Halloween is a wonderful time for you and your little one to enjoy some spooky, light-hearted fun over the half term break. To kick-start the half term with some fun seasonal activities over the October break, we’ve put together some of our favourite Halloween activities for preschoolers for you to enjoy with your child and create some great learning opportunities.
Halloween or Hallowe’en (of “All Hallows’ evening”), less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows’ Eve,or All Saints’ Eve, is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. It begins the observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the departed.
For children, it’s often less about the ‘celebrations’ of Halloween and more about the exciting scenes that they will see unfold around them in the outside world, such as ghoulish decorations in familiar places like supermarkets. Often children delight in the fancy dress element, and to explore and get messy with some good old pumpkin carving.
Read on to discover some frightfully fun activities that will support your child’s learning and development, whilst having lots of fun!
Pumpkin Making
Carving and drawing on pumpkins over Halloween is always great fun and a long tradition for Halloween.
With a child friendly hammer and tee/cookie cutters, you can have fun with different pumpkin activities by teaching your little ones how to create fun pumpkin patterns. This is great for fine motor skills and expressive arts and design.
If you don’t have a child-sized hammer and golf tee, you can always let them draw a creation onto the pumpkin for you to carve the pumpkin with a knife yourself. They can help scoop the lovely gooey insides out with a spoon. This is another great activity to help build the muscles in the hand which contributes to future writing skills.
To build on top of this you can teach understanding of the world and rich new vocabulary by sharing that pumpkins grow this time of year and all about seasons and how vegetables grow.
This sensory Halloween activity is wonderful for your preschooler’s sensory development. Fun pumpkin activities like this will let your little ones:
- Explore their creativity
- Discover new smells and textures
- Allow them to experience new and unique vegetables
Halloween Book Making
Making a book with your child is a wonderful evening activity; it’s a calming way for your little ones to wind down after a busy day.
Children learn invaluable literacy skills from books, so making them from scratch combines these skills with art and creativity.
You and your child could write a fun Halloween story together while they draw colourful illustrations and learn new words. Creating a story together will also help to improve their listening and attention skills in the process.
Grab a scrapbook from your local craft store and let their imagination run wild!
Spells and Potions
What’s Halloween without a spell or a potion? Potion making helps foster creativity and imagination, and helps to develop gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination, such as mixing, scooping, pouring and grinding.
A spooky Halloween science activity can provide endless amusement for your children.
You don’t need to spend a lot of money to enjoy this fun science-themed activity for Halloween. Why not let your child do role play and choose a fun outfit to dress up in, make a twig into a wand, and mix food colouring in with household items such as corn flour, vinegar or water to make mysterious concoctions?
Ask your child questions throughout the activity. For example:
- How many colours can they see?
- What happens when the colours mix
- What textures does it make
- Introduce great new vocabulary like ‘infuse’ ‘ingredients’ ‘marinate’
Halloween Sensory Tuff Tray
A Tuff Tray, or a Tuff Pot, is used for holding sand and water to create magical scenes that children can create and enjoy.
Halloween is a great opportunity for getting creative and enjoying a world of make-believe and adventure, a themed tuff tray can create heaps of fun for children to create their own stories with props.
Your child can then enjoy making a Halloween scene or story from the small plastic objects inside the tray for hours of fun. This will help with their creativity skills while learning to play independently.
Making a Spider’s Web
This Halloween activity is all about problem-solving with your little ones!
To make a spider’s web, you’ll need:
- Masking tape
- Mini pompoms
- Feathers
Make sure you make the holes in your spider’s web big enough while making sure your child is physically challenged and learning through solving physical problems.
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Here at All About Children, we incorporate learning activities and play, setting a foundation for children to flourish in their early years education.
For more information on how we can support your preschooler’s development, or to learn more about our nursery setting, contact us today.