The week of Halloween!

Yahoo!  It's finally the week of Halloween!  Time to squish in all the fabulous Halloween projects we can!  Ha!

Witch Hands -  These were fun to make.  I traced the kiddo's hands and then cut them out and glued them onto a piece of cardstock.  I gathered interesting looking beans and what nots for gluing, to create a spooky texture to their "witch arms".

Black beans, split peas, lintels of different colors, black and orange rice, and a few other odd looking beans.  I bought a smidge of each of these at a grocery story that sells from bins.  So I could scoop out and buy small amounts.

 Here are a few shots of the kiddos at work..

 Here are the finished projects.  First my preschoolers...

And here are my youngsters (3 year olds).

This was an interesting project because I didn't think the kiddos would be to taken with it.  But both classes loved it and spent quite a bit of time gluing and enjoying the beans and what nots.

Fall Leaf Hunt - Our fall weather has been gorgeous!  So I have taken it for granted.  Well, with colder, rainy weather looming, I scratched off a project or two so that we could go outside and enjoy the beautiful, crunchy, swirling leaves!  I am so glad we did, because tonight the rain has started.  Dratters!

 

Mummies of Ancient Egypt - We chatted a bit about mummies.  That the real ones don't move around.  I briefly told them how a long time ago in Egypt, when someone died, they would wrap the body in cloth.  Then we tried it out on some of our toys.

Tp Roll Mummies - Once the kiddos had tried wrapping a mummy toy, they got to wrap their own tp mummy.

 

Snack - Cheese Mummies! - The kiddos helped me make biscuits.  We rolled the dough into "snakes" and then wrapped them around our cheese sticks.  (I made sure there was dough all around the cheese so we didn't have any messy leaks.)  We  popped them in the oven and they were super yummy!

Tape Mummies - These turned out so very cute!  The kiddos put tape pieces all over their mummy shape (gingerbread) and then I cut around them.

 

Toilet Paper Mummies - This was a blast.  I gave each kiddo a roll of cheapy tp and let them wrap themselves up.  The loved it!  We did this right before it was time to head for home so the kiddos were excited to "scare" their moms.  Unfortunately toilet paper isn't the strongest mummy material and the mummies lost a bit in transit.  But it was still fun.

 

Fluffy Ghosts - The kiddos loved creating these fluffy Halloween ghosts...

 Here are the ghosts created by my 3 year olds.

Halloween Mix - To help the kiddos get all the sugar they can, we enjoyed this tastey treat.

Golden Graham cereal, marshmallows, chocolate chips, and candy corn.  Yummers!

Bingo!  I found this bingo set in the dollar bins at Target earlier this month.  Yahoo!  The kiddos did a great job of finding the pictures on their cards and helping one another.

Learning Station - Hidden Ghost Message

I wrote this Halloween message for each of the kiddos in white crayon, they got to paint and find it.  I told them a ghost had left them a message, but they weren't going for it.  They knew it was me.  Ha!

Learning Station - Halloween Mobile

This was great cutting practice for the kiddos today.  I just quickly traced out a witch hat, a moon, and a pumpkin for the kiddos to cut.  Then I tied them on the mobile I created ahead of time.

This just cracked me up that the kiddos hung their mobiles up on their coat hooks, instead of putting them in their bags.

A few last things for pumpkin week...

5 Little Pumpkins - I love this book!
 

I typed the text and created little books for the kiddos.  Using pumpkin stickers they each got to create their own book to take home and read with their families.

 Above and below:  I love how these kiddos drew a gate for the pumpkins to be sitting on (as it says in the book).

Pumpkin Seed Counting - After we gutted our big pumpkin yesterday,  I washed off the seeds and let them dry.  The kiddos made guesses as to how many seeds there were.  They guessed:  9,12, 3...  Then using hundreds charts, we counted how many seeds our pumpkin had.  We were surprised to find our pumpkin had 554 seeds!  Wow!  Next week we'll tasted roasted pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin Seed Planting - After we counted them, we planted a few of them.  Each kiddo planted their own cup and I planted one to be kept at the school.  I hope they grow!

Learning Station - Counting with Lima Bean Ghosts

This was a fun one to set up and the kiddos were thrilled with it.  They counted out the right number of beans to go in our number puzzle.  When they were finished, they got to put all their ghosts into a Halloween bag and take them home to count again!

I simple (and quickly) drew ghost faces with sharpie on large lima beans.

Learning Station - Spooky Name Search

I stamped and punched these Halloween tags (Stampin' Up) and then wrote each of the letters of the kiddos names.  The kiddos were to find the letters of their name, put them in order and then glue them on a paper. 

 Some of the kiddos needed a bit of help so they could follow the letters on their name clip to aid them.  I was also on hand to help.  :)

Learning Station - Pumpkin Letters

I stuck the letters we have been working on and the first letter of each kiddo's name in a pumpkin bucket.  They were to pull out a letter, find it on their paper and then dot it with a bingo paint dotter (dollar store).  They loved this.

A week on pumpkins!

Circle Time - We talked about how pumpkins grow and what they look like.   We have been reading some fabulous books this week too!
        
Pumpkin Science - The kiddos were excited to get to work with their pumpkins.  I created for each of them, a small pumpkin book.  Once they got their name on, we sat down and got to work.

We measured the circumference of each pumpkin and then weighed them too. We did an experiment to see if our pumpkins would sink or float.  We made our prediction first (a smart guess).  I was surprised that the kiddos all predicted their pumpkin would float.  And sure enough, they were right!  They all floated!  Then there were a few additional pages asking about their pumpkin's stem, shape etc.

Pumpkin Dissection - The kiddos helped me de-gut one of Mr. Adam's big pumpkins.  They did such a great job, I asked if they wanted to do another one, surprisingly they said no.  Ha! 
While I was cutting the lid, we talked about what we were going to find inside.  I was trying for:  bats, ghosts, eyeballs, anything!  But they wouldn't go for it.  They kept insisting that there would be seeds and pumpkin goo.  

Pumpkin Planting - After harvesting the seeds, we planted them!

Paint Chip Pumpkins - These have been on pinterest.  They were cute and easy to make.  The first picture is from my preschoolers.  I had them draw their own faces with markers and cut their own stems.  Cute.

This picture is from my youngster class (3 yr. olds).  I cut all the pieces for them and they got to glue them on.

Bean Bin - Our bean bin has been invaded by Halloween this month.  I added spiders and various Halloween containers and scoops.  One day this week the kiddos brought the trucks into the action to help transport the beans.

Paint Spinner Pumpkins -  My youngsters made these this week.  While the paint was still wet, they stuck the face pieces on.

Pasta Pumpkins - I dyed some pinwheel pasta orange, drew a pumpkin shape on a piece of card stock and let the kiddos go to work with the glue!  They loved squeezing out puddle of glue and then placing the pasta on.

Pumpkin Decorating - My preschoolers got to use paint and glitter (boy did they love that) and my youngster glued the faces on.

Tape Road - A class favorite is to created a road with masking tape.  So much fun and endless possibilities.  When it's time to go home the kiddos gleefully pull up the road and create tape balls they take home.

Measuring - One of my youngsters pulled out this little measuring device and so we started measuring things.  We discovered that a little car is about 2" and that a big car is about 6".  When we laid them next to each other we were happy to discover that 3 little cars equal 1 big car!