I’ve just spent the weekend making easy halloween decorations with the kids. When it comes to kid’s crafts, halloween decorations are my fave. But to up the fun, making sure they’re easy to do is key! Despite really loving this time of year and Halloween I wouldn’t normally begin celebrations so soon. But it was a great chance to keep them occupied indoors. Especially while the world works out what it is doing!

Autumn

For today’s play I tried to keep to themes, to stimulate conversation and lead their learning. At 2 Halloween and changing seasons are all new topics to P. At 4 Theon is just starting to get to grips with traditions and enjoys discussing what he knows and has learnt. We chose Autumn and the colour Red as our theme.

Penelope and Theon particularly loved learning that the main colours of hallloween (orange and purple) are mixed using red. Orange = Yellow + Red, Purple = Blue + Red.

Pumpkins

From carving to drawing, apple stamping and bum-‘pkin printing, there’s a million and one thing that you can do with pumpkins. I have decided to hold off on pumpkin carving and use it on its own as a later play session. They’re both also a little too old for doing bum prints, so today we used apples to create pumpkin shaped prints. Once their prints had dried, I then drew in the cravings with a black marker.

Face Painting

Today’s craft session was put into play by a cat (Penelope) and a zombie vampire (Theon). Both love the anticipation of having their faces painted. They really enjoy watching the other getting painted too. Face painting is a great way to get imaginations going. The kids are always fully engaged through out the process, from picking what they want to giving opinions on what the other is having done. I find it’s a really nice way to get some one on one time with them too. I get to give them my full focus and attention, which always has a calming influence on them.

Spiders

Spiders are such an easy halloween item to replicate. We used pipe cleaners and pompoms from our crafting kit to make funny, furry spiders. But why not also try this how to we made last halloween.

Sensory Play

For me it’s key that when being creative the kids are free to explore and engage with what they’re doing. Finger painting is great for this. Be prepared for the mess though!