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October 28, 2024

Five Halloween Activities to Try at Home!

Kate Puzan, Education Specialist

While Halloween is typically thought of as a “spooky” and “scary” time of year (especially for young children), it is also an exciting season filled with opportunities to explore and enjoy its sights and symbols using all of the senses. By engaging children in fun, Halloween-related activities, you can help take the “scary” out of this holiday and diminish the fears they may have surrounding it. Our Bravo! Curriculum builds seasonal activities into lesson plans in developmentally appropriate ways. Many of these can be easily recreated at home as well! We’ve highlighted five activities below for you to try with your little one this Halloween:

1. Halloween Sensory Bags

Sensory bags are a great way for our youngest learners to develop fine motor skills while engaging their senses as they explore materials and textures in a safe manner. To make your own, decorate the outside of a resealable bag with Halloween symbols (pumpkins, bats, spiders) or add simple shapes to look like the face of a Jack-o-Lantern! Then fill the bag with materials like orange paint, pumpkin “guts”, hair gel and/or googly eyes, etc. Last, seal the top with packing or duct tape to ensure the contents are secure. You may even want to add it to a second baggie for durability. It’s also recommended to attach to poster board or a surface to make squeezing or biting the bag less accessible.

2. Halloween Dance Party

Dance parties are not only enjoyable but benefit young children by supporting their developing motor, cognitive, spatial awareness, and language skills. Encourage your little one (and the entire family!) to get their bodies moving with a Halloween Dance Party! Head to YouTube and search these titles to check out a few of our favorites: “Halloween Stomp,” “The Skeleton Dance,” and “On Halloween”.

3. Cotton Swab Skeletons

Support your child’s fine motor skill development, hand-eye coordination, and creativity with this fun Halloween craft! Provide your child with black construction paper, cotton swabs, skeleton faces, and glue to create skeletons! Allow them to glue the cotton swabs in whatever pattern they choose. You can even add fun accessories, like bows or top hats, to bring the skeletons to life!

4. Five Little Pumpkins Fingerplay

Fingerplays are short, interactive songs or poems that use hand and finger movements to accompany the words. These are fun ways for children to develop language, hand-eye coordination, and fine motor skills. The “Five Little Pumpkins” fingerplay, outlined below, will get your child’s whole body moving!

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
(Children squat up and down)
The first one said, “Oh, my! It’s getting late!”
(Children jump up from squatting position)
The second one said, “There’s a chill in the air.”
(Children shiver and shake vigorously)
The third one said, “But I don’t care!”
(Children throw arms out to sides and sway back and forth)
The fourth one said, “I’m ready for some fun!”
(Children dance around in circles)
The fifth one said, “Let’s run and run and run!”
(Children run around)
“Woooooo” went the wind and out went the lights,
(Children drop to the ground)
And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.
(Children roll around on the floor)
5. Pumpkin Decorating

Pumpkin carving is a Halloween tradition in most households but can be a bit tricky for little hands! Instead, opt for painting and/or decorating pumpkins! Acrylic paint is recommended if you plan to set the pumpkin outdoors.

As an added bonus, you can open the pumpkin afterwards and invite your little one to explore the inside of it, turning this art experience into a sensory-filled one! Remember to remove pumpkin seeds if doing this with an infant or toddler.

We love fostering home-school connections! If you try any of these activities, be sure to tag us! Facebook and Instagram @DoodleBugsUSA