PDA

View Full Version : Halloween



mumofone
13-10-2015, 04:54 PM
Is anyone doing anything for Halloween with their mindees?

natlou82
13-10-2015, 05:10 PM
I'm planning a week of crafts and baking - it's half term here :-) and finish up the week with a Halloween party on the Friday - can't wait! Just ordered my witch costume for the party!

loocyloo
13-10-2015, 06:02 PM
I'm only working a couple of days of half term, so will do a few bits of craft, and maybe a few games on the Friday - I suspect several mindees will come dressed up ( one does every day anyway! ) - but it will depend on the children and what they want to do. I'm hoping it will be dry and we'll just go to the woods for the day!

( I'm not that fussed about Halloween )

Kirstylob
13-10-2015, 06:15 PM
It's half term here too and I have planned lots of crafts and activities. My schoolies are all back for half term, 3 moved up to school this year so I will have 3 x 4 year olds, 5 year old, and 2 x 8 year olds, (not all on the same days!) they now only come in the holidays so it will be lovely to see them again. I'll also have a 3 year old every day and a 16 month old 3 days.
So far I have planned to do Ghost footprints, spider handprints with googly eyes, Halloween shaped biscuits to decorate, pumpkin spice smelly play dough, I have soome small paper bags with handles that we will decorate with Halloween stickers and drawing ( I have a few little treats to go in the bags). I'm going to try giving them bandages and small pumpkins to wrap up as mummies. I'm also going to try making edible eyeballs from green jelly and raisins. I have made green slime in the past with plastic flies and spiders in.
We will also do some Autumn based stuff and hopefully enjoy some long walks through the leaves and muddy puddles.

SYLVIA
13-10-2015, 07:31 PM
Half term here too. Lots of crafts to do. Would do a party but only got one 18mth on Friday. May do something for them on Thursday instead. Planning a hunt the dark in the garden with touches x

Simona
14-10-2015, 07:48 AM
I'm only working a couple of days of half term, so will do a few bits of craft, and maybe a few games on the Friday - I suspect several mindees will come dressed up ( one does every day anyway! ) - but it will depend on the children and what they want to do. I'm hoping it will be dry and we'll just go to the woods for the day!

( I'm not that fussed about Halloween )

Have to admit Halloween does not do very much for me either but I suppose the kids will be excited!!

It is also Diwali...time to get those Rangoli patterns out!!!...now those are fun!

Maza
14-10-2015, 09:02 AM
I love Halloween because in my experience the kids love it to, and so did I as a child.

I only have my 6 year old DD at the moment and she is very much into 'crafts'. Yesterday for her after school activity I put out various coloured paper cups and had some ideas on pinterest for her to look at. A white cup to be made into a ghost, an orange one to become a jack-o-lantern, black one to be a cat or a bat and a green one to be a general monster. I put out googly eyes and general bits and pieces, as well as some black spider web type of wool, thinking that we could make them into a garland. Well, she did make a ghost and then made the black cup into a spider. She didn't want to make a garland with the wool - she used it to make huge (and I must say amazing) spider webs using all the door knobs on the various cupboards. I quite like setting up activities with an open mind - I don't like it when children are all expected to have the same identical finished product.

I save jam jars and the other day she covered one in orange tissue paper and added jack-o-lantern features with black tissue paper and popped a battery operated tea light into it. Last year we made salt dough decorations with Halloween cookie cutters. Today it might be orange/black playdough after school. We also make tons of recipes with pumpkin at this time of year - they love gutting the pumpkin and doing messy play with the seeds. One year we had a 'pumpkin shop' because we had loads of pumkpins at the same time, all different sizes and weights. I saw someone make a nice geo board using a pumpkin. I have a Halloween Bingo game that I made.

We usually have a potion making session and add toy insects, hair gel, googly eyes etc. We ALWAYS use the plastic cauldron to do the bicarb/vinegar activity whilst dressed up as witches (I know, I know, lol). I have some little ghosts and spiders and we do some sort of hiding game with them - I have linked it with the Letters and Sounds Phase 1 activity (singing quietly when far away, loudly when close). With little ones we would use Halloweeny things for our counting activities. I love the idea that someone on here suggested about doing for a dark hunt in the garden with torches. My DD has already made me some pumpkin ear rings out of shrinky dink. I have loads of Halloweeny type of books (and raid the library) and the children enjoy decorating our book area.

I downloaded some counting games from a nice website - I'll try and find a link later. If you still have your six year old, then she might be like mine and really be into word searches and simple crosswords. I'm sure there must be some Halloween ones on the internet somewhere. I'll have a look.

Mouse
14-10-2015, 09:04 AM
I bought some Halloween lights similar to these (although I paid 49p a pack!):

mini pumpkin battery fairy lights by lights4fun | notonthehighstreet.com (http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/lights4fun/product/mini-pumpkin-battery-fairy-lights)

I got them in pumpkins, bats and spiders. I'll put then in clear plastic jars for the baby to play with in the dark den. I did the same with battery lights last Christmas and it was a big hit.

Apart from that we'll be doing some Halloween craft, probably making egg carton bats (I've seen the link so many time on FB I decided I might as well do it!):

DIY: Halloween Egg Carton Bats and Leaf Ghosts (Kids Craft) (http://www.happyclippings.com/2011/10/diy-halloween-egg-carton-bats-and-leaf-ghosts-kids-craft.html)

Maza
14-10-2015, 09:10 AM
I bought some Halloween lights similar to these (although I paid 49p a pack!):

mini pumpkin battery fairy lights by lights4fun | notonthehighstreet.com (http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/lights4fun/product/mini-pumpkin-battery-fairy-lights)

I got them in pumpkins, bats and spiders. I'll put then in clear plastic jars for the baby to play with in the dark den. I did the same with battery lights last Christmas and it was a big hit.

Apart from that we'll be doing some Halloween craft, probably making egg carton bats (I've seen the link so many time on FB I decided I might as well do it!):

DIY: Halloween Egg Carton Bats and Leaf Ghosts (Kids Craft) (http://www.happyclippings.com/2011/10/diy-halloween-egg-carton-bats-and-leaf-ghosts-kids-craft.html)

Oh I love those ideas! Where on earth did you find light for that price?

mama2three
14-10-2015, 09:29 AM
I don't do Halloween , I really disagree with trick or treating too,

But we have a little one who is bug mad so I will do some spider play and go for a cobweb walk early one day while the dew still makes the webs shine.
We'll also head off to the allotment where our pumpkins have been getting bigger each day it seems! Lots to do with pumpkins that doesn't involve scary faces.

If the parents want to then they can do lots of scary Halloween stuff , its just not my thing at all....

mumofone
14-10-2015, 10:09 AM
Have to admit Halloween does not do very much for me either but I suppose the kids will be excited!! It is also Diwali...time to get those Rangoli patterns out!!!...now those are fun!

When's Diwali Simona? I thought it was November?

Mouse
14-10-2015, 10:11 AM
Oh I love those ideas! Where on earth did you find light for that price?

They were in our local Home Bargains store. They didn't have many of the 49p ones left, but did have different packs for £1.99, so still not a bad price.

I'm not sure if Home Bargains is a national chain of shops, or if they go by other names in different parts of the country.

Simona
14-10-2015, 10:23 AM
When's Diwali Simona? I thought it was November?

October/November

When is Diwali in 2015? - When-Is.com (http://www.when-is.com/diwali-2015.asp)

Kirstylob
14-10-2015, 01:49 PM
This year Divali is on the 11th of November. X

Simona
14-10-2015, 02:21 PM
This year Divali is on the 11th of November. X

Just as well...last year it was 23 October and it seemed to clash with Halloween and then Guy Fawkes...we had fireworks for days on end...fun though!

I didn't realise Divali is on different dates each year...a bit like our Easter ...learnt something new!