There's a chill in the air, my pumpkins are on my porch and yes, I've already purchased and eaten a bag of Halloween candy.
I love fall and love that at our new elementary school they have a Halloween carnival where the kids are able to wear their costumes! We are used to only "harvest" parties with pumpkins, scarecrows and an occasional spider since they are allowed to study insects.
Regardless of how PC your school is, here are a few of my tried and true classroom party ideas, or halloween fun with your own kids.
(I claim no responsibility if you get fired from being room mom for bringing a skeleton craft.)
GHOST BINGO
You can bring little candies and call out the numbers. For upper grades you could even call out addition, multiplication or division problems instead of just the number.
Here are the links to several versions of the Bingo cards, you could still have more than one winner at a time, but I was counting on having the kids divided into small groups and some kids not paying attention or not knowing math, is that wrong?
Bingo Card #1
Bingo Card #2
Bingo Card #3
Bingo Card #4
Bingo Card #5
Bingo Card #6
Bingo Call Cards
Q-TIP SKELETON
All you need is black paper and have the kids dip the ends of the q-tips in glue. Have the kids cut and glue the head, too.
If you would like a sheet of skeleton heads, and who wouldn't... you can download here...
Skeleton Heads
SPIDER HATS
Grab a pack of the big black construction paper from the teacher and pre-cut 8 strips of paper the long way for each child for the legs. Pre-cut the band for the head, too but wait to size the headband on the kids head and staple. I traced the eyes ahead of time but the kids cut them out. The kids can accordion fold the legs (some better than others). You'll need some adults to staple the legs on.
Some other fun games are "Hot Potato" but use a pumpkin to pass around. When the music stops, you're out of the circle. Play "duck, duck, goose" but change the words to "Pumpkin, pumpkin patch" or "Ghost, ghost, witch."
And just for old time sake, here is a song that our mom always sang at Halloween and it scared me to pieces! You may not want to bring it to your classroom, but sing it to your kids, they'll thank you.
"It's Halloween The lamp is lit around the fire we children sit telling ghost stories bit by bit Till sister Jane says SHHHHH. (Verse gradually gets louder as you get near Sister Jane and then SHHH quiets every one.)
Who's that creeping cross the kitchen floor, Who's that peeping round the bathroom door, Who's that SCREEEEEECHING till it's throat is sore....... (Pause then) IT'S A GOBLIN! "
And now that I've sung that song, I can't help but continue my trip down memory lane and show you Big Bird a.k.a. Miss Ashleigh feeding candy to our dog, Poohsie. Sorry, Ash, I love ya!
Labels: crafts and fun, halloween, school stuff