O's Halloween Puppets

O(5) and I have really enjoyed having "O and Mama Craft Time" after E(2) goes to sleep at night. We usually spend about 30 to 45 minutes crafting and reading. One our first projects was sewing Halloween puppets from a Family Fun craft kit (that I bought after Halloween last year from WM). O loves to sew, and this was lots of fun for both of us.

We made one puppet per night for 3 nights of "Mama and O Craft Time." After she finished the puppets, she decided to draw pictures of them in her drawing journal.

I spelled the words for her for the ghost and witch drawings.


I had to bite my tongue to not correct her when she was writing the "E" in Wendy. I'm so glad that I didn't correct her...I love the 6 lines on the E!

I encouraged her to sound out the words herself when she was writing "Scott the Skeleton." I love how she wrote it! What a treasure these imperfections will be once she is reading and writing with ease!

Our Halloween Ghost Tree

Making a ghost tree for Halloween has been a family tradition since I was a child. Usually, we use wrap dum-dums with kleenex to make the ghosts, but this year we did things a little differently (and SO much better!)...

My mom found a bunch of white cloth napkins and wrapped organic lollipops (from Trader Joe's) with them to make the ghosts. The girls get to choose one ghost off the tree each day and eat the lollipop. I don't mind them having a lollipop a day since they don't have any artificial colors or flavors in them! The girls are thrilled with this, and so are we!

Painting & Washing A Pumpkin

I've been suggesting that the girls paint their mini pumpkins for weeks, but they haven't been interested. However, as soon as I set up the activity as a "work" on a tray, they were all over it! Luckily, I had 2 pumpkins, and they both got to work immediately.


After they finished painting their pumpkins, I asked if they wanted to wash them. O(5) initially said "no," but she changed her mind almost immediately. (you can see her hand on the spray bottle in the picture...she couldn't wait to get started!)

O said that washing the pumpkin was more fun than painting it!



E(2) had difficulty with spray bottle, but didn't want any help. She didn't stay with the task very long, but she still seemed to enjoy it.

Spooning Candy Corn

E(2) enjoyed this spooning work a little too much this week! She kept grabbing and stuffing the candy corn in her mouth, so I had to put it away. I told her she could have a piece of candy after she finished the work, but she doesn't yet understand the concept of delayed gratification!

O's Embroidered Cat

O(5) recently embroidered this cat during our nightly "Mommy and O Craft Time," and she is SO proud!

To make the cat embroidery pattern, she drew a cat and we photocopied her cat drawing. I traced the photocopied cat with an iron-on pencil and ironed the pattern on a piece of fabric. O chose her colors, and I helped her thread her needle and tie knots in the end of the thread. Then, she got to work! She LOVES to embroider, and I do, too! We have BIG plans for a year long embroidery project that culminates in a final quilting project.

Fun with Letters

Since we've been "studying" letters of the week (or weeks...as we usually stay on one letter for at least 2 weeks), I've put together this fun ABC activity for E(2).

In the basket are the 3 letters that we've "studied." We take out one letter at a time, and I hand her one object at a time to place on the letter. We say the letter name and sound, and then label the object as she puts them on the letters. She thinks this is a lot of fun. Eventually, she'll take the basket on her own and match the objects to their correct letters.




Edit to add: I did not make these letters. They are from a set that my mom bought and used when she was a teacher many years ago.

Halloween Spooning Work

E(2) enjoyed this spooning work using white beans. I drew eyes on the beans to make them look like ghosts using a black sharpie marker. I should have drawn eyes on both sides of the beans because E did not like it when they were accidentally turned over backwards! She did a great job spooning the beans from one bowl to the next, and I'm looking forward to setting up more spooning activities for her.

Halloween "I Spy" Bottle

E(2) has had fun finding the objects in our Halloween "I Spy" bottle that I made last year!

After this bottle was such a hit last year, I had plans to make "I Spy" bottles for Christmas and Valentine's Day. I never found the time to do that last year, but I'm determined to make it happen this year...I'll let you know if I'm successful :)

Mr. Pumpkin Head

Both girls love Mr. Potato Head, and they love Mr. Pumpkin Head, too!

The pumpkin is made of some type of foam (bought from Michaels last year), so we just punched holes in him so the girls can build him how they like him. Fun stuff!

Halloween 1-to-1 Correspondence Activity

E(2) really loved this Halloween activity which works on developing 1-to-1 correspondence. She picks up one pumpkin at a time and places it in the container...1 in each opening. As she placed the pumpkins in the container she counted them (she LOVES to count!).


While completing this task, she is strengthening her pincer grasp and increasing her concentration skills as well as developing her 1-to-1 correspondence skills.

The best part about this activity is that she got to eat a pumpkin after she was finished!