Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Fall Leaves

Book Ideas:


Look what I did with a leaf by Sohi

This unusual look at the natural world explains how to create fanciful animals from leaves.



Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert

"When Leaf Man disappears in the wind one day, readers follow his trail 'past the chickens, toward the marsh, over the ducks and geese,' which are all amazingly configured from leaf collages too."


Mouse’s First Fall by Lauren Thompson
"One cool day Mouse and Minka venture out to play. From leaves of all colors -- red, yellow, orange, and brown -- to leaves of all shapes and sizes -- from pointy to round -- Mouse learns that fall is a season full of fun!"

Ruby’s Falling Leaves- Penguin Young Reader’s Group
"Ruby is trying to collect different types of leaves but all her little brother, Max, wants to do is jump in them."

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson
"As summer ends, Fletcher, a young fox, begins to worry that his favorite tree is sick. Leaves turn brown and fall. Fletcher tries to catch and reattach them but is distressed as he is unable to save any. He takes the last leaf to bed with him, sad that his tree is left all on its own. The next morning, however, he discovers the tree covered with shining icicles, 'more beautiful than ever' ."



Leaves by David Ezra Stein
"It's a young bear's first autumn, and the falling leaves surprise and thrill him. At first he tries to put the leaves back on, but by spring he's learned about the tree's wondrous cycle."


Songs and Ryhmes:


The Leaves are falling Down (to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell")


The leaves are falling down

The leaves are falling down

School is here and fall in near

The leaves are falling down.
The leaves are falling down

The leaves are falling down

Some are red and some are brown

The leaves are falling down.
The leaves are falling down

The leaves are falling down

They tickle your nose and touch your toes

The leaves are falling down.


The Leaves of the Trees(to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus")


The leaves of the trees turn orange and red

orange and red, orange and red

The leaves of the trees turn orange and red

All through the town.
The leaves of the trees come tumbling down

tumbling down, tumbling down

The leaves of the trees come tumbling down

All through the town.
The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish

Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish,

The leaves on the ground go swish, swish, swish

All through the town.


Falling Leaves


All the leaves are falling down (flutter fingers downward)

Orange, green, red, and brown. (flutter fingers)

If you listen, you'll hear them say, (cup hands around ears)

"Wintertime is on it's way." (whispering)


Project Ideas:


#1: Thumb Print Leaves

Materials Needed:
-Brown paper for tree limb cut-out
-1 light colored piece of construction paper
-Red and Yellow Paint
-Scissors
-Glue
-paper plate
Cut out a simple tree trunk and tree limbs on the brown paper. Have your child glue it towards the bottom, middle of their blank paper. Squirt some red and yellow paint on the paper plate and then have your child mix a little of each together to make orange. Have your child dip their thumb into the paint and then press it onto their paper to make different colored “leaves” all over their tree.

My two year old had more fun swirling around the paint on her paper plate than actually making her picture. That is okay too. Remember it is about them exploring with their senses and being creative.



#2:Animal Leaf Collage

Collect a variety of fall leaves of different shapes, color, and sizes (This activity works better if you press the leaves flat with a heavy book for a day or two before doing this activity). If you don't live in a place that has all four seasons than cut out leaves from paper in various shapes and sizes and colors. Read and look through the books: "Leaf Man" or "Look what I did with a leaf" and try out some of the leaf animals featured in the book, or come up with your own.

Here are a few that we tried (Top: Turtle, mouse/Bottom: fish, butterfly, and leaf man)

This is a great project for the creative mind. I was so into it I wanted to do a few on my own. For younger children you will need to ask them what they want to make and talk it through with them, what they could use for a head or ears or feet etc....


#3:Autumn Wreaths
Collect Fall leaves, pinecones, berries, and twigs. Cut out the center of a paper plate and glue on your leaves and twigs etc...
#4:Leaf Mobile
Gather a variety of fall leaves. place them between two pieces of wax paper, making sure that you leave plenty of space between them so they don't touch each other. Iron over wax paper to fuse the two pieces together.
Cut around the wax paper


Using scissors, cut a spiral pattern in a piece of construction paper, starting from the outside edge and going in towards the middle.


Grab the center of the swirl and punch a hole in the end (this will be the top of the mobile). Tape your wax paper covered leaves on various spots of your spiraling paper. Tie a string through the hole at the top and hang your mobile.


#5: Leaf sorting


Gather various leaves or cut them out of paper, and sort them into categories.






#6: Jump in leaves

Have fun raking leaves into a pile and jumping in them.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

More Halloween

Book Ideas:


Harriet’s Halloween Candy by Nancy Carlson
"Harriet learns the hard way that sharing her Halloween candy makes her feel much better than eating it all herself. "




Popcorn by Frank Asch
"Sam the bear decides to throw a Halloween party, and he dresses up in a costume and invites all of his bear friends over. Each friend has individually come up with the idea to bring a package of popcorn, and after having some fun at the party, someone gets the idea to pop all of the popcorn together in a big black kettle. The popcorn soon fills the house, and the young bears spend the rest of the night eating popcorn in order to fix the problem."




The Thirteen Hours of Halloween by Dian Curtis Regan
"An adaptation to the traditional song, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas,' to accommodate a creepy collection of characters. On the first hour of Halloween, a little girl's best friend presents her with a grinning 'vulture in a dead tree.' This dubious gift is followed, on the hour, by 'two pumpkins carved, three fat bats, four witches' cats,' and so on."



Night before Halloween by Natasha Wing
"A story in the style of the familiar poem, 'The Night Before Christmas,' tells how a house full of monsters, goblins, witches and the like prepare for Halloween."





Goodnight Goon, by Michael Rex
"Goodnight monsters everywhere, in this parody romp with its own special twist!
'Goodnight tomb. Goodnight goon. Goodnight Martians taking over the moon.'
It's bedtime in the cold gray tomb with a black lagoon, and two slimy claws, and a couple of jaws, and a skull and a shoe and a pot full of goo. But as a little werewolf settles down, in comes the Goon determined at all costs to run amok and not let any monster have his rest."





Boo Who?, Lift-the-flap knock-knock Book series by Katie Hall
"Bat you'll shriek with laughter at this fang-tastic collection of Halloween knock-knock jokes designed to tickle the funny bone. Lift the flaps and follow two trick-or-treaters through a haunted house as they encounter giggling ghosts and goofy goblins. You'll be scared silly!
Knock, knock!Who's there?Ben!Ben who?Ben waiting for Halloween all year!"



Songs and Rhymes:

THE TWELVE DAYS OF HALLOWEEN
At the first house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the second house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the third house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... three pralines, two lollipops, and large piece of chocolate taffy
At the fourth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and large piece of chocolate taffy
At the fifth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the sixth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the seventh house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the eighth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... eight chewy caramels, seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the ninth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... nine orange gumdrops, eight chewy caramels, seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the tenth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... ten shiny pennies, nine orange gumdrops, eight chewy caramels, seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the eleventh house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me...
eleven creamy nougats, ten shiny pennies, nine orange gumdrops, eight chewy caramels, seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy
At the twelfth house on Halloween my neighbor gave to me... twelve cherry bonbons, eleven creamy nougats, ten shiny pennies, nine orange gumdrops, eight chewy caramels, seven candied apples, six peanut clusters, FIVE POPCORN BALLS!!! Four peppermints, three pralines, two lollipops and a large piece of chocolate taffy!



The Haunted House" (Tune of "Wheels on the Bus")
The ghost in the house goes "Boo! Boo! Boo!"

"Boo! Boo! Boo!, Boo! Boo! Boo!"

The ghost in the house goes "Boo! Boo! Boo!"

On Halloween.
The steps in the house goes "Creek, creek, creek..."

The cats in the house go "Meow, meow, meow..."

The mice in the house go "Squeak, squeak, squeak.."

The people in the house go "Eek, eek, eek...".




Sing A Song Of Halloween...
(Sing A Song Of Sixpence)
Sing a song of Halloween,
What a scary night,
Ghosts and bats and big black cats,
Give us all a fright.
Shining jolly Jack-O-Lanterns
Fill our hearts with fun,
But if the black witch comes along,
We'll all run!




Dress Up
A pretty princess wears a crown (form circle above head)

Bunny's ears flop up and down (place hands above head and move up & down)

A beautiful ballerina dances to and fro(dance)

A funny clown laughs "Ho, ho, ho".

2 green eyes shine from a cat(circle eyes)

A scary witch wears a pointy hat (form point with arms above head)

Jack-O-Lanterns shine so bright (form circle with arms)

Happy children on Halloween night!




Three Black Cats(sung to the tune of "three blind mice ")
Three black cats, three black cats,

In black hats, in black hats,

They all jumped into the Halloween brew.

They teased the ghosts & the goblins too!

Have you ever seen such a Hullabaloo??
On Halloween, On Halloween!



Activity Ideas:



Costume Sorting


Have your child cut out costumes out of the adds in the newspaper or in magazines. Then sort them into groups by similarities. (Examples could be: costumes that are scary/not scary, costumes for girls/boys or both, Superheroes/non superheroes, costumes with a hat/no hat, costumes with a mask/no mask etc...) You can sort them several times or just once and glue them on paper with a line down the middle to separate your groups.





Halloween Survey
Teach your child how to do a survey by asking family, friends, and neighbors which Halloween color they like best. (If you need to call grandma, or cousins to get enough people to survey). Teach them how to use tally marks or X's in each column to keep track of people's answers. Then count the tally marks or X's in each column and decide which has the most and which has the least.




Candy Sorting

After trick-or-treating have your child sort their candies into groups of candy with similarities. The similarities can be based on the color of the wrapping or chocolate or non chocolate, or hard candy vs. soft etc....Count which group has the most. It was fun to let my daughter group them first, without adding my input, because she grouped them differently than I would have; and so it gave me a chance to see her thinking and ask questions so she could explain her reasoning.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Pumpkins

Book Ideas:The Biggest Pumpkin Ever by Steven Kroll
"Once there were two mice who fell in love with the same pumpkin.... Desmond the field mouse wants to carve the biggest jack-o'-lantern in the neighborhood with his pumpkin. Clayton the house mouse wants to win the Biggest Pumpkin contest with his. But when they discover that their choice pumpkins are actually the same one, Desmond and Clayton decide to work together to grow the biggest pumpkin ever!"



Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman
"The witch has grown the biggest pumpkin ever, and now she wants to make herself a pumpkin pie for Halloween. But the pumpkin is so big she can't get it off the vine.
It's so big the ghost can't move it, either. Neither can the vampire, nor the mummy. It looks as if there'll be no pumpkin pie for Halloween, until along comes the bat with an idea to save the day."



The Runaway Pumpkin by Kevin Lewis
"The Baxter brothers find a wonderful pumpkin for Halloween, but first they must catch up with it when it rolls down the hill."




Pumpkin Town! by Katie Mcky
"See what happens when a town has an accidental abundance of pumpkins."




Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper
"The Cat and the Squirrel come to blows with the Duck in arguing about who will perform what duty in preparing their pumpkin soup, and they almost lose the Duck's friendship when he decides to leave them."


Five Pesky Pumpkins by Marcia Vaughn
"Kids will delight as they open flaps to reveal five pesky pumpkins that disappear and pop-up on every page. As the text counts down from five, the pumpkins cause mischief on a spooky and scary night while readers practice counting."

Songs and Rhymes:


Mr. Pumpkin (tune: Where is thumpkin)


Mr. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin,

Eyes so round, eyes so round

Halloween is coming, Halloween is coming

To my town, to my town.

Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Pumpkin, Pumpkin, sitting on the wall. Pumpkin, Pumpkin, tip and fall. Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Rolling down the street. Pumpkin, Pumpkin, good to eat!!


Pumpkin poem
One day I found two pumpkin seeds.

I planted one and pulled the weeds.

It sprouted roots and a big, long vine.

A pumpkin grew; I called it mine.

The pumpkin was quite round and fat.

(I really am quite proud of that.)

But there is something I'll admit

That has me worried just a bit.

I ate the other seed, you see.

Now will it grow inside of me?

(I'm so relieved since I have found

That pumpkins only grow in the ground!)


Pumpkin Song (tune: Have you ever seen a lassie?)
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin,

Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?

A round one, a tall one, a fat one, a small one.


Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?



I Made A Jack-O-Lantern


I made a jack-o-lantern for Halloween night (form circle)

He has 3 crooked teeth but he wont bite (point to teeth and shake head)

He has 2 round eyes but cannot see (circle eyes)

He's a jolly jack-o-lantern as happy as can be.


Pumpkin, Pumpkin...
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Sitting on a wall;
(have a child sit down)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Tip and Fall;
(have child tip over)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Rolling down the street;
(child rolls on floor)
Pumpkin, Pumpkin
Good to Eat!!!


Pumpkin, Pumpkin SONG (sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star)
Pumpkin pumpkin on the ground

How'd you get so big and round

Planted as a seed so small

Now you are a great big ball

Pumpkin pumpkin on the ground

How'd you get so big and round


Big Orange Pumpkin(Sung to I’m a Little Tea Pot)

I'm a big orange pumpkin fat and round

Growin' by the corn field on the ground

I will be a Jack-o-lantern with two big eyes

Or maybe I'll be baked into two pumpkin pies.


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,
"We don’t care.”
The fourth one said,
"Let’s run and run and run!"
The fifth one said,
"I’m ready for some fun!"
OOOOOOOH, went the wind
And OUT went the lights
And the five little pumpkins rolled out
of sight.


Jack-o-lantern (sung to frere Jacques)
Jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern,
Burn so bright, burn so bright.

You are burning brightly, you are burning brightly,
Through the night, through the night.


Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater
Had a wife and couldn't keep her.
He put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well


Activity Ideas:


Pumpkin Ordering

Make a set of different sized pumpkins. Mix them up and have your child put them in order from smallest to largest and largest to smallest. You can also write numerals or ordinal numbers on them to practice additional skills.


Pumpkin Patterns


Find clip art of a pumpkin . Then save the image and insert it into a word document and make it smaller by dragging the image. Copy and paste it multiple times, making a row of pumpkins and print. Then I colored the pumpkins into a pattern leaving the last one empty. Have your child color in the last pumpkin to finish the pattern.


Pumpkin Growth Sequence


Cut out printable cards of the pumpkin plant cycle. Mix up the cards and have your child put the sequence in the right order. Asking them "What comes first?" "Then what?" etc.. Have them color each card and staple it into a book.

Jack-0-lantern Memory Game

Cut out 18 orange pumpkin shapes. Draw 9 different jack-o-lantern faces, making two of each face. Glue them on cardstock squares and play memory--trying to find two identical faces for a match.

Paper Plate Jack-o-lantern

Paint a paper plate orange, in advance. Let your child decorate their own jack-o-lantern face, using dried beans or paper cut-outs etc...

Pumpkin Stamping

Cut one miniature pumpkin in half. Let your child dip it in paint and use it to do real pumpkin stamping.

Monsters

Book Ideas: Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley
“Differently diecut and boldly colored pages reveal increasingly scary features of a big green monster--on the first spread, we see two big yellow eyes; on the second, the eyes plus a long blue nose; and so on, until the monster is fully unmasked. But that's only half the story…”

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
“Max is sent to bed without supper and imagines sailing away to the land of Wild Things,
where he is made king.”

Five Ugly Monsters by Ted Arnold
“Based upon the popular preschool rhyme, "five little monkeys," this book features five funny monsters jumping on the bed.”


My Monster Momma Loves Me So by Laura Leuck
“A young monster describes all the things its mother does to show she loves it.”

One Hungry Monster by Susan Heyboer O’Keefe
“At bedtime a small boy tries to control ten insatiable monsters demanding food and creating chaos throughout the house.” (A counting book)

There’s a nightmare in my closet by Mercer Mayer
“At bedtime a boy confronts the nightmare in his closet and finds him not so terrifying after all.”


Songs and Rhymes:

Five Little Goblins On A Halloween Night...
Five Little Goblins on a Halloween night
Made a very, very spooky sight
The first one danced on his tippy-tip-toes
The next one tumbled and bumped his nose
The next one jumped high up in the air
The next one hopped without a care
The last one sang a Halloween song.
Five goblins played the whole night long.


Ten Little Monsters

One little, two little, three little monsters

Four little, five little, six little monsters

Seven little, eight little, nine little monsters

Ten monsters trick-or-treating!

In the Grave Yard (sung to the tune of "oh my darling ")

In the grave yard, in the grave yard,

When the moon begins to shine,

There's a doctor, crazy doctor,

and his monster Frankenstein.

Oh, my monster, oh, my monster,

oh, my monster Frankenstein,

you are very, very scary, don't come near me Frankenstein.

Activity Ideas:

Making Monsters

There are 3 different ways you could do this:

1. Toilet Paper Roll Monster
Paint the paper roll whatever color you want, in advance, and let dry.
Let your child decorate with various craft supplies and glue.
(Supply ideas: pipe cleaners, feathers, buttons, beans, pompoms, yarn, google eyes, dried pasta)


2. Monster Masks:
Paint Paper plates, in advance, and let dry. Let your child decorate plate with glue and various craft supplies to make a monster. Tape a craft stick on the back/bottom of plate.
3.Playdoh Monsters:
Create playdoh monsters out of various colors of dough.

To extend any of these activities make a monster questionnaire for your child to answer.



Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Witches

Book Ideas:


Room on the broom by Julia Donaldson
“A witch finds room on her broom for all the animals that ask for a ride, and they repay her kindness by rescuing her from a dragon."




The Witch has an Itch by Donna Guthrie
"Every time Gromelda the witch tries to work her evil magic, she gets an itch."




Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini
"Gritch the Witch wants piggies for dinner, but when she shows up at Old MacDonald's farm, the pigs go undercover."



The Little Green Witch by Barbara Barbieri McGarth
"A Halloween remake of 'The Little Red Hen.' While her hollow-tree housemates (a ghost, a bat, and a gremlin) laze around, the little witch does all the 'unhousework'-hanging the cobwebs, dirtying the laundry, etc. When she finds some pumpkin seeds and plants them, she discovers that her friends are stubbornly unhelpful at every stage."




The Candy Witch by Steven Kroll
“Windy wants to be nice but her aunts say that she has to be bad for she is a witch. Read this story and find out what happens when a witch with a love of candy decides to become a good witch!”




Songs and Rhymes:


Sing A Song Of Halloween...
(Sing A Song Of Sixpence)


Sing a song of Halloween,
What a scary night,
Ghosts and bats and big black cats,
Give us all a fright.
Shining jolly Jack-O-Lanterns
Fill our hearts with fun,
But if the black witch comes along,
We'll all run!



There was an old lady in a pointed hat---


There was an old lady in a pointed hat (Use your hands to make pointed hat over head)
She came to my door with a rap-tap-tap (pretend to knock on door)
I opened up the door to see who was there (pretend to open door)
She jumped on her broom and flew through the air. (use hand to fly into the sky)


Ghost and goblins
(sung to the tune Frere Jacques)

Ghost and goblins
Ghost and goblins
Witches too
Witches too
All out trick or treating
All out trick or treating
Can’t Scare You
Can’t Scare You !


Old Witch, Old Witch

First verse :
Old Witch, Old Witch, she lives in a ditch,
And combs out her hair with a hickory switch.
She lives on nails and snails and flies
And if you go near her she’ll wobble her eyes!
Second verse:
Old Witch, Old Witch, she lives in a ditch,
And combs out her hair with a hickory switch.
She lives on volts and bolts and gears
And if you go near her she’ll wobble her ears!
Third verse:
Old Witch, Old Witch, she lives in a ditch,
And combs out her hair with a hickory switch.
She lives on quartz and warts and hose
And if you go near her she’ll wob-ble your nose!


Witch Doctor Song
I told the witch doctor I was in love with you
I told the witch doctor you didn't love me too
And then the witch doctor, he told me what to do
He said that ....
[Chorus:]Ooo eee, ooo ah ah ting tang
Walla walla, bing bang
Ooo eee, ooo ah ah ting tang
Walla walla, bing bang...
Ooo eee, ooo ah ah ting tang
Walla walla, bing bang
Ooo eee, ooo ah ah ting tang
Walla walla, bing bang

I told the witch doctor you didn't love me true
I told the witch doctor you didn't love me nice
And then the witch doctor, he game me this advice
He said to ...[Chorus]

Now, you've been keeping love from me
Just like you were a miser
And I'll admit I wasn't very smart
So I went out and found myself
A guy that's so much wiser
And he taught me the way to win your heart
My friend the witch doctor, he taught me what to say
My friend the witch doctor, he taught me what to do
I know that you'll be mine when I say this to you
Oh, Baby ....(chorus)



Activity Ideas



Witch Shapes Collage

Materials Needed:

-Lots of shapes, cut out of paper, in various sizes and colors (do this in advance)
-construction paper
-glue
-scissors
-google eyes or makers to make the face


Tell your child that you want them to make a witch only using shapes. (I only used circles, squares, rectangles and triangles, but you could add more if you wanted). Add to the learning by pointing to the various shapes and asking them "what shape is this?" and "what color is it?". Have them glue their shapes down on the paper and add a face at the end. Here is an example of a witch made by a two year old. I talked it out with her by first asking where the head should go, then moving on to the body, legs, arms, and hat (if you notice the hat is upside down--resist the urge to correct it. It is cuter when it represents their thinking.) Here is an example of an older child's work. My five year old went straight to work and needed little instruction once I got her started with "what shape looks like a face?" I stretched her thinking at the end by asking her if she could figure out a way to make a broom, using the shapes she had left.



Witch Hat Snacks

What You Need to Make Witch Hats:
Refrigerated pie crust
Chocolate chips
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
How to Make Witch Hats:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Unroll circular pie crust onto counter.
3. Cut pie crust into 16 wedges (triangles).
4. Line the bottom of the wedge with chocolate chips.
5. Enclose the chocolate chips by rolling the pie crust toward the point of the wedge, leaving about 4 inches of crust unrolled.
6. Place rolled pie crust wedges onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper 1/2 inch apart. Bend and shape the pie crust to look like a witch hat.
7. Combine the cinnamon and sugar together in a small bowl.
8. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture onto the witch hats.
9. Bake 10 to 14 minutes or until witch hats are light brown


Math Mat Game


Copy and past a witch hat clip art until it covers the page and print on 8x11 cardstock paper. (I got mine using google image search for witch hat coloring pages. I rotated the hat horizontal and then I inserted it into a word document so I could make the image smaller. Once I got it to the size I wanted I copied and pasted it over and over.) You will need to print one page or mat for each player. Laminate or use clear contact paper to protect the mats for future use.

Players take turns rolling the dice and placing beans or some kind of marker on the corresponding number of witch hats. So if you roll a four you would cover four hats on your page and then wait for your next turn. Keep rolling and covering the number of witch hats you roll. The player to cover all their hats first is the winner.

Witches Brew

Use a black plastic pot to use as the cauldron or any mixing bowl. Then add vampire teeth (candy corn), polar bear toes (miniature marshmallows), fried bat wings (frosted flakes), lizard eyes (M&M's), and rat brains (peanuts). Let your child stir the mixture and laugh together as you add the parts. Eat and enjoy!