Welcome to the classroom! We love to play, learn, create and sing together in the classroom, and we’d like to encourage our classroom friends to keep learning and playing at home once Caitie’s Classroom is over. We’ve put together activities and resources so the playing, learning, creating and singing doesn’t have to stop once Caitie says goodbye. Try these out at home or in your own classroom, and have fun!
In this episode, we are having a Halloween party filled with Halloween fun! Find inspiration for Halloween themed activities, crafts and songs to try at home. Here are some ideas and tips on how to recreate our classroom activities at home for more fun and more learning!
Stamp Craft
As we join the classroom, Caitie is working on a ghost stamp craft. This is a super easy craft that even the youngest learners can do.
- Cut out a Halloween shape. In the classroom we use a ghost, but you can do a pumpkin or a bat, anything at all!
- Gently tape the cut out onto another piece of paper using tape loops. You’ll be pulling it off later, so don’t tape it too securely.
- Use dotters to stamp all over the paper! Little ones don’t have to worry about staying in the lines, we’ll be able to see the image once we remove the cut out. If you don’t have dotters, you can use sponges and paint to stamp, or just use markers and color all over! Be sure to stamp enough onto the page so the image is clear when the cut out is removed.
- Carefully remove the cut out image, and your Halloween craft is revealed!
- TIP: You can do this with cut out letters and numbers too for recognition practice!
Dress Up
One of our favorite things about Halloween is dressing up! But there are so many costumes to choose from…In the classroom we ask our classroom friends to help Caitie choose the right pieces to go with a costume. You can do this activity at home in a number of fun ways! This is also a great activity to practice getting dressed.
- Gather a bunch of costume pieces and see if your little ones can put together a full costume using all the correct pieces. Have fun just getting creative with dress up.
- Either dress your little one or dress yourself in a few costume items, and have them pick the last piece that matches the costume.
- You can also do this activity to practice colors. Try pointing to a color you or your little one is wearing, and ask them to find another piece of clothing that matches and put it on!
- We also created a Halloween costume resource printable, so you can match all the costumes Caitie has in the classroom at home.
Pretend Trick Or Treating
Role playing is a fun and exciting way for little ones to learn. In the classroom, we pretend to go trick or treating with some role playing for our classroom friends to follow along with at home. You can also do this on your own at home too!
- Gather together some items to be Halloween treats. They shouldn’t be real treats, we are role playing. They can be any little items you have in the house like building blocks, crayons, or marbles. Give your little one a basket or bag that they will put their pretend Halloween treats into. Encourage your little one to pretend to knock and say trick or treat! Then pretend to open a door and greet your little trick or treater! Ask them what they are dressed up as and encourage them to answer – they can be any kind of character they imagine. Can they move like that character? What kind of sound does that character make? Then give them one of the Halloween treats.
- If your little one is having trouble coming up with character ideas, try putting some ideas into a hat for them to pick. This is also a great way to practice some reading (if you use words) or vocabulary (if you use pictures). Try using these Super Simple Halloween flashcards to get started!
- You can also try our Knock Knock, Trick Or Treat? Wheel! After your little one pretends to knock on the door, have them open up the door on the wheel to reveal the character!
- Once you have tried it this way for a few rounds, see if your little one is interested in switching roles, so they would be the one handing out the Halloween treats.
- We also have lots more great worksheets and printables for our song Knock Knock, Trick Or Treat? to practice vocabulary, matching, letters and more!
Pumpkin Faces & Emotions
In this episode, Caitie reviews emotions vocabulary while exploring different faces for her jack o’lantern. Encourage your little ones to make the faces along with Caitie!
- Review emotions vocabulary at home with our printables of pumpkin faces. There are flashcards and coloring pages, as well as worksheets!
- Try making different faces at home and ask your little one what kind of face it is. Have your little one make faces and have you guess.
- Try carving a real pumpkin and picking what face to make for your jack o’lantern.
Can You Make A Happy Face
Join Caitie and sing the Halloween song Can You Make A Happy Face!
- Watch our animated music video for Can You Make A Happy Face?
- Find more ideas for learning with Can You Make A Happy Face? by watching our How To Teach video.
Jack O’Lantern craft
After reviewing emotions and faces, Caitie teaches us a jack o’lantern craft that has two faces on it! This is a great opportunity to explore opposites too – make one face on one side, and make the opposite kind of face on the other side. In the classroom, Caitie makes a happy and sad face.
- Here are details on how to make our jack o’lantern craft.
We hope you have fun singing, playing, learning, and creating! We love to see photos of our friends having fun in the classroom and of their wonderful creations! You can share them with us through social media or by sending us an email to hello@SuperSimpleOnline.com.
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