Here are some ideas to promote reading and learning during this Halloween season.
Halloween Read-aloud
Collect several Halloween books (picture books work well for this) and take turns reading scary parts in your scariest voices. Make this a voluntary activity. Appreciative listeners are welcome to take a more passive role.
Pumpkin Seed Math
One pumpkin: predict how many seeds and then count them. Who was the closest?
More than one pumpkin: predict, count and then chart the results.
Brainstorm and research scary animals (real and not-so-real)
Go to Halloween websites and try activities that you like (press here and here for some of my ideas)
Get Halloween activity books and plan fun activities
Go to a haunted house or other Halloween-theme event. Take pictures and make a Halloween scrapbook, complete with captions.
Make words using the letters h-a-l-l-o-w-e-e-n. Extra points for longer words.
Make cards for others – friends, relatives, neighbors… Scary and/or funny is good! Ideas:
Copy or write your own poem on the inside.
Make thumbprint ghosts, pumpkins, witches… with washable ink or paint, and then draw on faces.
Fold a strip of paper, accordion-style and glue/tape on back of picture. Attach to inside of card so it pops out when the card is opened.
Make Halloween bookmarks. Include lots of Halloween words or scary sayings.
Record scary stories and/or Halloween family memories.
Read a bunch of Halloween books and rate them with 1, 2, 3 or 4 stars. Consider sending your favorite Halloween books to school for a teacher read-aloud.
I found some websites that suggest Halloween activities.
City Parent
- Tell ghost stories on Halloween night. Make up your own stories or read a classic scary book together.
- Organize Halloween candy in different ways. Organize by shape, size, candy name, or even candy type, and then trade. This activity helps to reinforce basic math along with association and matching skills.
- Bake a pumpkin pie. Following recipes is a great way to improve both reading and math skills. Children can read the instructions out loud to help measure the ingredients when making a treat for the family.
- Research the history of Halloween, and share spooky statistics.
I Love That Teaching Idea
This is a teacher site but I thought it offered a couple of ideas that could be used at home.
Remember to take pictures!
FunSchool Kaboose
This site provides a variety of online Halloween activities.
These are just a few of the many ways you can promote reading and learning at home while enjoying Halloween. Next week I’ll have more.
Do you have fun Halloween activities? Share them in the Comments box!
Gail
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