Halloween Tot School

*Ages: Twins- 21 months actual, 19 months adjusted; Tex- 21 months; Peaches- 23 months

It’s time for Tot School! Last week we attended a Monster/Green themed play date at Mama Tex’s house. Unfortunately, I was in such a tizzy trying to get us out of the house on time that I forgot my camera! However, I’m making up for it this week by sharing some fun pics of our Halloween-themed session that we hosted yesterday afternoon.

After our welcome song and weather check, we started off our activities by making some simple paper plate hats to wear as “costumes” for the afternoon. It was even more fun because we had a new friend join us for school…meet “Peaches!”

Isn’t she just the sweetest thing?

To make our hats, I simply cut straight lines across some paper plates, being careful not to cut all the way through the sides. When you fold up the little triangles that this creates, it makes a paper crown. Before the little ones wore them, they colored them with their favorite Halloween colors.

After we were all decked out, we read our book of the week (Where is Baby’s Pumpkin by Karen Katz) and then enjoyed some free play with our basket of instruments while listening to “Monster Mash.”‘

Next, it was time for some fine motor fun with Spooky Spider Play!

This was a super-fun, easy to prepare activity that honed in on fine motor skills. To prepare it, I took a wire wreath frame and simply wrapped it with thick yarn until I got a nice big “spider web.” Next, I placed some glittery black spiders that I found on clearance at Walmart onto the web. We provided some kitchen tongs and large tweezers for the little ones to “catch” the spiders with, and then let them do the rest!

Sydney exhibits extreme concentration 😉

I caught one, Mom!

Everyone took a turn playing with the spiders.

Next, we did a shadow matching activity with a Contact Paper Haunted House. To set this one up, I got two large sheets of blue paper and attached a simple construction paper house with tape. Then I cut some simple Halloween shapes out of foam and felt, including a round full moon, ghosts, pumpkins, bats, and windows and a door for the house. I traced the outlines of those shapes onto the house scene with a black marker and then everyone “helped” me tape it to the wall. After that, I simply covered it with a piece of Contact Paper with the sticky side facing out.

Here is the house with all the pieces in place. I know it looks super scary with the red paint on the windows…this was taken after tot school was over and the little ones had played with messy fingers 😉

For our next activity, we tried to make some Spin Art Pumpkins. Didn’t work out so well. So sad.

Instead, we used Halloween cookie cutters to stamp shapes on our plates. Much better!

Last but not least, I brought out a pan of orange jello and let the little ones explore it for some fun (and tasty) sensory play. Before they completely demolished it, they had fun pressing cookie cutters into it to make different shapes.

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