Halloween Sensory Box

I love sensory boxes! They are so good for little hands and minds and so fun to switch around for every holiday/season. There's three main things you need when assembling a sensory box:
1. A container. I use a plastic tote with a lid a foot and a half by two feet wide.
2. The base of your sensory box: beans, rice, sand, easter plastic grass, pom poms, etc.
3. All the little knick-knacks for your sensory box. I find these at the dollar store or Walmart. The more textures and shapes the better!

*Make sure to always supervise while your child is playing with a sensory box because of all the little pieces that could end up in little mouths...and all over the floor!

Colorful Halloween Potions

What a better way to explore colors around Halloween time then with Potions!

There's not really a how-to for this activity, just some ideas...and free printables!

*You can use water and food coloring- be sure to mix some colors (ie: instead of using the green food coloring, mix blue and yellow and watch it turn green, etc). Have your kids drink one of the potions with their dinner. Bwah ha ha!!

*Instead of just using water, you could use Invisible Kool-Aid to give your potions more of a punch!

*You could also make little Jello's for snack time and use these fun printables to make the jello look like potion!

*If your kids are in the color-learning stage have them match the potion label to the correct color of potion. 

*If your kids can read, have them read the labels then match to the correct color.

*If you really want some potion-making fun- mix your food coloring into vinegar instead of water. Then pour in some baking soda and watch it fizzle away!

POTION LABELS: Right click and save or copy. (Then paste or insert into Word and print away!)

Styrofoam Spider

Here's a quick and easy (and fun!) craft to do with the kids before Halloween!

Supplies: Styrofoam balls, paint, paint brushes, hot glue gun, google eyes, pipe cleaners, black paper plate (optional), white out pen (optional)                                                                                 1. Paint your styrofoam balls (I added some polka dots to the bigger styrofoam ball)

2. Let dry

3. Glue the two balls together.

4. Glue on google eyes.

5. Stick four pipe cleaners on each side of the bigger ball to make eight spider legs!

6. Optional step: Paint a spider web on a black plate using a white out pen then glue your spider to the plate. (You could also use a black marker on a white plate). 

*You can teach your kids some of the differences about insects and spiders. This link from Scholastic goes over some of the key differences (6 legs vs 8 legs, 3 body sections vs 2, etc.)

*And of course, you can top it all off with a good book! Any of the "Little Miss Spider" books would be a great option!

               

*Click on the images for more details 

Mason Jar Jack-O-Lanterns

One of my favorite easy Halloween crafts in making Jack-O-Lanterns from mason jars. It's easy enough that your kids can help you out as well.

Supplies: Mason Jars, tissue paper, modge podge, brush, glue, faces printable (see below), ribbon (optional), artificial tea lights (optional)

1. Cut your tissue paper into 1-2 inch thick strips



2. Brush a layer of modge podge on your jar.


3. Place the strips of tissue paper on your jar (slightly overlapping so you don't get gaps)

4. Brush a layer of modge podge on top of your tissue paper


5. Let dry.


6. Print the faces printable (see below) and cut out


7. Once your jars are dry, glue on faces


8. Tie ribbon around the top of the jars.


9. Place the artificial tea lights inside.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Right click on the following images and save or copy. (Then you can paste them into Word and make them any size you want to fit your Jack-O-Lanterns!)

Then you can read a fun pumpkin book!

Rainbow Swirl Sugar Cookies

I found this recipe over at Sounders Cookery. What a fun cookie to bake with the kiddos!

Supplies: Favorite sugar cookie dough recipe (or mix!), food coloring (I used McCormick Neon Food coloring to get these fun bright colors), rainbow sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Divide dough evenly into five bowls.

3. Color each with a different color of food coloring. (I learned that the only way to get the color truly mixed into the dough is to knead it with your hands)

4. Roll each color of dough into grape-sized balls.

5. Combine a ball of each color and quickly roll into a larger ball that looks like a beach ball!

6. Roll that ball between your hands and the counter until you have a cylinder about 12 inches long. (This was the hardest step for me. My cylinder kept wanting to break. I had to flatten and turn it, flatten it and turn it.)

7. Starting from one end, roll the dough into a coil, twisting the cylinder as you go (it's very important to twist the cylinder as you go to get the swirl look!)

8. Roll edges of the cookie in sprinkles.

9. Bake the cookies for 10-11 minutes or until done (or whatever your sugar cookie recipe calls for).

While your kids are busy eating these beautiful cookies, take the time to read them a book about cookies or rainbows. Here are some good ones:

Secret Message Painting

This is such a fun and easy activity to do with your kids! All the supplies you need are white paper, a white crayon, and some water paint. Write a message to your child on the white paper using the white crayon. Let your child paint over it and watch your message appear! 

If your children are old enough to write, let them write you a secret message! (or send secret messages in the mail to grandma and grandpa!)

If you are going on a trip, a night away, or even just to the grocery store- leave some secret messages with the babysitter! 

Rainbow Marshmallow Kebobs

I've seen these rainbow kebobs all over online and they are BEAUTIFUL and a HUGE success with the kids... but probably not with the dentist! These are ooey gooey sugary fun that the kids can help assemble or you can surprise them with the finished product! I got the fun colors in my kebobs from using Mccormick Neon Food coloring.




Supplies needed: sugar, food coloring, marshmallows, water, shortening, skewers, toothpicks





1. Make your colored sugar by mixing food coloring with sugar.







2. Put your marshmallow on a toothpick. Dip it in water then roll in the desired color of sugar

3. Rub shortening on your skewer to make it easier to slide on the marshmallows.






4. When you have all your marshmallows ready, slide them onto the skewer!






5. Enjoy! (outside cause they are pretty messy!)

*The tall white lollipop sticks can be a little hard to find. Click on the following image for online purchasing options