Read a book about spiders or go to KidZone Spiders for some pictures & spider facts.
Make this Spider Book. Spider Art: Handprint Spider: Dip child's hands in paint and print onto paper. (Or, make a photo copy of hands.) Cut out hand prints and glue them together onto cardstock, with the palms touching and the thumbs pointing down. Add googly eyes or draw in circles for eyes. Punch a hold through the center, tie on a string, and hang.
Thumbprint Spiders: Use an ink pad and let children make several thumbprints on a piece of paper. Draw in legs and black eyes. Add a spider web, too, or put your thumbprint spiders on this:
I’m a little spider, watch me spin! If you'll be my dinner, I'll let you come in. Then I'll build my web to hold you tight, And gobble you up in one big bite!
The Spider In The Web
(sung to FARMER IN THE DELL)
The spider in the web, the spider in the web Spin, spin, oh watch him spin The spider in the web.
The spider eats a fly, the spider eats a fly Spin, spin, oh watch him spin The spider eats a fly.
Two hundred six bones make up me. The same make up you, but mine you can see!!!
Talk about how each of use has a skeleton under our skin. Make this X-ray craft of the rib cage:
Play:
Mr. Skeleton Where's Your Bone
One child (Mr. Skeleton) stands in the middle of the circle of children with eyes closed. With 24 children, I'd suggest having 3 or 4 Mr. Skeletons at a time in the middle of the circle with 3 or 4 bones passed out. Let the skeletons take turns guessing.
The children chant:
Mr Skeleton where's your bone? Somebody stole it from your home. Guess who? Maybe you! Maybe a ghost from Kalamazoo Now Mr. Skeleton find your bone!
While they are chanting the leader hands a "bone" (a pencil would work or you could cut a bone shape from cardboard) to one of the children. All the kids put their hands behind their backs and then Mr. Skeleton opens his eyes. He guesses who has the bone (you can either give three guesses and then he has to be Mr. Skeleton again if he guesses wrong or you can let them guess until they succeed). The person who had the bone becomes the new Mr. Skeleton.
BATS:
Show a picture of a bat. Bats are winged mammals that live in caves, sleeping during the day. They come out at night to hunt for food.
The Bat by Amy Sklansky
Upside down hangs the bat
There's really nothing wrong with that!
Have children flap wings like bats and move around the room as you chant:
Zip Zap Zoom Bat flies across the moon. Bib Bap Boom Humming a silent tune. Flip Flap Floom Bat dives through evening air. Dip Dap Doom To land right in your hair!
Snacks: Talk about how some bats eat fruit and nectar. Have pieces of fruit for children to eat, just like bats. Have cups of different types of fruit juice for the nectar.
Read Halloween by Harry Behn or another book with reference to ghosts, goblins, and monsters.
Sing some Halloween songs.
What a Fright
(to the tune of: Pop Goes the Weasel) Moans and Groans and Skeleton Bones, It's Halloween Toni_ght! Shh! I fear a ghost is near, BOO what a fright! up the street we'll trick or treat, we'll dance beneath the mo_onlight. We'll beware if there's a scare BOO what a fright! Witches, cats and flapping bats are bootiful tonight. Never fear if goblins appear, BOO what a fright!
Trick or Treat
(sung to JINGLE BELLS)
Dashing through the streets, Meeting goblins as we go, Wearing contour sheets, Wishing it would snow. Bells in doorways ring, Making spirits bright, What fun it is to trick or treat And get some food tonight.
Trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat we say! Try to get the treats before the ghost takes us away! Trick or treat, trick or treat, trick or treat we say! If you don't have treats for us we'll never go away!
Copyright Bob Tucker
In the Graveyard
(sung to MY DARLING, CLEMENTINE)
In the graveyard, In the graveyard, When the moon Begins to shine, There's a doctor, Crazy doctor, And his monster, Frankenstein.
Oh, my monster, Oh, my monster, Oh, my monster, Frankenstein, You are very, Very scary, Don't come near me, Frankenstein.
Words and Music By: Unknown Adapted By: Terry Kluytmans
Squirt three colors of paint on a plain piece of paper. Take a fat straw and have your children through the straw causing the paint to spread. After the paint dries glue on eyes and feathers of choice. Looks good on black paper.
I'm a Monster! by Nancy White Carlstrom (tell this poem to the children and have them act it out) I'm a monster--Be careful! I'm a monster--I can scare you! I'm a monster--If you let me I'm a monster--I will get you I'm a monster--In the mirror (EEEk!) I don't really like what I see Is that really me? I'm a monster! But please let me carry my mask!
Children can make monster masks out of paper plates. Punch holes in the sides and use string to tie around their heads.
GHOSTS:
Boo! Boo! Boo! What Will We Do?
(sung to UP ON A ROOFTOP)
All through the town floats monsters' breath, Screams of horror, hints of death. Down all the streets come the girls and boys All dressed up for their haunting joys.
Chorus: Boo! Boo! Boo! What will we do? Boo! Boo! Boo! What will we do? Ooo Try to enjoy this scary scene And just relax, 'cause it's Halloween!!
Witches and goblins now fill the air, Spiders crawl across your hair! And every place that you try to hide Soon there's a ghostie there by your side.
Chorus
There is a chill about this night Your head starts ting-a-ling with fright. In jack-o-lanterns' eerie glow The vampires now start swooping low.
Boo! Boo! Boo! What will we do? Boo! Boo! Boo! What will we do? Ooo Try to enjoy this scary scene And please come back next Halloween!!
Copyright Bob Tucker
Ghostie Feet
Materials:
White Paint
Googly eyes
Black Construction paper
What to Do
Let each child put their foot in white paint and make their footprint upside down on a piece of black paper. Glue googly eyes on the heel of the foot. Enjoy these ghostly feet.
Give each child a piece of white paper. Have them tear it up. Glue these pieces of torn paper to black construction paper. Add eyes and you have ghosts!!!!
Make ghost suckers by covering a lolli-pop with a white Kleenex. Tie a string around the neck. Use a black marker to make eyes.
Graveyard Dessert:
Put chocolate pudding in the bottom of paper cups. Give each child a milano cookie to use as a headstone. Let children sprinkle crushed Oreo cookies over the pudding to make "dirt." Add gummy worms and eat!
One witch on a hill had an empty pot to fill. Two cats inside a pail gave the witch a fish's tail. Three scarecrows stuffed with straw gave the witch a blackbird's claw. Four goblins eating bugs gave the witch some slimy slugs. Five vampires on the loose gave the witch some fresh blood juice. Six mummies wrapped in cloth gave the witch a musty moth. Seven owls wide awake gave the witch a rattlesnake. Eight ghosts in the air gave the witch a hunk of hair. Nine skeletons on a stone gave the witch a finger bone. Ten werewolves in a group gave the witch some spider soup.
That witch with her stash began to plan her spooky bash. She took her bag, dumped her haul, the sent her trusty bats to call....
ten werewolves in their caves, nine skeletons in their graves, eight ghosts where they rest, seven owls in their nest, six mummies in their tombs, five vampires in their rooms, four goblins in their holes, three scarecrows on their poles, two cats near their can, as one witch then began to mix and stir her oozing stew. She boiled and burned her gurgling goo. What did all her good friends do? They came and ate that gruesome brew.
(Everybody loved in, too!) They save the last bowl just for......
YOU!
Halloween is a fall holiday celebrated on October 31st. In ancient times, people believed witches, ghosts, and other spirits roamed the earth, casting spells and playing tricks on people. To blend in, people started dressing up in costumes and masks. Halloween eventually came out of these early traditions.
She'll be Riding on a Broomstick
(sung to SHE’LL BE COMING ‘ROUND THE MOUNTAIN)
We will warm up the big black kettle when she comes. We will warm up the big black kettle when she comes. We will warm up the big black kettle, We will warm up the big black kettle, We will warm up the big black kettle when she comes.
She will cook small toads and spiders when she comes. She will cook small toads and spiders when she comes. She will cook small toads and spiders, She will cook small toads and spiders, She will cook small toads and spiders when she comes.
We will feed all the ghosts and goblins when she comes. We will feed all the ghosts and goblins when she comes. We will feed all the ghosts and goblins, We will feed all the ghosts and goblins, We will feed all the ghosts and goblins when she comes.
Copyright Bob Tucker
Sing Ten Little Witches (tune of Ten Little Indians) 10 little witches....on brooms
substitute: 10 little pumpkins...in the patch 10 little scarecrows...on their poles 10 little black cats...in a can 10 little bats...soaring high
Read Halloween is.....by Gail Gibbons Halloween is...pumpkins, decorations, bats, black cats, skeleltons, scary story time, masks and costumes, too!
Talk about dressing up for Halloween. Ask children what they are going to be (or want to dress up as). Make a chart and compare the results. See if anyone will dress up as the same thing.
Visit a local pumpkin patch, fall carnival, or farmer's market and let children select their own pumpkin to take home and carve.
Sing this song on the way:
I'm Picking out a Pumpkin
(to the tune of: I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee) I'm picking out a pumpkin on a vine. I want one big and fat and fine. I'm picking out a pumpkin on a vine. Oh, I see mine !
I'm pulling on a pumpkin on a vine. I'ts so big and fat and fine! I'm pulling on a pumpkin on a vine. Snap, It's Mine!
Gather several pumpkins of different sizes, colors, etc.
Help children place them in order from largest to smallest, smallest to largest, group them by color, and other groupings.
Sing a pumpkin song: TALL and small. (shout "tall" and reach up high/whisper "small" and reach down low) We harvest pumpkins in the fall.
TALL and small round and orange, we like them all!
Line up the pumpkins and start talking about several types of observations/measurements you will be doing with the pumpkins. (This could be done all together or each child could get their own pumpkin.)
Measure the pumpkins with pieces of yarn. Which is biggest around? Smallest? Use a scale to compare the pumpkins' weights. Which is lightest? Heaviest? Cut open a pumpkin and explore how the pulp looks, smells, and feels. Save some seeds for roasting, some for planting, and some for counting. Boil a few pieces of pumpkin. How does it change when cooked? Cut chunks of pumpkin into shapes for dipping into paint and making prints. Donate your carved pumpkins to a local zoo for hippo treats.
Sink or Float?
Find out if pumpkins sink or float. Fill a large tub with water. Have your children guess if the pumpkin will sink or float. Drop the pumpkin into the water and observe if it sinks or floats and if it floats which way. (The pumpkins should float)
Bring in a bathroom scale and pumpkins of different sizes. Have your children estimate the weights of the pumpkins. Weigh the pumpkins and compare their weight to the guesses. You can also weigh ypur children and see if the are heavier or lighter than the pumpkins.
Record the measurements.
Measure and Compare Pumpkin Circumference
Measure the circumference of pumpkins with a yarn. Cut the yarn and tape to paper. If children have several different pumpkins, compare the lengths of the yarn pieces and talk about which pumpkins are smaller/larger. If each child has their own pumpkin, measure the pumpki and then compare that with the circumference of the childrens' waists.
Pumpkin Cutting and Sorting
Cut open a pumpkin and have your children separate the different parts- seeds, skin, inside strings
Pumpkin Seed Collage
Materials:
Pumpkin Seeds
Glue
Construction paper
What to Do
Encourage your children to use pumpkin seeds to create fall collages.
Pumpkin Stamping
Materials:
Pumpkin
Knife
Toothpicks
Paint
Construction paper
Directions:
Cut your pumpkins and use the pulp to make different stamps ex. Heart, circle, square. Stick a toothpick into the stamp and make a pumpkin picture.
After all these fun observations of pumpkins, let children make their own pumpkins with this:
Pumpkin Pie Playdough
Ingredients:
5 1/2 C Flour
2 C salt
8 t Cream of Tartar
3/4 C oil
1 1/2 ounces pumpkin pie spice
orange food coloring
4 C water
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together. Cook and stir over medium heat until lumps disappear. Knead the dough on a floured surface until it is smooth. Store in an airtight container.
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate The first one said, "My it's getting late" The second one said, "There are witches in the air" The third one said, "But we don't care" The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run" The fifth one said, "I'm ready for some fun." The "Whoooooosh" went the wind and out went the lights And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.
After you have made the shape pumpkins, help children fill out the pages on this book.
Pumpkin Patch
Have children fill paper lunch sacks with pieces of crumpled newspaper. Secure each bag with a twist tie, leaving about 1 inch of the bag gathered at the top.
Then have the children paint the bottom parts to their bags orange and the gathered parts green to create pumpkins with stems. When the pumpkins have dried, string them all together with green yarn to make a "pumpkin patch."
Fingerpaint Pumpkins
Cut fingerpaint paper into pumpkin shapes. Give each child two colors of fingerpaint (red and yellow) to discover what the new color will be made.
COFFEE FILTER PUMPKINS Color with red, brown, yellow, and orange watercolor makers on coffee filters.
Let your children fold round coffee filters into fourths and dip the edges into slightly diluted red food coloring, then into yellow food coloring. Have them continue folding and dipping until their filters are covered with red, yellow, and orange designs.
Allow the "pumpkins" to dry flat. Then help the children mount their pumpkins on white paper and add green stems.
PUMPKIN PATCHES Invite your children to dip carrot rounds or corks into orange paint and make "pumpkin" prints on pieces of paper. When the paint has dried, have the children use green crayons or markers to connect their pumpkins with leafy vines.
Jack O' Lantern painting Help your toddler paint a brown paper bag with orange paint. Use black pre-cut circles, squares, or other shapes to paste a nose, eyes, and mouth. Stuff the bag with newspapers and close it with green pipe cleaners.
Show some pumpkin seeds and a fully-grown pumpkin. Tell children that the pumpkin grew from one of those little seeds.
Pumpkin Poem
One day I found two pumpkin seeds. I planted one and pulled the weeds. It sprouted roots and a big, long vine. A pumpkin grew; I called it mine. The pumpkin was quite round and fat. (I really am quite proud of that.) But there is something I'll admit That has me worried just a bit. I ate the other seed, you see. Now will it grow inside of me?
(I'm so relieved since I have found That pumpkins only grow in the ground!)
Look in some books about pumpkins, focusing on the life cycle. Review with children the process of planting a seed and watching it grow into a pumpkin.
Print out these life cycle cards and help children put them in order.
Pumpkin Art:
Place red, yellow, and orange paint on a paper plate. Let children mix colors and use them to paint a picture of a pumpkin. While the paint is still wet, let children shake salt onto the picture for an interesting look.
Have children use the remaining paint to cover the entire paper plate, to be used for the life cycle activity. (Read some books and sing some pumpkin songs while waiting for the paint to dry. OR, go out into the garden a plant some pumpkin seeds or, if you already have some pumpkins growing, do the personalized pumpkin activity, found below.)
Grow pumpkins in a garden. When the pumpkins are small and green (about the size of grapefruits) help the children scratch their names on the outsides with a nail (be sure to break the skin). As the pumpkins grow, scars will form over the scratches and the names will get bigger.
Read a book about pumpkins, such as: The Pumpkin Book--Gail Gibbons. This week we're learning all about pumpkins: what they are used for, what they look like, how they grow, and how we can enjoy them.
Introduce Pumpkins to children by letting them color one of these tracing sheets. The word 'pumpkin' starts with the letter P. Pumpkins are round and can come in many sizes and colors, but are mostly orange.
I'm a Little Pumpkin (tune of : "I'm a little teapot") I'm a little pumpkin, orange and round. Here is my stem and here is the ground. When I get cut open, don't you shout! Just lift my top and scoop me out.
Mr. Pumpkin tune: Frere Jacques
Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin Eyes so round, eyes so round Halloween is coming, Halloween is coming, To my town, to my town.
Did you Ever See a Pumpkin?(tune: “Did You Ever See a Lassie?”) Did you ever see a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin? Did you ever see a pumpkin way down in the patch? There are big ones and little ones. There are bumpy ones and flat ones. Did you ever see a pumpkin way down in the patch?
Did you ever see a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin? Did you ever see a pumpkin way down in the patch? There are tall ones and short ones. There are yellow ones and orange ones. Did you ever see a pumpkin way down in the patch? Continue the pumpkin/letter theme with these activities:
Go apple picking at a local farm. If this is not available, take children to a farmer's market or even to a local grocery store with a wide variety of apples. Let children pick out a few of their favorite apples. Bring them home, along with a few other supplies, and make some of these recipes:
The Worm is Eating my Apple! - Set out cut outs of apples in several colors along with hole punchers. Children can use hole punchers to make holes in the apples where the worms ate. Great for fine motor strength building! Kids can even use a pipe cleaner as a worm.
Read a book on Apples, especially one that talks about the different colors/types of apples.
Sing:
The Apples on the Tree (tune of "Farmer in the Dell") The apples on the tree, The apples on the the tree: Red, yellow, green, or mixed- They're growing just for me.
Finger Play: The Apple Tree
Way up high in the apple tree (raise arms and sway like a tree) Two red* apples smiled at me. (Keeping arms raised close hands into fists) I shook that tree as hard as I could (shake arms) Down came the apples. (shake to the ground) "Mmm..." they were good (take a pretend bite and then rub belly)
*repeat, using yellow and green in place of red.
Apple Observations: Place a variety of apples on the table~different shapes, sizes, colors, and types of apples. Let children make observations. Talk about the shapes and colors. Group them by color. Arrange them by size. Observe apples in different forms: whole, sliced, cooked, peeled, applesauce. Feel the different textures, tastes. Discuss and record findings.
Apple Halves Cut some apples in half, both horizontally and vertically. Cut some into slices. Observe the differences between whole and cut apples.
Take one of the apples, halved, and cover one side with lemon juice and leave one alone. Ask the children what they think will happen to each side. Create hypothesis and form a conclusion.
Apple Prints
Materials:
Apples cut in half perpendicular to the core (so you can see the star) and some cut parallel to the core.
Paint on paper plates
Thick Paper
Directions:
Cut the Apples in half vertically and horizontally. Stamp the apple into the paint and then onto the paper. (Pour the paint onto a sponge and have them stamp onto the sponge in order to avoid getting too much paint)
While the papers are drying, play:
Sink or Float? Fill a tub with water. Ask children about their hypothesis about the apples' ability to sink or float. Test to see what happens.
Apple Colors: Talk about the different colors of apples. Have paint samples of red, green, and yellow to show children. Do this Apple Craft with the different paint colors.
Apple Rolling
Materials:
Red apple
Green apple
Yellow apple
Three bowls: one with yellow paint, one with red paint, and one with green paint
Construction paper
Sturdy box lid
What to Do
Place each apple into the bowl of paint that matches its color.
Place the paper in the box and have the children place the paint dipped apples (one at a time) in the box .
Let the children move the box from side to side or shake the bin to get the paint dipped apple to move around. Use all three colors and the apples will drag the paint, creating a beautiful design on the paper. Sing this fun song while creating your apple roll art, to the tune of "Row Row Row Your Boat." Roll roll roll the apple, Watch the colors blend, Make the colors move around, And then we'll do it again!
While the pictures are drying, make these Apple Color Books with children.
Sing "Ten Little Apples" (tune of 10 little Indians) One little, two little, three little apples. Four little, five little, six little apples. Seven little, eight little, nine little apples. Ten apples fall from the tree.
Set out 10 apples and help children count them. Let children observe them, hold them, rearrange them, and count the apples again. It would be a good idea to have many varieties of apples to count.
Apple Hide-and-go-Seek
Print out 10 apple pictures. I used these apple calendar numbers so the digits 1-10 would be visible, too. Hide the apples around the room. (You could use real apples, too, but pictures were easier for me.)
Give each child a basket and help them find the apples, pick them, and collect them in their baskets.
After all the apples have been found, lay them out and count them again.
10 Apples Up on Top Poster
Take the ten apples each child has collected and turn them into art. Make a head out of a paper plate or coffee filter and glue it on the bottom of a large piece of paper. You could also print out a template of a boy or girl. Help child glue all 10 apples on top of their head.