorting into containers numbered 1 to 10

Pre-reading:

Halloween books
Sequential stories related to Halloween
A song box with a variety of Halloween songs. Associate pictograms to the songs and display them on the wall, children will love to sing them over and over again!
Have parents provide pictures of children with their Halloween costumes from previous years. Use the pictures to create an album children can admire
A Halloween sound CD children can enjoy with headphones

Pre-writing:

Various educatall activity sheets
Game with educatall word flashcards
A pumpkin for tracing
Tracing Halloween words will help visualize letters
Dot to dot pages with witches, pumpkins, brooms, etc.
Educatall hunt and seek game
Find the differences between two Halloween pictures

Motor skills:

An obstacle course where children must collect pumpkins along the way
A treasure hunt where children search for objects which are white like ghosts, orange like pumpkins, or black like cats...this activity can be done indoors or outdoors, using pictures or real objects
Toilet paper can be used to wrap children like mummies.
A Halloween version of "Simon says", for example "Mr. Pumpkin says" or "Mrs. Witch says"
A chasing game where the witch attempts to catch her cat or ghost friends
Obstacle course related to Halloween safety

Sensory bins:

Water table with orange food coloring
Bins filled with orange or black-coloured noodles, sand, or rice.
Witch bin (see role play)
Insect bin (miniature plastic insects found at dollar stores)
Water and cornstarch bin
Bin filled with cooked noodles and a small quantity of dishwashing liquid
Bin filled with orange or dark purple "Jell-o", it will have a special texture if lightly stirred

Science:

The melting candle, manipulated by an adult. Children will observe and be fascinated!
Orange and black balloons can be used to test static electricity
Empty a pumpkin and/or other types of squash to compare, manipulate, observe with a magnifying glass...

Kitchen:

Roast pumpkin seeds
Prepare candy skewers
Pumpkin cookies or muffins
Halloween-shaped sugar cookies
Cupcakes decorated by children
Marshmallow ghosts

PICTURE GAME

The pictures may be used as a memory game or to spark a conversation with the group. Use them to decorate the daycare or a specific thematic corner. (Open picture game - Halloween) Print, laminate, and store in a "Ziploc" bag or in your thematic bins.

WORD FLASHCARDS

The flashcards may be used during circle time to spark a conversation with the group or in your reading and writing area. They may also be used to identify your thematic bins. (Open word flashcards - Halloween) ghost, candy, witch, costume, makeup, haunted house, Halloween, spider web, pumpkin, flashlight, bat, scarecrow

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND MOTOR SKILLS

It's dark
Give children flashlights. Close the lights and curtains to make the room as dark as possible. Encourage children to walk around the daycare and observe objects with their flashlight.

Surprise house
Purchase small glow in the dark stars and moons. Glue them under a table. Cover the table with a large blanket to create a dark house. Allow children to go into the surprise house to discover the stars and moons. Repeat the activity using stickers which do not glow in the dark. Children enter the surprise house once again with a flashlight to discover the new surprise.

Pumpkin patch
Use small plastic or construction paper pumpkins. Hide them throughout the daycare. When you give the signal, children search for pumpkins. So everyone has a chance to find pumpkins, tell children to collect pumpkins one at a time.

It's raining candy!
(Open game - candy) Print and cut out enough candy to ensure each child has at least ten. Place all the candy in the center of a large parachute or blanket. Children hold on to the edges of the parachute or blanket. On the count of three, raise the parachute. When the candy falls to the ground, children try to collect as many candy pieces as possible. Count how many each child has.

Halloween jump
(Open models - Halloween) Trace, cut out, and glue Halloween shapes onto the floor. Children hop on the shapes to move around the daycare.

I am transformed
Make a magic wand by wrapping a stick with aluminum paper. Have children name Halloween items or characters. For example, a child may stand in front of you and say, "Bat." You cast a spell on him with your magic wand and the child then pretends to be a bat. If a child does not have an idea, take it upon yourself to transform him into a ghost, a witch, a pumpkin, etc. Keep going until all the children have been transformed. Have everyone sit down and start over again!

Statues
Play music and have children dance around the daycare. You play the role of a witch. When you touch a child with your magic wand, he becomes a statue. If you touch him again, he may resume dancing. The game lasts until the song ends.

Imaginary costumes
Use your magic wand and ask children to imitate the character they will be disguised as for Halloween.

Musical hat
Place a hat and a variety of material (pieces of yarn, buttons, fabric, felt, etc.) on the table. Let children decorate the hat as they please. Use it to play musical hat.

Spider web
Give each child a ball of yarn. Tie the ends to different items in the daycare (chairs, furniture, etc.). Children become spiders and spin a giant spider web by unravelling their ball of yarn in every direction.

I have the pumpkin
Divide the group into two teams. Each team stands on a line so they are facing the other team. Deposit a small pumpkin halfway between the two teams. Give each team member a name (spider, bat, witch, pumpkin, etc.). Make sure two children from opposite teams have the same name. When you are ready, call one of the names. The witch from each team runs to the center and tries to grab the pumpkin and bring it back to his team.

MORAL AND SOCIAL ACTIVITIES

Trick or treating
Ask children what they like most about Halloween and create an imaginary game with their response. Sit with a large bowl and pretend it is filled with candy. Children pretend to trick or treat.

The mummy
Children form teams of two or three children. One child will be the mummy. When you give the signal, the other children wrap their mummy in toilet paper. Play music. The game ends when the song stops. The winning team is the team with the best-wrapped mummy.

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

Haunted house
Build a haunted house using chairs and sheets. Create a path through the house with various surprises along the way. For example, you may have children walk through spider webs, plunge their hands in jelly, crawl on the floor, etc. Play Halloween music in the background. Remember to keep this activity fun to avoid scaring younger children.

COGNITIVE ACTIVITIES

Halloween story and memory game
(Open story and memory game - Halloween) Print, cut out, and laminate the pictures. Place the cards face down on the floor. Children pick three cards and invent a story in relation to the illustrations. Variation: Print the pictures twice and use as a memory game.

Halloween lacing
(Open lacing - Halloween) Print, trace onto cardboard, and cut out. Punch holes around the edge. Children enjoy lacing the shapes.

Magnetic Halloween game
Draw Halloween shapes on construction paper and laminate them. Glue them onto magnetic paper. Present the magnets to children and provide them with baking sheets. They will love playing with the shapes and are sure to invent many stories and scenes.

Homemade puzzle
Collect Halloween pictures (greeting cards, magazines, gift bags, etc.). Cut them into two or three pieces using decorative scissors. Give a child one piece and have him search for the others. Each child recreates his own puzzle.

Giant Halloween tic-tac-toe
Trace a tic-tac-toe grid onto a large piece of cardboard. (Open game - Halloween tic-tac-toe) Use the witch brooms as "X's" and the pumpkins as "O's". One by one, children deposit a symbol on the grid. The first child to line up three identical symbols wins.

Halloween hunt and seek
(Open hunt and seek - Halloween) Print and laminate. Children pick cards and must find the elements in the scene.

Halloween paper dolls
(Open game - Halloween paper dolls) Print and laminate. Set the pieces out on a table. Children will dress the dolls over and over again.

Halloween bingo
Play bingo with the group. (Open game - Halloween bingo) Print, laminate, and store in a small box or "Ziploc" bag.

Halloween snakes and ladders
(Open game - Halloween snakes and ladders) Print and laminate. Use a dice and wrapped candy as pawns. The object of the game is for all children to reach the pumpkin at the end of the game. When they succeed, they may eat their candy.

I saw a bat
Show children a bat then hide it while they cover their eyes. When you give them the signal, children search for the bat. Tell them, one by one, whether they are "hot" or "cold". When a child spots the bat, he quietly returns to sit in the circle. Continue the game with the remaining children. Children who have rejoined the circle can help you tell the others if they are "hot" or "cold".

Pumpkin orange
Children sit in a circle. They must look around them and, taking turns, name an object within the daycare which is orange.

Sequential story
(Open sequential story - Pumpkin) Print and laminate the sequential story. Have children manipulate the illustrations and place them in the correct order.

Magnetic Halloween memory game
(Open game - Halloween memory game) Print two copies and cut out the illustrations. Glue them onto the tops of empty frozen juice cans. Attach a magnet to the end of a fishing rod (or to the end of a stick with string tied to it). Place the illustrations face down on the floor. Children pick two. If they are identical, they may keep them and play again. If they are different, they must wait for their next turn.

Who is the ghost?
Have children close their eyes. Drape a white sheet over one child. Children open their eyes and guess who the ghost is.

Spider web game
(Open game - spider web) Print and laminate. Children associate the spiders to the web according to their size.

Haunted house game
(Open game - haunted house) Print and laminate. Children associate the Halloween shapes to the picture.

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES

Witch's brew

Place a large pot filled with dark juice (fruit punch or grape juice) in the center of the table. Suggest various ingredients. One at a time, children choose which ingredient they would like to add to the brew (example: cooked pasta, pudding, Jell-O, flour, modeling dough, dried raisins, etc.). Next, add water and a spoon. Have them stir their witch's brew throughout the day.

CULINARY ACTIVITIES

(Open recipe book - Halloween)

COLORING PAGES

(Open coloring pages theme - Halloween)

CREATIVE COLORING
(Open creative coloring - Halloween)

SONGS & RHYMES

The itsy bitsy spider

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
So the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again

This old witch

By: Patricia Morrison
Sung to: This old man

This old witch, on her broom
She went trick or treat on my street
Trick or treat, Halloween
Give her candy please
This old witch went flying home

Trick or treat

By: Patricia Morrison
Sung to: Jingle bells

Walking through the streets
On this dark Halloween night
Dressed up as a clown
Laughing all the way
Lights at every door
Making spirits bright
What fun it is on Halloween

Go trick or treat tonight

Oh, trick or treat, trick or treat

Trick or treat all the way
Oh what fun it is to fill
Our pumpkins with candy
Oh, trick or treat, trick or treat

Trick or treat all the way
Oh what fun it is to fill
Our pumpkins with candy

SUGGESTION OF THE WEEK

Ideas for your Halloween party

Preparation: the week before Halloween

Hang orange and black balloons
Decorate the daycare with strips cut out of black plastic garbage bags
Hang apples from the ceiling with transparent thread
Organize a trick or treating activity. You can hide candy in the daycare and/or ask a few neighbours to distribute candy at a specific time.

Greeting: Children arrive with their invitation cards, wearing their costumes.

Special morning activities: Empty and decorate a pumpkin with the group. Place a battery-operated stroboscope (safer than a candle) inside the pumpkin. Wash the seeds and let them dry. Use the seeds to make a collage.

Morning snack: Children pick an apple hung from the ceiling.

Halloween lunch:

Toad soup
Monster pizzas
Pumpkin and fly pudding
Bat juice

Special afternoon activities

Face painting workshop

children can paint their faces themselves.

Organize a costume parade, a photo session, and trick or treating.

Afternoon snack

Crocodile saliva
Combine milk, a banana, vanilla ice cream and green food coloring in a blender.

Pour into glasses and add dried raisins which will float on top of the liquid.

Continue the party with musical games and dancing.

Have nice day!

Educatall team

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