Halloween pictures

 

Today we just did some simple halloween pictures.  Used the stickers I bought in ASDA the other night.  Used some colouring pencils and experimented with what ones showed up on the black paper.  Used lots of glitter glue as well!

 

 

This activity is good for - exploring what colours show up on black paper.  Fine motor skills.  Being creative and using own ideas/imagination. 

Further ideas for this activity - could make these in to Halloween cards to send to people.   

Halloween spiders!

Well as I said we are starting Halloween crafts this week, a childminder I spoke to at the school said it was too early...not in my opinion! As I have said before - I adore Halloween!

Here is the paper spider we made this morning -

 

In the afternoon we made black playdough with glitter through it.  The recipe for it is -

 

2 cups of plain flour

2 tbsp. of cooking oil

1 tsp. cream of tartar

2 cups of water

1 cup of salt

 some black paint squirted in to the mixture (could also use food colouring)

Heat it in a pot until it turns to the right consistency. 

When cool we mixed in a tube of glitter, we went for purple.

 

Then we used pipe cleaners, match sticks and lolly sticks to make our spiders!

 

 

And some mutant spiders as well!

 

 

It was really good fun.  And nice to make models with out having the playdough shapes/cutters out and just use our imaginations.

 

This activity is good for - fine motor skills, using hands to manipulate the dough in to different shapes.  Counting the number of legs.  Talking about the colours of legs.  Using imaginations to make various monsters/creations. 

Further ideas for this activity - Can use this with the playdough toys to make shapes, give children bowls, spoons and cake trays and let them make pretend cakes with it.   

 

 

Rainbow collage

One of my favourite bloggers, Anna, had this activity on her blog and I decided months ago to give it a try!  Here is the link to hers - http://www.theimaginationtree.com/2011/03/giant-rainbow-collage.html

We used a huge cardboard box and painted the colours on -

 

While that was drying we sorted different crafty bits and bobs in to the correct piles.  Chatting about the colours, textures and shapes of the items.

 

Then we glued them on to the appropriate stripe -

 

 

 

 

This activity is good for - sorting objects in to the correct colour group.  Exploring different textures and using describing words for example "the feather is soft and the stars are smooth with jaggy points" 

Further ideas for this activity - We only added a few pieces on each colour, you could do much more! You could do the activity with a different picture - for example a flower, hot air balloon or letters to spell out the childs name, with each letter a different colour. 

 

 

Went shopping in ASDA

Went shopping in ASDA, mainly to get stationery and bits and pieces for my study area as am going back to Uni to do my Masters.  (I may regret this!) Anyway I couldn't resist picking up a few bits and pieces along the way for crafty stuff!

I got Halloween stickers for £1
Wee glitter spiders also £1
And some tissue paper reduced to 50p
And some multicoloured match sticks 50p

Not entirely sure what they will be used for yet but I am thinking of Halloween related things! 

 

I also picked up a few crafty/arty sets as presents which were only £1 each.  Always good to have a wee supply of presents I think.  Also good for rainy days if your imagination is lacking!

 

 

Tomorrow planning to make some black play dough and do some spidery/Halloweeny activities.  I love Halloween (As I have said a good few times!) and am itching to get started on activities!

 

Toddler group Halloween craft

I help to run a toddler group with my friend.  I always like to do a craft or activity with the children.  Last weeks was a rush job as I was also on snack duty and had to count the money etc so not much time for planning and prep.  However the point of this is to show that you don't need lots of time/planning to do a quick craft with toddlers. 

I cut out some orange circles.  And some different shaped eyes, noses and mouths.  We did have some discussion but if  you were doing this one on one there would be more opportunity to discuss shapes and sizes.  Also a good opportunity to use positioning words eg "The nose is underneath the eyes" or "the mouth is in the middle"

 

Here are the pumpkins, glue and bits to stick on all ready for the toddlers to try out!

We also gave them some colouring pens and glitterglues to let them decorate their pumpkins.  We had some weird and wonderful creations, with 4 eyes, 6 noses and a sideways mouth.  But I am all for creativity - rows upon rows of identical pumpkins would be boring!

 

 

Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of some of the finished products, as I said toddlers was very busy! Will try to remember for next time!

 

Halloween playdough

This was using ready made playdough and was from a few years ago.  Will update later in the week with home made playdough! 

We made some Halloween models - witches, witches cats, broomsticks, ghosts and some other monsters! We used some Halloween props we had, tools such as plastic knives, pencils and cutters to mould the dough.  This task is good for hand-eye coordination and for developing fine motor skills.

Halloween mobile

 

This is one from last year.  Very easy to do and makes a lovely decoration for your Halloween parties!

 

Draw round some plates to cut out shapes.  And depending of age/stage of children they can draw their own faces on, or you can draw them and they can colour them in.

 

Good opportunity to discuss shapes, trianges for eyes, square nose, zigzag mouth etc.

 

Holes made with a hole punch and then tied together with gold ribbon.

 

 

This is a variation on the pumpkin one - has witches, ghosts and pumpkins! This was done with slightly older children who drew their own shapes and love to colour in.  For younger children you could draw the outlines for them and they could use paint/crayons. 

 

 

The ghost you can see on the top left was done by sticking cotton wool on to paper and cutting round it - this makes a lovely sticky mess on the hands!