Skeleton Puzzle

Here's another repeat! 

O loved her skeleton puzzle last year, and she's enjoyed it just as much this year.  She liked looking at the skeleton on her flip chart as she put the skeleton together.  After she finished (with help), we labeled the bones and talked about them for a while.  She's very interested in this kind of thing since she plans to be a doctor (as well as a ballerina, fire fighter, artist, and mama) and LOVES to pretend to have broken bones. 

Halloween Cookie Cutter Stencils

Cookie cutters make great stencils!  O was very excited about this activity, but she (surprisingly) lost interest fairly quickly.

Halloween Greeting Card Puzzles

O was excited to see her Halloween greeting card puzzles last weekend! (they've been packed away in our Halloween bin since last year)

To make the puzzles I  cut the back off of a greeting card and then cut the front of the card into several pieces to make a puzzle.  Easy, cheap, and fun!

A Halloween Storytelling Activity

Now that O is in Montessori school each morning, I don't usually set up trays of work for her.  However, I plan to continue setting up seasonal/holiday trays as inspiration strikes :) 

I love the printable paper toys at The Toymaker website, and these Teeny Tiny Halloweenies were too cute to ignore.  I printed them on photo paper, and set up a tray with scissors, a glue stick, and craft sticks.





We cut out the Halloweenies and glued them to the craft sticks to make Halloween puppets.





We acted out scenes with them after we finished making them.





They are now set up in our table centerpiece, and we've been using them as storytelling prompts during meals.  O LOVES this activity!  The only problem is that she won't take a turn telling a story...she only wants to listen to our stories!





We also made this Magic Pumpkin from The Toymaker website. 

Pumpkin Pie Playdough

Making pumpkin pie playdough is one of our Halloween traditions. (see here and here for the recipe) We were excited to include E when we made it this year. 

O loved mixing the ingredients together with her hands.



It was especially fun to mix in the colors (a fun lesson on mixing red and yellow to make orange) and pumpkin pie spice. 



E stood nearby in the Kitchen Helper.  She loves to be in the Kitchen Helper when we are in the kitchen.  I've kept it on the lowest level since she likes to climb in and out of it by herself.  She LOVED smelling (and tasting!) the pumpkin pie spice container while we were making the playdough.



While I was stirring the playdough on the stove, O mixed the colors from our water xylophone.  This was another fun lesson on mixing primary colors to form secondary colors. 



It's so much fun to knead the warm dough.



Then the playdough cookie making began!

A Fun Day!

O had her 1st field trip today, and we had a great time!  We went to a pumpkin patch and took the whole family...O, E, my mom, Elliott, and me.  Got to love a school that welcomes everyone on field trips! 

O had fun jumping, sliding, running through a corn maze, riding a hay ride, and choosing her pumpkin. 



O was excited to paint and decorate her pumpkin with stickers when we got home. 

Halloween Sensory Box

I set up O's Halloween sensory box with dried black beans, cups, scoops, and Halloween knick knacks on Sunday night and had it waiting for her at the table on Monday morning.  She was SO excited!  She's really enjoyed playing with it, but it really needs another bag of black beans.  She has to be extra careful to not spill the beans since E would be sure to pick them up and try to eat them (she's been eating cat food lately!). 

Here is our Halloween sensory box from last year.  This box doesn't have as much stuff as last year's, and she seems to enjoy it more.

A Candy Collage

What should you do with all of that Halloween candy??? Make a candy collage, of course :) I was surprised and pleased that O was so willing to use her candy to make a collage. She really enjoyed mashing the candy and making a sculpture, too. This may become a "day after Halloween" tradition!

Egg Carton Spiders

O and I recently made egg carton spiders. I cut the cups out of a cardboard egg carton. O painted the spiders and glued on the eyes. I cut slits in the side and put the pipe cleaners through them for legs. O had fun playing with her spiders in the rice pit.

Salt Dough Halloween "Cookie" Magnets

O and I made salt dough Halloween "cookies" a few weeks ago and finally painted them on Tuesday. We plan to glue magnets to the backs of the "cookies" and give them to her grandparents for special Halloween gifts :)

To make the salt dough you need 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of flour, and a half cup of water. Mix the salt and flour and add the water in slowly while stirring. Knead the dough and roll it out! We had a lot of fun making the "cookies," but O's favorite part of the activity was playing with the dough. She loves to experience different textures :)