Next Wednesday is Halloween, and in case this is your first year of teaching kids, let me warn you that schooling and Halloween don’t mix. I don’t mean in the sense that Halloween stuff isn’t allowed at school—though I think in most Oklahoma schools they don’t have parties. When I taught in Nebraska, we actually had an all-school parade with all of the kids in costume. You can imagine how much teaching got done that day.
Kids are kids, no matter where they go to school, and I’ve found that my own kids tend to be pretty squirrelly on Halloween. I guess the idea of getting all that candy and staying up late is just too much, even if there’s not some other kid all dressed up at a desk next to you. I’ve learned it’s best not to fight it. Should you completely call off school for the day? Well, I guess you could, but there are some ways that the kids can have some fun and you can feel like they’ve exercised their brains a little, too!
For the younger crowd:
- I’ve used quite a few of Carisa’s printables with both of my kids over the last few years and they are wonderful! She has a (free!) Pumpkin Preschool Pack as well as a big collection of pumpkin activities. There’s lots of good stuff that your younger kids can do and even your older kids might enjoy!
- The Candy Shop Kindergarten Kit is a (free!) printable at Homeschool Share that covers many different skills. The candy sort page would be great to use for math Thursday morning!
For the older kids:
- Mathwire has tons of different pumpkin-themed math activities at a variety of levels and covering many different mathematical concepts. I love this site!
- If your younger child is doing the Candy Shop Kit, your older child can do Candy School along with them! Ami has some fun ideas (with free printables) for many content areas. We did some of the math last year and had a great time!
For kids of all ages, check out funschool.com’s Halloween section. There are online games, printables, crafts, snack ideas, and more!
However you decide to spend your day, have a safe and fun Halloween!
