Halloween Literacy Activities
With back to school comes Halloween being just around the corner in the month of October. Stores are already having Halloween theme decorations, party supplies, candies, activities, and books all around. Everyone is preparing for the best Halloween party and their favorite Halloween literacy activities. There are so many different ways to celebrate Halloween, and it doesn’t just involve candies and goodies. The best part of this is that you can incorporate literacy skills during the fun time of year.
Creative Halloween Activities
Getting into the Halloween spirit and Halloween season is a perfect way to is a Halloween craft It’s a perfect time for young children to utilize their little hands to prepare for the spooky season. The following are a fun way to bring out the Halloween theme. Halloween lesson plans can include Halloween writing prompt, word searches, task cards, close reading, as well as enhancing site words for emergent reader and little learners.
Creative writing is a great way to create a Halloween book, especially for big kids. You can either create a literacy centers for kids to enjoy working on specific writing prompts.
Magnetic letters like these Halloween pieces ones are much fun and a great time for the whole family to engage in while decorating for the occasion. Not only does it enhance fine motor skills, but it can help with letter identification too.
Some projects that enhance fine motor practices are pom poms, googly eyes, and pipe cleaners. Utilizing these three tools on a empty rolls of toilet paper can create such fun Halloween creatures. You can create a ghost by painting the toilet paper roll white with acrylic paint and attaching the pom poms to it.
Having a math center can help enhance math skills for all age groups. A perfect addition could be having a little bit of everything as far as supplies are concerned. Incorporating math skills as part of the Halloween literacy activities will help with adapting to different learning tools. Halloween Math can include some number recognition as part of the math activities, especially in a kindergarten classroom.
Sensory bins made of Halloween themes are something that can keep the kids busy working. You compile a bin full of items that resemble Halloween and kids can work on utilizing all their senses.
Related : Halloween Costumes
Play dough comes in so handy when it comes to literacy learning. You can create uppercase letters and lowercase letters. and help with parts of speech development too. You can practice forming words and even sentences as well. The best part about play-dough is that you can build and rebuild, form, and reformat to your desires.
Halloween Events
Halloween costumes are also what creates an extra fun environment and a fun day of dress-ups. Each small groups of kids can show off their costumes either in the classroom or in a whole school setting. My children’s school usually does a parade around the school so that everyone gets a chance to show off their costumes. They divide it by each classroom and take turns going around the playground for others to see.
Going to a pumpkin patch is always a plus, especially if they give you some free games. Depending on some, they even give you free prizes after attempting a try at the games. They tend to get pricey at times trying to get through so many of the games, and the mazes they offer, but since it’s a once a year even, it can be worth the fun sometimes.
Game board and game pieces are a great way to encourage team work and working together. You can pretty much find all themed toys and games these days, with a little bit of research. Since Halloween is geared towards children’s more, transforming regular games into Halloween literacy activities isn’t too difficult.
Halloween Mazes/Haunted houses are also a way some people like to celebrate this day. Depending on your child’s age and what age appropriateness guidelines you keep, some parents like to take them to little mazes or Halloween events at the theme parks. I do admit, that some of these events tend to get intense. I, myself, wouldn’t take my kids to them just quite yet because mine would have a traumatic experience with all these figures dressed in various characters. But other parents and other children who are more capable of handling these are more than welcomed to attend.
Halloween Goody Bag Ideas
Going to trick or treat events or any Halloween events will probably mean lots of candies are coming back home. So if you’re in the mood to make goodies bags either for friends or for a school setting, why not make it more candy-free bag.
- Pencils – Halloween them pencils are a good way to help encourage children to write short story and practice their penmanship.
- Mini erasers are a fun way to remind the kids that mistakes can be erased with an eraser and restart again.
- If you have a pencil and an eraser, it makes sense to have a little notepad to go along with it for the Halloween literacy activities.
- Stickers are always fun to add to any goody bag.
- A treat of some sort that doesn’t involve candy would be ideal. A snack like a animal crackers or cheez-itz could be a go to item too.
- Depending on age, bubbles are a big hit for all age groups so that can be a huge attraction for the little ones.
Halloween Books
What better way to get Halloween literacy activities to a higher level than to bring in some books. Whether it is read-aloud books or simple picture books, kids can get active on reading books that are theme based.
1. Pete the Cat: Trick or Treat
2. Little Blue Truck’s Halloween: A Halloween Book For Kids
3. Goodnight Train Halloween Board Book
4. Curious George Haunted Halloween
5. Monster Farts: A Funny Read Aloud Picture Book For Kids And Adults, A Rhyming Story For Halloween and Fall
6. The Spooky Wheels on the Bus
7. How to Catch a Witch
8. Llama Llama Trick or Treat Board book
9. The Biggest Pumpkin Ever
10. Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt
No matter how you celebrate, the memories are what creates the special moments. Stay safe whatever you do and make sure to go through all the goody bags and treats from this Halloween to make sure that everything is appropriate for your child to play with or consume. There are so many unsafe items that are floating around everywhere, that is crucial to take extra caution. Halloween activities can be fun for all ages, from infants to adults. It’s about how you make of it all.