It’s never too early to start engaging in OR planning your fall activities with your toddlers. As a mom of an almost 3-year-old and an almost 2-year-old, I know that the most desirable activities are the easy ones! This is the kind of festive Halloween activity that doesn’t need a lot of planning or prep – but has endless open play, exploration and discussion opportunities!
For this activity, all you need is construction paper, scissors and a pen/marker (unless you can cut free-handed, but I like to trace my outlines first!).
Simply cut out a pumpkin shape and various sizes and shapes of decorative pieces out of other colored construction paper.
You could laminate the pieces and pumpkins if you have laminating sheets so you can reuse this activity throughout the season, or just cut new ones each time. My littles enjoy ripping the paper after playing with it – so I let them tear into it to get those tiny motors moving!
Here’s what I love about this – it’s an easy open invitation for toddlers to play and create but it’s also a great opportunity to talk and sing with your kids!
Depending on what engages your child and their age, you could talk about or sing the following:
– Discuss shapes and colors with your child
– Discuss the parts of the face on the pumpkin; discuss what our eyes, nose and mouth does
– Make up a song! Get creative a make a magical spooky song about how many eyes your pumpkin has, or what shapes it has! You could just create new words to your favorite melody to make a new fun song together
– Talk about feelings! Ask how their pumpkin feels based on the faces they create. It’s a great opportunity to talk about feelings and the different things we can feel
– Count the shapes and even sort them! You could make a pumpkin face with all triangles, or with all purple paper, etc.
I hope you add this simple and fun activity to your spooky season with your family and enjoy making some Halloween memories!
Stay spooky,
Callie Jo
Halloween Head 