BOOTIFUL AND SPOOKTACULAR!

Although Halloween is weeks away, over the next few days I'll share some “boootiful” and “spooktacular” ideas to scare up some smiles and fun in your classroom!! I realize that some people think Halloween is bad and evil, but to me it’s just an excuse to dress up and have fun. It also gives children the opportunity face their fears and discern real from pretend. An interesting thing is when asked, “What was your favorite holiday growing up?” most adults will say that (after Christmas) Halloween was the most fun.

3 Little Witches
(Tune: “Ten Little Indians”)
One little, two little, three little witches.
Flying over haystacks, flying over ditches.
Slid down the moon and tore their britches!
Hi, ho, Halloween’s here!
Choose three children to be witches and act out the song. Make brooms by rolling up several sheets of newspaper. Tape. Cut down 8” from one end and fluff.

                      
Sitrring Our Brew
Stirring and stirring and stirring our brew… (Pretend to stir.)
Wooooooo! Woooooo! (Cup hands by mouth.)
Stirring and stirring and stirring our brew… (Stir.)
Wooooooo! Wooooo! (Cup hands by mouth.)
Tip-toe. Tip-toe. BOO! (Pretend to tip-toe.)

Witch’s Stew – How about a little witch’s stew for snack. You will need 5 lunch sacks, 1 large bowl, Cheerios, pretzel sticks, fish crackers, raisins, M & M’s, ice cream cones. Write “frog eyes” on one sack and fill with Cheerios. Write “salted bones” on the second sack and fill with pretzel sticks. Write “dead fish” on the third sack and fill with fish crackers. Write “toad eyes” on the fourth sack and fill with raisins. Write “lizard gizzards” on the fifth sack and fill with M&M’s. Place the large bowl on the floor and make up a story about collecting all the items for your witch’s stew. One at a time let children come up and dump the contents in the bowl. Stir with a spoon as you sing the above song. Serve in ice cream cones. (Hint! You can substitute peanuts, miniature marshmallows, or other snack foods for any of the ingredients.)
                 
Handprint Art – Trace around children’s hands and feet on white paper. Glue to black construction paper and let children add details.
                                         
Ghost Busters – Cut ghost shapes out of white paper. Write letters, numerals, words, or whatever skill you want to reinforce on the ghosts. Staple ghosts to a bulletin board and let the children identify the information as they swat the ghosts with a fly swatter.
*You can make a similar game from a file folder. Glue a hand to a craft stick and use to swat the ghosts.

Scary Things – Halloween is a good time to talk about things that are real and things that are pretend. It’s also helpful to talk about things that scare us. I always talk about things that scare me, and that usually encourages the children to open up and talk about things that scare them. Everybody’s afraid of something, and that’s O.K. Make a class book called “Scary Things” where each child draws their fears and dictates or writes a story about them.