Halloween: Day Three

Spooky Bats and Skeletons, Oh My!

Read some Halloween books with bats, skeletons, and other spooky Halloween themes.


Example:
Skeleton Bones and Goblin Groans...by Amy Sklanksky
(poems)

Halloween Wish
wish I may,
wish I might

See
a skeleton
tonight,

Walking tall
with bones
of white,

Dancing in
the pale
moonlight.

Wish i may,
wish I might

Have my wish
come true
tonight.

Sing Dem Bones, doing the actions of pointing to the different body parts.

Skeleton Art:
Spooky Skeleton Crafts
(toilet paper roll skeleton, cotton-swab skeleton, pasta skeleton, paper skeleton mobile, and more.)
Pipe Cleaner Skeleton

Make one of these Skeletons and attach the following poem:

Skeleton
Skull
mandible
sternum,
radius
clavicle
fibula.
Ribs
Scapula
pelvis.
Maxilla
humerus
tibia.

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!

Bat Art:

B is for Bats

Bat Trapezoid

Hand Print Bat or Here




More Bat Crafts at DLTK


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.

Halloween: Day Two

Monsters and Ghosts

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

Copyright Terry Kluytmans

F is for Frankenstein.

Shape cut-and-paste Frankenstein.

Huge Frankenstein

MONSTERS!

Read Little Monsters by Pienkowski

Little Monsters

Materials:

• Paint
• Fat straws cut in half
• Construction paper
• Feathers
• Googly Eyes

What to do

• 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!

Halloween: Day One

Halloween Is....

Read One Witch by Laura Leuck

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

and many more!!!



One popular costume for Halloween is a witch.

W is for Witch Coloring Page


With Cut-and-Paste




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.

Make this Halloween costume book:
What Will You Be?

(Children will draw a picture of their costume on the last page.)


Play dress up with a variety of costumes, play clothes. Let children have fun pretending to be someone/something else.

Pumpkins: Day Five

Field Trip

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!

Make some of these fun Pumpkin Recipes!

Pumpkin Pie in a Bag

Super Easy Pumpkin Muffins

Little Pumpkins Snack

Pumpkins: Day Four

Pumpkin Observations

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)

Sink or Float Book

Weigh a Pumpkin

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.

Pumpkins: Day Three

Five Little Pumpkins & The Pumpkin Patch

Five Little Pumpkins Activity

Five Little Pumpkins

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.

Five Little Pumpkins Book

Pumpkin Patch Page--Fill in the missing letters.

Pumpkin Shape Activity

My Pumpkin Book

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.

Pumpkin Mask

Add all of the pumpkin art projects to a wall/bulletin board in your classroom to make a class pumpkin patch.

Pumpkins: Day Two

Pumpkin Life Cycle

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.

Pumpkin Picture

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.)



Pumpkin Life Cycle

Personalized Pumpkins

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.