Pre-K Halloween Theme Ideas

~ Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for Halloween and Pumpkins ~

Books

Pumpkin Books:

Growing Pumpkins, Newbridge Big Book

Monster Books:

Spooky Books:

Rhymes

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate.
The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late!
The second one said, "There are witches in the air!"
The third one said, "But we don't care!"
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run!"
The fifth one said, "It's only Halloween fun!"
Then WHOOOOO went the wind, and OUT went the light.
Five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

Jack-O-Lantern

This is Jack-O-Happy,
This is Jack-O-Sad.
Now you see him sleepy,
Now you see him mad.
This is Jack in pieces small,
But in a pie, he's best of all!

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater

Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater,
Had a wife and could't keep her.
He put her in a pumpkin shell,
and there he kept her very well.

Songs

These songs can be downloaded immediately and burned to a CD or synced to your iPod:

Amazon.com Widgets

Pumpkin Activities

Pumpkin Lacing Cards

[Fine Motor Skills]
Pumpkin shaped lacing cards were made with orange poster board with holes punched around the edges. Children lace yarn through the holes (I wrapped tape around the end of the yarn to make a point to poke through the holes). Children decorate the pumpkin when they finish.

Plate Pumpkins

[Art]
Children make a pumpkin by mixing red and yellow paint together on a paper plate. They add a brown stem and green curly ribbon for the vines.

Pumpkin Painting

[Art]
Children paint a mini pumpkin with acrylic paint (acrylic works well on pumpkins).

Pumpkin Models

[Art]
Children make models of pumpkins with orange and green Crayola Model Magic (the white Model Magic can be painted after it dries).

Beginning Sounds

[Literacy]
Place a few small objects from the classroom into a plastic trick-or-treat pumpkin. Pass the pumpkin around the circle. Each child will take one object from the pumpkin and identify its beginning sound. For example, S for scissors, M for Marker, etc.

Pumpkin Patch Books

[Literacy]
After going on a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch, children make a book about their experience.

Pumpkin Stamping Game

[Math, Literacy]
Write a letter or numeral on each pumpkin, and make a copy for each child. Children will draw a number or letter card from a stack (or roll a die), find that letter/numeral on their mat, and stamp it out. You can use rubber stamps or bingo dot markers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an "X" over the pumpkin if stamps or bingo dot markers are not available.

Pumpkin Stamp Game
Printable

Size Order Mats

[Math]
I found a set of pumpkin cookie cutters in four sizes. I made a mat with the four sizes in order using construction paper and covered the mats in clear Contact paper. The children cut pumpkins from orange play dough with cookie cutters, and place each size on the mat to put them in order by size.

Pumpkin Growth Graph

[Math]
Before going on a trip to the pumpkin patch, we discuss how we think pumpkins grow. Each child places their name (sticky notes) on the graph in one of the columns: On a tree, On a bush, Under ground, On a vine. After the trip, children check their answers.
-- from More Than Counting

Pumpkin Counting

[Math, Fine Motor]
Children will identify the numeral on each pumpkin and count out the correct amount of pumpkin seeds to place on each pumpkin.

Pumpkin Counting
Printable

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

[Science]
We take a field trip to the Pumpkin Patch to see real pumpkins growing on the vines, and the yellow pumpkin flowers that bloom before pumpkins grow. Our local pumpkin patch cuts open a pumpkin and allows the children to look at and feel the inside.

Pumpkin Science Center

[Science]
I get several pumpkins of different sizes and colors for the children to observe, touch, and make observational drawings. After several weeks, these are cut in half for the children to observe the inside. Tweezers are placed in the science center with the pumpkins for children to pick out the seeds.

Pumpkin Decomposition

[Science]
When Halloween is over, place a pumpkin outside in a garden area where it will not be disturbed. Observe the decomposition of the pumpkin over time.

What Colors Are Pumpkins?

[Science]
This is a chart we made after observing many types of pumpkins at the pumpkin patch and in our classroom.

Frozen Pumpkin Squares

[Cooking]
Ingredients for One:
2 square graham crackers
1 tsp. Pumpkin-pie filling
3 Tbs. Whipped topping
Mix pumpkin pie filling with whipped topping. Spread on graham cracker. Put the other graham cracker on top. Put all pumpkin squares on a cookie sheet and put in the freezer.
-- from Mailbox Pumpkins book

Pumpkin Pies

[Cooking]
Fill mini pie crusts with canned pumpkin pie filling. Bake for 15 minutes in a 425 degree oven. Then reduce to 350 degrees and bake for about 40 minutes.
-- from Mailbox magazine

Pumpkin Pie Play Dough

[Play Dough Center]
5 1/2 cups flour
2 cups salt
8 teaspoons cream of tartar
3/4 cup oil
1 container (1 1/12 ounces) pumpkin pie spice
orange food coloring (2 parts yellow, 1 part red)
4 cups water
Mix all ingredients together. Cook and stir over medium heat until lumps disappear. Knead the dough on floured surface until smooth.

Block Center

Add mini pumpkins (real or plastic) to the block center.

Monster Activities

Monster Song

[Music]
Play the song "The Mice Go Marching" from Hap Palmer's album "Rhythms on Parade". Children will tiptoe during the "mice" part and stomp during the "monster" part.

Amazon.com Widgets

Monster Eyes

[Fine Motor]
Add wiggle eyes to the play dough (mixed in) and have the children pull out the "monster eyes".

Monster Fur

[Fine Motor]
Add colored craft pom poms, tongs, and clear cups. Have the children use the tongs to pick up the monster fur and sort each color into a different cup.

Monster Masks

[Art]
Children use several collage materials of their choice from our art center to create a monster mask on a paper plate.

Bugs That Go Bump in the Night

[Art]
Before reading Bugs That Go Bump in the Night, remove the surprise from the envelope at the end of the book. At the end, show children the empty envelope and ask them to make something scary to put inside.

There's a Nightmare in My Closet

[Art]
Fold a piece of brown construction paper (hamburger fold). On the inside, staple or glue a half-sheet of white drawing paper to the right side. On the front, write "There's a Nightmare in My Closet". Have the children draw a nightmare on the white paper on the inside of the "closet". At large group, my students often like to talk about their nightmares and things that scare them. I think they like to get it out "in the open" and hear what other children have to say about their nightmares.

Go Away Big Green Monster

[Literacy]
I made a set of "Big Green Monsters" for the children to use in small groups. I traced the pages of the book, Go Away Big Green Monster, to make patterns for cutting out the pieces from felt. As the story is read, the children add each piece of the monster's face, then take them away. I also have the children retell the story as they manipulate the pieces.

Monster Eyeball Sorting

[Math, Fine Motor]
Print and cut out the sorting cards. Add a small bowl of colored wiggle eyes (these can be purchased from Discount School Supply and many craft stores). Children will sort the colored eyes onto the matching colored monster.

Monster Sorting
Printable

Slime

[Science]
Add one part liquid starch and two parts white school glue in a bowl. Add food coloring if desired. Mix until it becomes a workable ball. Suggestion: Provide each child with their own ingredients in individual cups and a disposable bowl and spoon so they can mix their own. Not recommended for children who are likely to eat it.

More Halloween Activities

Spider Web Marble Painting

[Art]
We make these by putting a black paper circle in the bottom of a pie pan. We dip a marble in white paint, put it in the pie pan, and roll it around. We tie a plastic spider ring onto the web with yarn.

Spiders in the Sensory Table

[Sensory Table]
Children used Jurassic sand with Tree Blocks and plastic spiders for creative play. The plastic spiders are spider rings with the ring part cut off.

Halloween Parade Class Book

[Literacy]
Ask each parent to send in a photo of their child dressed in their Halloween costume. Glue each photo onto a page, and bind the pages together to make a class book. To make our class books, I use "presentation book covers" from an office supply store or Walmart. It has a sturdy plastic cover with a clear insert, and the pages are also clear inserts. I just slip in a page for the front cover, and slip in the children's pages inside. These can be reused.

Story Retelling

[Literacy]
Choose a Halloween-themed book that you would consider good literature (good characters, plot, beginning, middle, end, etc.) Show the book to the children and tell them to think about what happened in the story, and the people (characters) and places they saw in the story. Think about what each character said. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to draw something they remember from the story. Remind them that this should not be a picture of their cat or their friends, but only pictures of things from the book. After each child has illustrated the story, have them retell the story in their own words. Either record each child with a voice recorder or write their dictation on the page.

Halloween Sorting

[Math]
I used pumpkin, bat, and spider Martha Stewart craft punchers to cut out the pieces from construction paper. Give each child a bowl of assorted paper cutouts. Have them sort the paper cutouts onto the sorting sheet and glue them on.

Sorting Sheet 1

Halloween Patterns

[Math]
I use pumpkin, bat, and spider Martha Stewart craft punchers to cut out the pieces from construction paper. Children glue the cutouts on the paper pattern strip. You can do AB, AABB, ABC, ABB, AAB, etc.

Pattern Strips

Halloween Counting

[Math]
I use pumpkin, bat, and spider Martha Stewart craft punchers to cut out the pieces from construction paper. Print out the numeral sheets. Have children count out the correct amount of paper cutouts to glue onto the numeral.

Numeral Sheets: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9