A Halloween Play Date

Happy Halloween! I'm just popping in with a little festive post to share some of our fun activities for what I like to call "Hallo-week." We started the fun last Sunday with a dress up and trick or treat at a local shopping center and will end it with the real deal on Saturday evening.

Last year Mr. G was too young to really care (and oh hey, we moved the day before!), but this year he has learned more than he ever wanted to know about pumpkins and can spot them all around the neighborhood.

We also have our share of bats and black cats and boos around the house! Here are a few ideas from our play date if you are having a party or to save for next year.

Toddler Spooky Sensory Table

On a toddler sized table, I had two sensory bags. The first was the guts of a spaghetti squash I roasted the night before, but you could also use the guts from the pumpkin you carve! The second was some googley eyes in hand soap. These are so easy to make, just add your contents, zip up the bag and seal all the edges with duct tape. That black blob at the back is some slime I found in the Halloween section at Target. It is for supervised play only since the package says 3+, but little man loved sticking his fingers in it. I also collected a variety of ornamental gourds with textures, shapes, and colors for him to explore.

Jack-O-Lanterns and Mustache props

Of course we had to have arts and crafts! For this play date I had two activities since we only had four kiddos. I found orange paper bags and some jack-o-lanterns stickers for each kid to make a face. Plus, forget the candles, the safer way to have a luminary (or pumpkin): glow sticks. The mustaches were a bit of a stretch because I knew the toddles would want to eat them, but I did get one cute photo!

Mr. G cooperated long enough to take a photo!

We also painted some pumpkins! I used Frog Tape to tape off each child's initial, and let them go to town with a paintbrush and their fingers. Once it's dry, remove the tape and voila!