Jack-o-Lanterns Have Feelings Too...

Using some more pumpkin die-cuts, I decided to draw different facial expressions on each one.  We named each feeling and made a similar face to express it.  S really only knows sad, happy, and surprised and while he can make the face, I'm not so sure he understands what it really means yet.  This was a great activity to develop his emotional vocabulary though because feelings can be a difficult concept.  It's important to me that I give S words to use to express what he's feeling.  For older children, you could give them the name of the feeling and let them draw what they think it would look like. 

I also used my Kodak $15 gift code to make a Feelings photo book. Each page has a feeling under a photograph of S expressing that feeling.  It was a lot of work searching through our photos and trying to match up expressions with emotions, but I think it will be worth it.  I can't wait for it to arrive!

Felt Jack-o-Lantern

I cut out a felt jack-o-lantern for S to play with a few days ago.  We tallked about the parts of the face and where each one goes.  As you can see, we still need some practice on correct placement, but it was a fun way to learn facial parts. 

Handprint Spiders

Warning: the how-to video below is a bit odd (in fact you may want to watch it without sound), but the idea is a cute one to do with little ones. I did it with S yesterday and plan to make one each Halloween to watch his spiders grow over the years!  Thanks, Julia!

Updated apology: Yikes!  I actually took the time and listened to the lyrics of the You Tube demo.  I am not very current on rap music.  Sorry!  Some of you may have thought it was hilarious (S.H.), but others may not have found it as funny so I took it down in case you fall into the latter category ;) 

To make the spider you just fold a sheet of black paper in half and trace your child's four fingers (no thumb) on the side with the crease.  Then cut it out and when you open it up, you should have eight spider legs! 

Toy Library Finds

I think I've told you how much I love our toy library and our trip on Friday was no exception.  I ran across two things that were perfect for us right now.  The first is a "color kit."  It was perfect since we have been talking about the color orange.  My only complaint would be that all the objects were typically orange.  I know there are orange frogs and perhaps lobsters are orangey, but...?  Anyway, I thought the idea was a great one though to do at home.  Just collect a bunch of objects of one color and place them in a basket together.  This wonderful blog has been doing that and creating a photo book of the collections. 

My other find was this copy of Stellaluna that came with a bat puppet.  I am so glad I ran across it because I love this book and completely forgot about it while learning about bats and owls this past week.   

Another Diecut Use!

Here's yet another use for diecuts- tape black bat diecuts to the inside of a lampshade for a spooky look in the evening!  Thanks, Julia and Martha Stewart!

Hoot!

Yesterday I pulled out my old teaching files to see if there was anything in the Halloween one for S and there wasn't much since I taught fourth and sixth grades, but I did come across this owl paper bag puppet template.  We colored it together and then had fun flying, hooting and "eating mice".  I came across a similar template here if you are interested.

Our timing of the puppet was perfect because I received an email on Sunday from Tara at Raising Itty Bitty Bookworms that I had won her Friday Giveaway- a copy of Baby Owl's Rescue by Sylvan Dell Publishing.  These books are beautifully done, very educational, and each has suggested teaching activities.  S is a little young for it now, but he will enjoy the owl pictures and it will be a wonderful book to grow into.

More Halloween Matching

I printed this ghost matching game yesterday from childcareland.com.  I printed two copies of the first page only (the following pages are more advanced).  One page is to be used as the "mat" and the other I cut up to make "cards".  I was out of cardstock so I backed it with black construction paper and plan to laminate it soon before it takes too much toddler abuse.  S really enjoyed doing it this afternoon.  He hasn't mastered it yet, but caught on to the idea.   The website has a ton of free printables here and I am certain this is not the last activity I take from it.  Thanks, Activity Mom!

Milk Jug Ghosts

I got thie idea to make these milk jug ghosts at Family Fun.  I know they look a bit "junky", but I liked that it gave our milk jugs another use before recycling them, they were free to make, and I don't have to store them year-to-year.  S must really like them because the other day we finished off another gallon of milk and he said "boo" to tell me to make another one (or he thinks a milk jug is called a "boo").

Die Cut Pop-Up Book

This morning I thought of another use for my extra die cuts.  You can make a pop-up book with anything though.  For those of you who have never made a simple pop-up book, I will attempt a tutorial below:

1.  Materials.  Scissors, glue, pop-up figures, paper (the number of pages you want plus one sheet for the cover).

2.  Fold all pages in half and cut two slits (about 1 1/2 in. apart) in from the crease in the middle of the page (unless you want your pop-up to be off center).  Note:  If you click on the photo above, you can enlarge it to see the slits.

3.  Fold the tabs inward.

4.  Place your pages inside your cover and glue the outsides of each page to the next page and to the front and back cover.

5.  Glue your pop-up figures to the front (not top) of each folded in tab.

6.  Add text if desired. 

You can make a pop-up book for anything (tell a story, use photographs, make a pop-up greeting card, teach a concept...).  You can also use more than one tab per page.  Just cut two slits per tab.  Enjoy!

Die Cuts

My mom made these Halloween die cuts for S (if you don't have access to a machine, you can just cut some free hand) and I came up with these two activities over the weekend.  The first is a matching game.  I lay all four cut outs on the floor in front of us, then I hand him one of them and ask him, "Can you find the other ghost?"  He then lays the ghost in his hand on top of the one on the floor.  This is repeated with each one.  I modeled this a few times for him before I let him try and thought aloud, "Hmm?  No, that's a cat.  Oh, look.  There's the ghost!"

The other thing I did with them is make stick puppets.  He likes to "fly" the bat and say "boo" or "meow" with the ghost and cat. 

Flying Bat

Since S is going to be a bat for Halloween, we have been talking /reading/looking at pictures of bats.  I made this bat for him the other day.  I just cut out a bat shape (it looks more like a flying squirrel) from black construction paper and taped it to a popsicle stick.  When you gently wave it up and down, the wings flap.  I guess I have told him "gentle" with it too many times because if you ask him what it is he says, "gentle."

Coloring Contests

This past week I saw this coloring contest in our local paper and it brought back fond childhood memories of partaking in coloring contests (though I don't believe I ever won).  Well, this one was perfect for S to color today because it had some bats and a pumpkin on it (both words we have been saying and signing a lot lately).  I only gave him an orange crayon because I wanted to talk about the color orange and how pumpkins are often orange.  As he was coloring, I thought to myself that I should always keep an eye out for coloring contests; not necessarily to enter, but it's a free coloring page.  Here's a close-up of his pumpkin so you can see all the detail he added ;) 

Fall Leaves

We picked up some leaves on one of our walks and taped them to the playroom window.  The playroom is probably starting to look a bit like a preschool now, but S likes to look and talk about them.

Feltboard Fun

This week I decided to make a feltboard for S because one of my favorite holiday rhymes as a child was "Five Little Pumpkins".  I took three sides of a cardboard box and taped them together in a triangle.  I later plan to cover the other two sides with green (land) and blue (water) felt for other scenes.  I was going to cut out pumpkins by free hand until I came across this site that has templates.  You just print them out and glue them to felt backing. 

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.

The first one said, "Oh, my it's getting late!"

The second one said, "There are witches in the air."

The third one said, "But we don't care."

The fourth one said, "Let's run, let's run!"

The fifth one said, "Isn't Halloween fun?"

Then Woooooo went the wind

And OUT went the lights.

And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

 

Thanks, Activity Mom and April Flowers!

Seasonal Toys and Books

 

My mom recently aquired this ugly pumpkin basket for free and passed it on to me (because I love stuff like this).  I decided it made a fun basket to keep in the living room to store our Halloween and then Thanksgiving toys and books.  Starting last year, I began storing these items with the holiday decorations and I think it will make an exciting tradition each holiday to unpack the toys and books.  Now I need to find a big ugly Santa basket.

Note:  Don't worry, we have two copies of Where the Wild Things Are.  One will remain out year round.