Paper Bag Pumpkins

October 16, 2020Leave a comment

Pape Bag Pumpkins (9)

Here’s a classic toddler Halloween activity that never disappoints: easy pumpkins made from brown paper lunch bags!

Use sandwich-size brown bags for this project, not larger ones. First up is stuffing them with tissue paper (or any similar material like old newspapers). “Can I make a ball?” Veronika asked after watching me do the first one, and she was a big helper wading up pieces and stuffing them into the bags.

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Once they were about two-thirds of the way filled, I secured each top with a rubber band and twisted tightly so they resembled pumpkin stems.

Time to paint! Veronika couldn’t wait to get her hands on orange paint and paintbrushes, and helped smear all over the bags.

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I wish we’d had more orange paint (or a thicker acrylic) for a better coat to hide the writing on our paper bags, but at least we achieved a mostly orange look!

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You can also paint the stems a deep brown, but since the bags were already brown, we skipped that part.

Once the paint dries (which takes a while!), add pumpkin faces with black marker.

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I made a traditional jack o’ lantern face, and Veronika added her own toddler interpretation.

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These make a fun addition to your Halloween decor!

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Monster Stew

October 16, 2020Leave a comment

Monster Stew (1)

There were no real monsters in this watery sensory tub for Veronika, just a chance to splash and play in a seasonable way.

To make the broth for our “stew”, I filled a basin with water and tinted it orange with food coloring.

Now we needed to add a few monstrous ingredients! In went lots of items from the dollar store, including skeleton hands, plastic bats, and monster eye rings.

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I had originally hoped to use mini plastic jack o’ lanterns as scoops for her to fill and pour with, but the store was sold out. Instead, I added orange plastic eggs, broken in half, which worked perfectly as little cups.

That was a good thing, because this was definitely her favorite part of the sensory game. She loved to scoop and pour over the rest of the eerie ingredients.

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The skeleton hands were perfect for stirring with.

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It was also fun to reach down to the bottom of the stew and dig out handfuls of bats or eyes.

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In sum, this was simple and spooky sensory play, just right for October. It was a nice way to introduce some of Halloween’s monsters without them seeming too scary.

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Plate Faces & Playdough Faces

October 15, 2020Leave a comment

Playdough Faces (9)

Veronika and I played two different games today to learn facial features and emotions. The activities were both so hands on, and she loved them equally!

For the first version, I set out blank paper plates and used cut pieces of felt to create features. I simplified the prep work by using felt pieces from a set with pre-cut squares, rectangles, squiggles and more. You could just as easily do this activity with lots of shapes cut from construction paper.

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I showed her how to arrange the pieces to quickly transform plates into faces. “What’s he feeling?” I asked her for each expression. “He’s happy!” she piped up, or, “He’s sad!”.

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We could manipulate the shapes to make all kinds of variations, including surprised, silly, sleepy, angry, and more. In addition to the expressions, it was also a great chance to name individual features. “Her mouth is a circle,” I pointed out, or, “Here are her ears.”

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Pretty soon she was busy designing “faces” of her own.

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The second game was similar, except this time the sensory experience was squishy playdough instead of fuzzy felt.

I drew two faces on plain white paper and inserted each piece into a large zip-top bag.

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Now use playdough and squish against the bag to follow along on the facial features!

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Veronika got the hang of it quite quickly.

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Again, there was lots to talk about, including eyebrows, noses, ears, and mouths.

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But because this time she had to manipulate the playdough, it was great for thinking about how we shape our mouths into a frown or smile.

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I loved watching her move the frown from the sad face over to our happy face, and stretch it out first into a line.

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I helped her arc it upwards into a smile. She looked so pleased.

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The added bonus is that when you’re done with the games, your toddler will have lots of playdough and felt (or construction paper) pieces to play with solo for a while.

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Toddler Color Chart with Colorful Fall Leaves

October 14, 2020Leave a comment

Toddler Fall Leaf Chart (6)

We turned a beautiful stroll among the leaves into a chance for a little color review this morning.

And I mean stroll literally. Veronika was determined to push her doll around in a stroller “all by self”, crunching through autumn leaves. As we walked, we started a little collection of the most vibrant ones we could find.

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Once home, I set up a quick “chart” for her. Divide a baking sheet into a 3×3 grid with masking tape. In the first column, I taped down three leaves: red, orange, and yellow.

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In the second column, I had blank white squares of paper for Veronika to fill in with colors. I asked her what color each leaf was and then to find the matching crayon. To simplify this for a two year old, I only had out the three crayons we needed. You can make this more of a hunt through the whole pack for preschoolers!

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She scribbled on the white squares for each. I also thought it was adorable that she wanted to use crayon directly on the leaves, for example, applying yellow crayon to yellow leaf.

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Just for some extra early learning, I wrote the name of each color in the final column. Of course, she’s a long way off from sight reading, but it never hurts to start early!

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This was a great project for extending a morning excursion into learning and play.

Spider’s Web Discovery Basket

October 13, 2020Leave a comment

Spider Web Discovery (8)

This activity for toddlers isn’t technically Halloween-themed, but certainly there’s a connection between spiders and the spooky holiday so it felt like the right time of year to play! Of course you could also do this activity any time of year.

To set up, I wound long strands of white yarn in and out of the holes of the laundry basket until they made a messy crisscross web shape.

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I originally considered adding only bug stuffed animals, but decided this might hit too close to home (Veronika is sometimes scared of webs). Instead, I added lots of small stuffed animals of every variety, including forest creatures like foxes and chipmunks, as well as a puppy and kitty.

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She discovered the web first thing in the morning!

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Could she figure out how to reach in and free the stuffed animals? After a little demonstration and some trial and error, she soon had a knack for it.

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She also loved putting animals back in the web!

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I’m not sure she entirely understood that the yarn was meant to look like a spider’s web, but either way, she enjoyed the challenge and the play.

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Halloween Countdown Day 13: Monster Sensory Tub

October 13, 2020Leave a comment

Monster Sensory Tub (1)

This activity doubled as the day’s sensory play and a way to tick off a box on our countdown to Halloween. And it couldn’t have been easier!

I filled a tub with purple water beads and water so the beads could grow to full size. The kids were so impatient to play, though, that I handed over the bin when the beads were only half as big as they could eventually get. To add spooky monsters, all we needed were large wiggle eyes.

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At first the eyes were floating on the surface. But Travis loved burying them as deep under the water beads as he could, and then unearthing the “monsters”.

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They were so eerie swimming to the surface. Veronika jumped right in to copy him!

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She also loved scooping up handfuls of the water beads and then letting them trickle back down.

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Before I knew it, the game changed slightly. Star Wars Stormtroopers needed to escape from the monsters!

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This kept the kids so busy and happy the entire time I was prepping dinner. A definite spooky win.

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Slimy Spaghetti Sensory Activity

October 12, 2020Leave a comment

Spaghetti Potion (6)

Veronika enjoyed a recent craft with spaghetti so much that I thought we’d do a repeat today, this time with more of a Halloween theme!

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I cooked a package of spaghetti and divided it in half. My intention was to tint one half orange and one half black with food coloring. Because I had to mix colors to achieve black, it was more of a deep bluish purple, but that was just as eerie and witchy in its own way!

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That was it! I set the two big bowls (er, cauldrons) of spaghetti “slime” in front of Veronika, along with a few other kitchen tools like colanders and sieves.

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She immediately was busy ladling, scooping, and transferring.

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Spaghetti bubbling up from the steamer basket looked like little worms!

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She kept the colors together for a while, but soon was mixing and matching.

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I knew Veronika would love this, but I hadn’t counted on big brother Travis wanting to get involved! He immediately wanted his own ladle and whisk and began making batches of witch’s brew.

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I had put newspaper on the floor, so believe it or not, clean-up was a breeze.

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Luckily our all-natural food coloring washes off hands easily, too, so a quick wash and the fun was done.

Drawing on Pumpkins with Markers

October 11, 2020Leave a comment

Super Simple Pumpkin (2)

Veronika has loved decorating our pumpkins in the run-up to the big carving day, so I needed another version to keep her happy. This one has the added bonus because kids can draw, wipe clean, and then repeat the process as many times as they like!

I set out two of our medium-sized pumpkins, along with lots of washable markers. The naturally waxy surface of a pumpkin is perfect for markers, so your little one can draw as easily as if it’s paper.

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Veronika just scribbled of course, but I made a few jack o’ lantern features on the pumpkin next to her.

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Then I showed her the secret: one swipe of a wet wipe and her drawings were magically erased!

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She loved giving her pumpkins a ‘bath’ in this way. “He’s all clean,” she told me proudly. And then she could start the process again.

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Because you don’t have to worry about a mess, this craft is also a perfect toddler solo activity while you get other things done around the house.

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Halloween Sensory Bottle

October 11, 2020Leave a comment

October Sensory Bottle (6)

Veronika recently enjoyed a few autumnal sensory bottles, so today I made another version, this one specifically with a Halloween theme. The items inside include both “tricks” and “treats”!

I first filled an empty bottle about three-quarters of the way with water. Next I added faux candy corn. (Note: In a pinch you can add real candy corn, just be aware that it will dissolve over time). These were the treats of course.

Then I added a few spider rings. These were the tricks!

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A little bit of orange-red glitter topped things off. Because Veronika had attempted to unscrew the caps from her fall sensory bottles, this time I judiciously used hot glue on the cap before handing it over.

Knowing she couldn’t open it, she was much more focused on what was inside. She loved shaking it!

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And rolling it. The candy corn and spiders would sort of float to the surface and then settle back to disappear again. Perfectly Halloween spooky!

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She also thought it was a delight to throw it on the floor, and although I wasn’t as big a fan of this version, she was having so much fun that I let it be.

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This sensory bottle is enjoyable for young toddlers or even for babies doing tummy time. Perfect for a first Halloween, in sum.

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Sparkly and Googly Eyed Pumpkins

October 10, 2020Leave a comment

Sparkly Googly Pumpkins (8)

We had three mini pumpkins that were just begging to be decorated. And this craft will cater perfectly to your toddler’s messy instincts!

I set out little cups of glue and a few filled with large sequins and wiggle eyes, and placed these all on a craft tray. The idea was that the tray would contain most of the mess.

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Well, Veronika had other ideas. Before we even started, she began transferring sequins from cup to cup and then dumped them all over the floor. (“Well, that’s a mess,” said big brother Travis!).

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This didn’t deter us one bit! I showed her how to spread glue on the pumpkins with a paintbrush. Once they were good and sticky, we could liberally apply the sequins.

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