Hands on Halloween Fun

              Halloween has unsurprisingly been the topic of conversation at Little Munchkins the past few weeks. We thought we would have hands on Halloween fun with lots of sensory activities that the children could touch, smell, hear, and even taste! Because the children appeared to be intrigued by witches we thought what could be more fun than creating our very own magic potions!

 

                We colored vinegar green and purple and had little bowls of baking soda out. We also had different herbs and spices like cloves, chive, and basil out on a plate. When the children sat down to the table I had them smell the vinegar and asked them what they thought it was. (Stinky magic water was the most popular answer.) They also felt the baking soda and told me it was magic sugar.

                After we investigated all of our materials the fun began! As the children began to mix the vinegar (or magic stinky water) with the baking soda it started to sizzle and bubble in their bowls. The children’s reactions were priceless! They laughed, gasped, and of course screamed as their potions bubbled up. At first they ignored the herbs and spices because they were focused on just making the bubbles, but after a while they began adding them in. Here is what some of the children told me there magic potions did:

“Mine is going to turn the whole world crazy because it’s going to turn the whole world grey.”

“My potion is going to make people sick.”

“Mine is going to make people’s heads fall off.”

“This potion is going to make us crazy.”

 

The children seemed to enjoy cooking so much that we decided to all make pumpkin pie play dough. We wrote out our recipe, gathered our ingredients, and began adding everything in our bowl. The children measured, poured, stirred, and helped us decide how to make the dough orange. Once our cinnamon and nutmeg was mixed in, the children told us “it really smells like a real live pumpkin”.

 

                      To really get messy we decorated our art room very spooky with our jack o lantern we made and orange lights. On the table we put out worms (colored spaghetti), pumpkin brains (inside of the pumpkin), jello, and pumpkin seeds to explore. Some of the kids had no interest in touching any of these things, while others were sneaking a snack.

 

                            Topping off our Halloween fun the children helped bake a chocolate cake for afternoon snack. I put the finishing touches to it so the final result would be a surprise. What’s better than a mud, dirt, and worm cake!? It was quite funny to hear the children ask for another helping of worms and dirt.

 

                                 We hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! We can’t wait to see what’s in store for next year!