Thanksgiving Activity Placemat

November 24, 2021 / ProjectMom / Leave a comment

My son Jacob and I were talking about Thanksgiving coming up and he tells me “I’m looking forward to your activities”. I paused, not understanding what he was talking about and asked “What activities?”. He replies, “Like your Thanksgiving Joke Teller“….. While I was happy he appreciated my efforts last year, I felt bad I hadn’t come up with anything new for this year. Not wanted to let him down, I decided to design a Thanksgiving-themed placemat with fun activities including a maze, word search, how-to-draw and one of their favorites – a secret decoder message to solve!

Click HERE to download the Thanksgiving Activity Placemat Printable from my Etsy Shop.

Halloween Party Games

October 30, 2019September 1, 2020 / ProjectMom / Leave a comment

I volunteered as Room Parent for the first time this year and found out I’ll be rolling solo. At first I got nervous, realizing a seasoned Room Parent wasn’t going to take me under their wing and show me how to throw a class party. Then I realized it’s probably a great thing because it allows me to get creative and come up with new and fresh ideas!

Since Halloween is my favorite holiday, I couldn’t be happier it’s my first class party to plan. Ghosts, zombies, vampires, mummies and witches – what’s not to love?? In the *spirit* of coming up with unique ideas, I created these spooktacularly fun and simple DIY games…

Zombie Ball

Rules: 2+ players race to knock down a row of zombie-themed water bottles, using only a ball dangling from a stocking on their head.

Preparation: Using these FREE Printable Plants vs. Zombies inspired labels – I wrapped them around the water bottles (sized to Ice Mountain), adhered them over the existing labels using double sided tape, and sealed the two ends together with packaging tape (which happened to be the perfect width for the seam). To knock down the zombies, I used these black stockings stuffed with an old tennis ball.

CLICK HERE for FREE Printable Zombie Water Bottle Labels.

Frankenstein Fishing

Rules: Players take turns catching Frankenstein Fish. Each fish has a letter on the back, which the players use to work together and come up with as many Halloween themed words as possible.

Preparation: I used this Frankenstein Fishing Printable, cut out the rows of fish and attached a paperclip to each tail. I then used contact paper to laminate them for extra durability, and cut out the shape of each fish. For catching the fish, I used a magnetic fishing pole I happened to have.

CLICK HERE for FREE Printable Frankenstein Fishing Word Scramble.

Skull Toss

Rules: Players toss mini skulls into 3 black jack-‘o-lantern buckets, each containing a prize. I used spider rings in the 1st, vampire fangs in the 2nd, and glow in the dark bouncy balls in the 3rd (each player receives only one from each bucket).

Halloween How-to-Draw

This will be a drawing station where each student receives a pumpkin drawing pad and skeleton pens (Thank you Target Dollar Spot!) along with a packet of Halloween themed How-to-Draw sheets – like this easy to follow Haunted House from Art Projects for Kids. Google and Pinterest are great for more resources!

Now that my planning and game creation is complete – I have 2 days till the Halloween Party… Wish me luck!

“Zombies – They love you for what’s on the inside.”

Fall Leaf Lantern

November 15, 2015February 7, 2016 / ProjectMom / 3 Comments

While it can be difficult saying goodbye to long sunny days of summer, there are several things that help me embrace fall with open arms: sweater weather, boots, apple picking, Halloween, pumpkin spice, and of course the beautiful foliage. Thank you autumn, for one of nature’s best free kid toys – leaves! To bring some of these enchanting colors indoors, I decided to create fall leaf lanterns with the kids.

SUPPLIES:
– Cardboard Goldfish Carton (or 1/2 Gallon Milk Carton)
– Box Cutter and/or Scissors
– Flameless Candle
– Contact Paper
– Hole Puncher
– String
– White Duct Tape (Optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Collect leaves.

Step 2: Using a box cutter, cut 4 rectangular sections out of each side of the carton.

Step 3: (Optional) Use white Duct Tape to cover print on the carton.

Step 4: Using scissors, cut contact paper into 8 rectangles that are just larger than the sections cut out of the cartons (my rectangles were 10×15 squares).

Step 5: Adhere contact paper rectangle, sticky side out, onto the inside of each side of the carton and reinforce sections by taping each inside edge and corner.

Step 7: Gently press leaves on each side of the carton’s contact paper sections.

Step 8: Use remaining 4 sections of contact paper to cover each side of the carton, holding leaves onto the lantern.

Step 9: Hole punch top of carton and tie string as a handle for the lantern. Create Duct Tape tab to hold lantern top closed.

Step 10: Insert flameless candle.

Follow me on Pinterest, for more fun ideas!

Room on the Broom Inspired Scavenger Hunt

October 30, 2015February 8, 2016 / ProjectMom / 1 Comment

A family friend bought us a copy of Room on the Broom last year and the boys could not get enough. They wanted to read it over and over again – for MONTHS!! And they still love to read it. The book is extremely clever with captivating illustrations and super catchy rhymes. Since they loved the book so much, I also purchased the DVD (which is AMAZING as well – and great for bringing imagination to life). If you don’t own this book, I highly recommend adding it to your personal library.

As we read the story or watch the DVD, the boys love pretending to throw items into the cauldron (lily, cone, stick, bone). Sometimes they come up with their own ingredients (acorns, leaves, etc.). I was looking at our Halloween candy bowl (which happens to be a witches cauldron) and came up with the idea for an activity to engage them in the story even more…

I created scavenger hunt cards with cauldron ingredients, printed them on card stock, and cut them out.

Room on the Broom Inspired Scavenger Hunt Cards

Room on the Broom Inspired Scavenger Hunt - Cauldron Ingredients Cut Out

Download FREE Printable HERE.

Note: I chose the strength of card stock and reinforcement of laminating them with contact paper because Avery crumpled up the 1st set I printed on regular paper (which the boys were not very happy about) . I’m sure older children would handle regular paper or card stock just fine.

I then placed the scavenger hunt cards face down, onto a table, next to the witches cauldron. The boys took turns selecting a card, then running off to gather their ingredients (which were scattered on the ground or hidden in a separate room)… Great for burning off the incessant toddler energy!