(updated 10/2023)
Halloween fun!! My kids are sooo excited for dressing up and trick or treating, but of course we’ve gotta throw some learning fun in there too. Here are some books we like for Halloween: Little Boo – Stephen Wunderli; We’re Going on a Ghost Hunt – Susan Pearson; Pumpkin Jack – Will Hubbell; The I’m Not Scared Book – Todd Parr; Dem Bones – Bob Barner; Where’s My Mummy – Carolyn Crimi; Spooky Pookie – Sandra Boynton
In addition to this lesson plan, here are some things that you can do with your Halloween candy. I also have several craft and activity ideas, here, here, here, and here.
Check below for our 2023 updated plan!!
| M | T | W | Th | F | |
| Religion | Read A Voice in the Night + Comprehension | Listening walk* | Fingerpaint the Samuel worksheet | Play Simon says | Secret Message |
| Language (2) | H Candy Corn | H sandpaper letter | Color & add 8 stickers to worksheet | H miniatures | Act out H words* |
| Language (4) | O&F Candy Corn to make ‘of’ | How many syllables | Halloween sight word sort | Halloween syllable count | Clap & Build |
| Math (2) | Pumpkin faces | Ghost knock down with fewer cups | Peg on spider legs | Halloween roll & cover** | What Comes Next |
| Math (4) | Hundred Board Practice | Ghost knock down* | Halloween graphing* | Make 10 piles of 10 with mini Halloween erasers | Hundred Board Practice |
| Art/Sensory | Playdough spiders & monsters | Save the Spiders | Science is sensory | Carve a pumpkin | Skeleton Hand |
| Science Geography History | History of Halloween | Water density activity | Monster potions | Day of the Dead | Build a haunted house out of graham crackers |
Comprehension Questions: What were the names of the boy and the man in this story? Who did Samuel think was calling him? What did Eli tell Samuel to do? Who was calling Samuel?
Listening Walk – A few weeks ago when we did the 5 Senses unit, we did a listening walk. You could do that again or what I’m going to do is put the kids in the stroller and blindfold them (or just put the shade up and put a blanket over so that they can’t see) and have them tell me what they hear. We’ll probably do that walking up the street and then let them see again on the way back. I definitely don’t want to block their sight for too long. If it’s not nice out you could always just have them put their heads down at the table and you can make sounds or play sounds and have them guess what sound it is.
Secret Message – I wrote out a phrase (I can hear God too) and then wrote a random letter in between each letter of the phrase. Then I put blanks (like hangman) to represent the letters and words in my phrase. Then I will have my daughter cross out every other letter and put the remaining letters on the line to reveal a message. For example, IGCEAJNLHWESATRHGPOFDUTIOQO would be – I can hear God too.
Act out H words – Have your child act out Halloween things that start with H sound like: howl like a wolf, act scared from a haunted house, pu on a witch hat, go on a hayride, make a hocus pocus spell etc..
Ghost Knock Down – draw ghost faces on clear plastic cups and have child stack in a 4,3,2,1 pyramid. Talk about how many pyramids you would need to make 100. Then you could use a ball or small decorative pumpkin to go bowling and knock it down. They can do it as many times as they would like. For the younger child I will just have her count the cups.
Save the spiders – add play spiders to a muffin tin then put masking tape over top of the tin opening. Have your child practice their cutting skills to cut the tape then use tweezers to free the spiders. You can see my daughter demonstrating this activity with bears at the end of this video
Halloween Graphing – Put Halloween erasers (or other Halloween items like spider rings) into a sensory bin and have the child pull them out and graph them on a sheet of paper
Halloween roll & cover – Even though our number of the week is 8, I am going to do the 1-6 sheet with my 2 year old because she is still a very new 2.. if you have a more advanced child you could do the up to 12 roll and cover instead.
Skeleton Hand or Drawing – Use cut up straws or Q-Tips to make a skeleton. We did a skeleton hand here
Playdough spiders and monsters – Get out your playdough and use a sectioned tray (like this one) to hold things to make spiders and monsters (like googly eyes, pipe cleaners, pretzel sticks, spider rings , Halloween erasers, etc..)
Monster potions – in small clear plastic cups, add some eyes and pipe cleaner mouths to make monster cups. Add a few drops of different colored food coloring in each followed by some baking soda. Get a separate cup filled with vinegar and let the child use a dropper to add it to the cups. Can talk about the reaction of baking soda and vinegar then let them play!
Water density – Experiment with water density using Halloween colored liquids (vegetable oil, syrup, dye water) and talk about what’s happening. Then you can add Halloween trinkets (spider, eye ball etc..) do see which liquid they go to. To finish off the experiment, drop in an Alka-Seltzer tablet and watch the show!
2023 HALLOWEEN THEME PLAN
| Language | Introduce H, sandpaper tracing, H Candy Corn | Introduce J, sandpaper tracing, J is for Jack-o-lantern | Introduce G, sandpaper tracing, G is for Ghost | Halloween Initial Sound Match (these are all review) |
| Math | Introduce 9, sandpaper number & count with 9 pumpkin counters | Candy corn math (laminate and write number with dry erase at top) | Ghost knock down* | Count the pumpkins |
| Art/Sensory | Halloween play-do – googly eyes, spider rings, pipe cleaners | Save the spiders* | Black bean & orange rice sensory bin with Halloween objects | Halloween Lacing Cards |
| S/G/H | Learn some Halloween facts* | Make potions with baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring | Halloween lava lamp experiment | Use candy corn or candy pumpkins and toothpicks to build structures |
Ghost Knock Down – draw ghost faces on 10 clear plastic cups and write #’s 0-9 on the top. Have child sequence and stack them in a pyramid. Use a small pumpkin or ball to go bowling and knock it down. Repeat as many times as they want.
Save the Spiders – add play spiders to a muffin tin then put masking tape over the opening. Have your child cut the tape and use tweezers to free the spiders. You can see this activity in action with bears at the end of this video
Halloween Facts – Halloween is on October 31st (find it on the calendar). The colors of Halloween are orange and black. It originated in the Celtic lands – Ireland & Scotland (find them on the map). The Halloween celebration goes back over 2,000 years. Originally, jack-o-lanterns were carved from turnips and potatoes. Illinois has the most pumpkins of all the states (find it on a map).
OTHER ACTIVITY IDEAS
Cotton Ball Ghost – Hang a large piece of butchers paper on the wall and draw the outline of a big ghost with eyes and a mouth. Have child use glue and cotton balls to fill in the ghost. You can also use a cut out ghost like we did in this video.
Candy corn graphing – From this reading mama
Marble paint mummy – cut out a mummy body on black paper, tape it inside a box and drop on a few globs of white paint. Have the child drop in some marbles and shake the box from side to side to create white lines all over the mummy. After the paint dries add 2 yellow dot stickers for eyes and draw a black dot in the center. If you haven’t seen marble painting before, we did it at Easter here
Trick or Treat Graph – after trick or treating separate and graph the candy you got
Colored Pasta Sensory Bin – color noodles and bake for 20 min so that the color doesn’t transfer then use it as the base of a Halloween sensory bin. You can see ours from last year here
Jello Excavation – Make 2 packets of orang jello and dump on a tray or in a bin. Add the Halloween stuff then put in the fridge until ready. Use tweezers, scoops etc.. to get all the items out.
SpiderWeb Obstacle Course – Using streamers or twine, make a ‘web’ all over a room and have the child try to climb through without getting stuck