Last of Fall/Halloween

Mondays Schedule

Books - The Biggest Pumpkin surprise Ever
I finally got a couple Halloween books:)

Movement -Mummies and Ghost Rockets
The kids were given toilet paper and we took turns wrapping each other up.  It was so much fun!  Then they played in the scraps for a while.
I aslo blew up white balloons and drew faces on them.  Then taped a cut straw to the bottom.  Strung yarn across the room.  Threaded the yarn throw the straw and let go of the ballon.  The kids loved watching the ghost go!  After a few times doing that.  I just blew up their balloons and let them play.  A fun morning!

Numbers - Pumpkin Seed Counting
Each kid was given two pictures of a pumpkin.  they took turns rolling the dice.  They named what number it landed on and then glued that many pumpkin seeds to their pumpkins.  We did this until we ran out of pumpkin seeds.

Arts/Craft - Candy Corn and Spiders
I cut out small pieces of paper colors - yellow, orange and white.  Beforehand I drew a shape of a candy corn on black paper.  Then had them fill in the different levels with the different colors to make it look like a candy corn.
I also wanted to make spiders.  The kids stamped their hands in black ink and I helped them stamp on paper so it looked like a spider.  Then I let them add as many goggly eyes as they wanted.

Game - Glow in the Dark Ring Toss
I got glow in the dark necklaces.  We pulled them out and went up to Clifton's dark room.  And tossed  them onto a cone.  The kids LOVED this one.

Wednesdays Schedule -

Books - Max and Ruby Halloween

Movement - Pumpkin or Ghost
Had a bag filled with paper pumpkins that have letters on them but a few had a picture of a ghost. We sat in a circle and took turns pulling out a paper. If it was a letter then they had to make the sound of that letter. If it was a ghost they pretended to be ghosts as they danced around their chairs and then sat back down. Clifton didn't want this game to stop.

Numbers - Monster Guts
 I had a bowl with noodles, grapes, and numbers mixed in it. I taped a monster face to the top of the bowl. They had to reach in the monsters mouth and pull out a number. Then would jump that many times. The grape eye balls were their favorite part.

Arts/Craft - Frankenstein Sun Catchers
Kathryn cut out Frankenstein on contact paper beforehand.  The kids covered the contact paper with green tissue paper.  They turned out super cute!

Game - Duck, Duck, Goose

Fall/Halloween Week 2

Monday's Schedule

Book - Caps for Sale (realizing I don't have many Fall books)

Movement - Leaf Sorting
I found a cute leaf size sorting activity online at www.homeschoolcreations.com.  I laid the words small, medium, and large on the floor.  They had different size leaves that they had to determine if they were small, medium, or large.  They had to place the size leafs under the words.

Alphabet - Apple Pick
I found pictures of apples online and printed 26 of them.  I then wrote lower and upper case letters on each leaf.  Beforehand I taped each leaf to the tree we had out front.  I gave each kid a basket and they got to go pick the apples from the tree.  When we were finished picking we went over what letter apples they picked.  The kids really liked this one.

Arts/Craft -  Handprint Tree
One at a time (the others were looking at books) I painted the kids hands and they made prints to make a tree.  I think they turned out real cute and the kids loved the fact that I painted their hands.  They were really good at waiting their turns as well.

Game - Sorting
I found a sorting leaves and apples online at www.homeschoolcreations.com.  I cut out the apples and leaves before and they glued them to were they should go.  A fun activity.

Wednesday's Schedule

Book - No book because we had a field trip!

Movement - Corn Maze
We spent the morning at the corn maze wondering around and exploring.  It was a lot of fun!

Numbers - Counting Candy Corn
On a piece if paper Kathryn put numbers the kids had to count that many candy corns and put them on that number.

Arts/Craft - Ghost
Kathryn cut out card stock of a ghost before hand and had the kids glue cotton balls to the ghost Also put on eyes and a mouth after gluing the cotton balls.

Game - Hi-Ho Cherry-O
A good game to work on counting, fine motor skills, and taking turns.

Fall/Halloween Week 4

Mondays Schedule -

Book - Shapes Shapes Shapes (realizing I don't have any halloween books)
The kids raised their hands when they found shapes in the pictures on each page.  They really liked the book and having to find the shapes.

Movement - Hammering Pumpkin
I had a pumpkin set up for the kids to hammer nails into.  I decided we should take turns hammering nails (with a plastic hammer).  I also had goggles that i thought would be fun for the kids and funny for me that the kids could wear if they wanted and of course they wanted to.  They waited so patiently as we took turns.  They really liked it.  And at the end it made for a cute decoration!

Numbers - Pumpkin Hunt
I hid pictures of pumpkins around the room that had numbers on them.  I told the kids i needed help hunting for my pumpkins but need to find them in order.  So we started at 1 and went to 10 until they found them all.

Arts/Craft - Stamping
I cut out some potato stamps and also used cookie cutters.  The kids put them in paint and then stamped them on paper.

Game - Pumpkin Walk
I laid the same pumpkins I hid around the room on the floor in a circle.  Each started on a pumpkin.  When I turned on the music they walked on the pumpkins in a circle until the music stopped.  When they stopped they had to tell me what number was on the pumpkin they were standing on.  They loved this activity!

Wednesdays Schedule -

Book - How the Monster Lost His Mean.  
This is my new favorite book about how a monster lost his Monster friends because he was mean but gained great little kid friend which made him happy. We talked about being nice to our friends.

Movement - Feed the Monster
They kids used straws to blow candy into the monsters mouth.  They really enjoyed this activity.

Alphabet - Magic Potion
Each got a pile of magnetic letters. I had cups of vinegar and spoons with food coloring the same as the letters hiding under baking soda. They took turn mixing the baking soda/food coloring mixture into the vinegar to discover which color it had on it. They watched the reaction and then had to find their magnets of that color and match them on the cookie sheet with the alphabet on it.

Arts/Craft - Monster Puppets
Using brown paper sacks the kids glues on different shapes to make a monster.

Game - Roll the Dice
Rolled a color on the dice and then did what the card of that color said. Great at learning to enforcing how to take turns. Also good for following directions and simple steps.

Fall/Halloween Week 3

Monday's Schedule

Book - Cat

Movement - Leaf Window
The kids went outside and found leafs.  We then placed them on contact paper.  And then laid a layer of contact paper over that.  And they placed them in the windows to make cute leaf sun catchers.

Alphabet - Alphabet Monster
I made a monster out of a card board box.  Then I explained to the kids that the monster is so hungry but he only eats letters.  So he needs help eating.  I still had leaves with letters on them so we used those and alphabet magnets.  They had to name the letter before feeding him or else he would spit it back out.  And we worked on what sound the letter made as well.  Something we need to work a little bit more on.  This activity was a huge hit.  They loved the monster and wanted to play for ever!

Art/Craft - Monsters
I taped goggly eyes to paper.  I gave the kids a marker and the went to town making monsters around the eyes.  They loved this one and it was such a simple no messy craft.  Big success!

Game - Halloween Scavenger Hunt
Before hand I printed a piece of paper with pictures of things we see at halloween like black cat, pumpkin, ghost, skeleton, etc...  We went on a walk around our neighborhood.  Every time they say something that was on that piece of paper they were given a sticker to place next to what they found.  I enjoyed getting out and seeing the decorations and the kids loved pointing out what they say. Pumpkins got the most stickers:)

Wednesday's Schedule


Book - Stelluluna

Movement - Hung Upside Down
They practiced hanging upside down like a bat does.  Kathryn would hold onto their ankles while they did that.

Alphabet - Alphabet Dots
Kathryn went over the letters A-H and their sounds.  She made a piece of paper with 3 of each letter on it.  They would pick a letter and then had to dot with a marker on the paper.  This was a good activity for them to match letter to sound and look.

Art/Craft - Apple Prints
Kathryn cut apples in half and let the kids stamp the apples into paint and then onto paper.  The kids thought it was cool to paint with apples.

Game - Bat Counting
Kathryn hung bats from he ceiling before hand.  She had the kids pick a number and they had to run around looking for the bat that had that number on it.  They had to jump up and grab the bat.

Ocean Week 4

Monday's Schedule - Jelly Fish

Book- Poke A Dot Fish
The kids loved this book.  It required popping little bubbles.

Movement - Animal Dance
The picked a sea animal out of the bag and danced like that animal until the music stopped.  They love dancing!

Alphabet - Letter Run
There were letters at the other side of the room.  Then a bag of letters.  They picked a letter out practiced the sound it made.  Then when we said go they would run to match the letter to a letter at the other side of the room.  They loved this game and love running.  It was a big hit and they did not want to stop!

Arts/Crafts - Jelly Fish
Use a bowl and glue streamers onto the inside.  Then glue and glitter the bottom of the bowl.  And add goggly eyes.

Game- Do A Dot Jelly Fish
Use daubers and filled in the dots of a jelly fish.

Wednesday's Schedule - Pirate Day

Book - I can't remember:/  But I remember I did not have a book about pirates:(

Movement - Treasure Hunt
Each kid got a map that have five circle on it.  They had to solve 5 different (simple clues) and put stickers on the circles.  Once they filled it up they got to X marks the spot where treasure (aka candy) was hidden.  they loved loved loved this.  And I had a blast making clues and finding the treasure with them.

Alphabet - Buried Treasure
I brought some sand in and put it in a big storage container.  I hid coins (pennies, nickels and a few quarters), and letter.  They had to dig to find all the letters.  Once they found a letter they had to match it to a metal pan that had letters on it.  They really enjoyed this.  The loved the coins and thought it was so cool.  They tried to find all the coins first before finding letters:)

Arts/Crafts - Hook and Flag
I made a hook out of tin foil and plastic cup.  They kids decorated it with stickers.  I also put together a small flag that they decorated with stickers.

Game - Pretend Pirates
I aslo made a eye patch for each kid.  So at the end of all this fun they wore their eye patch and hook and carried their flag.  They could have ran around for hours.  It was a fun day!

Ocean Week 3

Mondays Schedule - Fish

Book - 1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish

Movement - Shape Puzzles
Kathryn has a puzzle that has fishes on it and you have to fish for the fishes.  On the bottom of the fish she cut out different shapes.  When they got a fish they had to name the shape and match the shape to the shapes on the window.  The really liked this one.

Numbers -
Take pipe cleaners.  On the top tape a piece of paper with a number on it.  Then have them place beads on the pipe cleaner.  Have them place the number of beads to match the number on the paper.

Arts/craft - Fish
The kids painted the back of paper plates.  Then they got to glue on the tail and eyes.

Wednesdays Schedule -

Book - Animals that Live in the Sea by National Geographic Society
This book had lots of words but we spent that time looking at the pictures and naming the animals we say and reading a little about each animal.  The enjoyed seeing new and different kinds of animals.

Movement - Sea Animal Cake Walk
I found cute sea animal action cards on this website http://www.toddlerapproved.com/2010/07/ocean-animal-movements.html .  On the website it had lots of ideas of what you could do.  I decided to do a cake walk kind of game.  I put them in a circle and played music and the kids walked around the circle. When the music stopped the stopped on animal they were on or near.  Then they had to do the action that animal does.  They LOVED this and never wanted to stop.

Numbers -
I found measuring sea animal worksheet on this website http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/08/oceans-updated.html .  We used goldfish to measure how big each animal was.  Then we counted how many goldfish there were.  They did real well at this one.  Also on that website they had counting cards.  You circle the number that matches how many animals there were.  This one was great for them because they can count well and need to work on matching the number to what the number looks like.

Arts/Craft - Starfish
I cut out big stars before hand.  I had them glue the star fish to blue paper.  They then put glue on top of the star fish and each took a turn sprinkling sand on top of the glue.  They turned out super cute and the kids loved that we used sand.  I did have to explain that we are using sand inside for this activity but that does not mean we bring sand inside any other time.

Game -
I used the same sea animal action cards from the movement activity.  I gave each kid three animals.  I then drew animals out of the hat.  The person who had that animal would stand up and bring it to me.  The person who ran out of animals first won.  We just played till everyone was out of animals.  They really enjoyed this simple game:)

Ocean Week 2

Mondays Schedule

Book - My Very Own Octopus  (read on youtube)

Movement and Numbers - Fishing for Numbers
The kids were giving fishing poles with magnets on the end.  the would fish for numbers.  When they got one they matched the number to the numbers on a poster board.

Arts/craft - Octopus
Cut the legs on the octopus and put "dots" on their legs representing suction cups.  They watched a video of an octopus and talked about how they used their legs and suction cups on their legs.

Game - Cutting
They cut up pieces of paper.  The kids loved this.  Simple but fun:)

Wednesday Schedule -

Book - The Playful Dolphin by National Geographic Society
This book has a lot of words so we did not read a lot of it, but mostly looked at all the pictures and talked about what was going on in the pictures.  The kids really enjoyed looking at the pictures and learning a little about dolphins (and I enjoyed sharing my love for dolphins with them).

Movement - Crab Racing
My kids love racing do this was perfect for them.  They struggled with crawling like a crab but enjoyed it any way and laughed every time they feel down.  We would race from one side of the yard to the other.  They could have done this for hours!

Numbers - Puzzle and Counting Cards
I found a picture you cut into strips and have a number at the bottom at this website http://www.2teachingmommies.com/2011/08/oceans-updated.html .  They helped me put the puzzle together and helped count and make sure they were in order.  This was a little over their heads but good for them.
We also laid number cards that I found on the same website above.  I wanted to use fish but we at them all so we used raisins.  They helped me count out how many raisins should go on in each number card. They did great at counting but still do not recognize their numbers yet.

Art/crafts - Shells
We collected shells on the bay last wednesday.  I kept them and cleaned them out.  For crafts today they choose a few shells they wanted and painted them.  Then we glued eyes on the shells that where whole.  They turned out super cute and the kids loved it.

Game - Bay Trip
It was another beautiful day in Washington so we so went the rest of the afternoon on the bay exploring:)