Holidays in the classroom are fun, exhausting, and full of opportunities to learn about cultures, traditions, and customs. However, we also know that holidays in the classroom can be stressful because we always want to be inclusive and respectful of each student and their family. We are fortunate to be able to enjoy kindergarten Halloween activities in the classroom as long as all families are on board. So, here’s how we handle holidays in the classroom:
The key is COMMUNICATE! Communicate with the families. I’m always surprised at how easily we can come up with a great plan to include everyone! And guess what…if we can’t do Halloween in October, that’s perfectly ok. We can do pumpkins, bats, and spiders! But remember, COMMUNICATE COMMUNICATE COMMUNICATE!
Kindergarten Activities: Halloween Art Projects
Cylinder bats are perfect for pulling in 3D shapes! For this, students make a cylinder, which we staple so it doesn’t unroll. I make a very basic and easy wing on black paper. They cut it out and glue the wings on. They make the eyes and mouth. We add purple streamers to the bottom and hang them from the ceiling!
Paper plate bats. We paint two paper plates black. Once they dry, we cut one plate in half. Glue or staple the pieces on for wings. Students make the eyes and mouth.
Go Away Big Green Monster. Read the book Go Away Big Green Monster. Students choose the color for their monster. Fold a 12×18 piece of white construction paper in the middle. Squirt paint in the middle of the paper. students close the paper and rub. Open the paper and let the paint dry. Once dry, students get paper to make the monster’s features. This is also a great lesson on symmetry!
Hand And Feet Painting
We LOVE handprint and footprint art projects, and so do the families. Our daughter makes handprint and footprint art at her school and they’re my favorite! And it’s fun to paint their feet and watch them giggle! We’ve done: ghosts, Frankenstein, candy corn, and witches! We do these one-on-one while students work in centers.
For the vampire project, we offer various skin colors, and the students choose the paint color they want to use.
Our daughter’s teacher did the Sanderson sisters in her PreK class and I’m obsessed!
Handprint spiders!
Torn paper pumpkins. Students use a white crayon to draw their pumpkins. Then they TEAR paper to fill in the pumpkin and stem. Tearing paper is one of the best fine motor activities we can do! So let them tear all the paper!
Spiders-Students make a large circle and a small circle. Glue them together. Add 8 legs and eyes.
Monster, these are hilarious and look fun hanging from the ceiling. Students choose their color. They cut out a circle and glued it to a paper plate. Then, they cut out a black circle and glue it onto the eye.
During October we celebrate Hispanic Heroes and Hispanic Heritage Month. One of the people we learn about is Picasso. We do a Frankenstein Picasso drawing!
Cookie Cutters! This is a new favorite of my class! I give them cookie cutters and paint and they get to create! It’s so simple but so much fun!
Witch-directed drawings!
Kindergarten Halloween Activities: Halloween Sensory Bins
Orange rice and bowtie pasta dyed black.
Oats and fake bugs from Dollar Tree!
Orange rice and glittery pumpkins from Dollar Tree
Split peas and plastic eyeballs from Dollar Tree. The skeleton hands are also from Dollar Tree. Students can use their hands or the tools to pick up objects in the sensory bin.
Spiders-rice that is dyed black, spider rings, and glittery spiders from Dollar Tree. Cards from our Spider Research Project.
Witches-Purple rice, mini brooms, and witch hats from Amazon. Cards from our Witches, Wizards And Zombies creation.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE HATS AND BROOMS FROM AMAZON!
Monsters! We cut up neon plastic straws and added squishy monsters we found at Walgreens!
NOTE: We get our food coloring for sensory bins from Amazon!
Kindergarten Halloween Activities: Halloween Snack Ideas
Spider snack-Oreos, candy eyes, pretzel sticks!
Monsters-pre-made Rice Krispy treats, insert the popsicle stick in the bottom. Students then choose the color of their monster and use frosting to cover the treat. Add candy eyes!
Pumpkin Pie In A Cup-graham crackers, pie filling, whipped cream, and cinnamon.
Bats-Oreos, candy eyes and candy corn
Monster Milkshakes! Vanilla ice cream, milk, green food coloring, whipped cream, Mint Oreos and sprinkles!
At my former school. we celebrated birthdays monthly. Each grade level chooses a month and they do a themed celebration in the lounge. Here’s what my team did for October!
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Kindergarten Halloween Activities: Halloween Science
Disappearing Ghosts-use biodegradable packing peanuts! Draw a face on the peanuts. Place the peanuts in hot water and watch the ghosts vanish!
CLICK HERE TO GET PEANUTS ON AMAZON!
Exploding Ghost-balloons, vinegar, baking soda, and empty water bottles! Fill the bottle with vinegar. Fill the balloons with baking soda. Place the balloon over the bottle opening. Dump in the baking soda!
This is one of our favorite activities and we actually do this for our party day! The kids clean out the guts of the pumpkin and we fill it with potting soil and pansy!
Kindergarten Halloween Activities: Halloween Read Alouds
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Kindergarten Activities: Pin The Boo On The Ghost
I made this game for a Halloween party for our daughter and her friends. This game can be modified for lots of things: sounds, decoding words, math, etc.
Halloween Reading Comprehension, Writing, And Centers
Check out these posts for more ideas, resources, and activities for Halloween!
