1-2-3 Come Do Some Haunted House Activities With Me

I love Halloween.  Some of my favorite childhood memories surround this holiday. Although I don't care for horror movies, some of the old classics like Abbott and Costello and the Haunted House are fun.  There's nothing like the idea of a haunted house to get students excited about writing.

With that in mind, I designed some interesting haunted house-themed activities.   I hope you find them spine tingling! 

If you're looking for some Common Core lessons for Halloween, the Haunted House Activity Packet might be just the thing. 

It includes alphabet activities, adjective practice, vocabulary building, plus writing prompts, which are great for Daily 5.  

You can complete the Haunted Houses ARE and Haunted Houses HAVE worksheets as a whole group, or have students make up their own. 

I've included finished samples for you to share.  For more practice, students can look up the words that they don't know, or alphabetize my list.

I've also included upper and lowercase trace & write worksheets, as well as assessments for both, plus a "Spooky Letters" alphabet game.

Use the game as an independent center, or whole group game.  Pass out a lowercase letter pumpkin card to each student. 

Call for a letter. The child holding that card comes up and opens the matching uppercase "window".  

You can also use this file folder game as a different and fun way to independently assess a student. 

I've included upper and lowercase assessment recording sheets for this.  

For more creative writing, I've also included the writing prompt: If I lived in a haunted house... Click on the link for the Haunted House Activity Packet.

Since the apple and pumpkin senses writing craftivities were such popular downloads, I thought your students would enjoy doing one for a haunted house. 

This is a quick easy and fun way to review the 5 senses, as well as work on adjective usuage for more descriptive writing. I've included a completed sample for you to share, or make one up of your own. 

Students color their haunted house, trim, and cut the roof off, which they attach to the top of their writing prompt.  The base of the house goes on the bottom. 

For that finishing touch, have students put their school photo peeking out a window.

To add to the fun of writing about haunted houses and get students in the mood, dim the lights and play some Halloween music or a soundtrack from a thunderstorm. 

Completed projects look terrific as a border along a hallway wall, or hung back-to-back suspended from the ceiling.  Click on the link for the Haunted House Writing Craftivity.

Well that's it.  I'm trying to keep my blogs shorter, so the other two Haunted House-themed activities will be in tomorrow's article.  Hope you can pop by to pick up those FREEBIES.

I'm off to pack for a little get-away time with my hubby.  Wishing you simple pleasures and heartwarming moments this weekend.

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." -Thomas S. Monson

23 pages

Looking for some Common Core lessons for Halloween?  This haunted house-themed packet includes alphabet activities, adjective practice, vocabulary building, plus writing prompts. 

4 pages.

Review the 5 senses as well as adjectives, with this quick, easy and fun haunted house descriptive writing prompt.

Click the link to view the new, 38-page updated version: Trick or Treating at a Haunted House.

14 Pages.

This is a very versatile pumpkin craftivity, as you can choose to make it in a variety of ways.  Keep things simple and do just a front and back for little ones, or make it 3 dimensional (with 3-4 sides) for older students, and pick from 3 different writing activities: measurement, adjective practice, or writing about being scared.   Color choices are another option.  Give students a variety of pumpkin colors to choose from, to reinforce the fact that pumpkins can be orange, red, green, or white, with all of the shades in-between.

10 pages.

Help students learn to read and write family words with this quick and easy pumpkin patch craft.  Students assemble their pumpkin and write the names and relationships of the members of their family that live with them on the back of their pumpkin.

11 pages

Looking for some pumpkin craftivities?  This packet includes a simple & quick sponge painted pumpkin that reviews shapes, as well as a shapely pumpkin worksheet and a Pumpkin Possibilities spinner shape game.

3 pages.

Did you know that if you mix shaving cream with Elmer's glue and a bit of paint you can make a work of art that dries puffy?  Oh the possibilities... The picture here doesn't do this project justice. The pumpkin is puffed up to over an inch high!  Here's a template to make either a horizontal or vertical pumpkin.  Simply follow the directions to create something amazing!  Your kiddos will love doing this craftivity.

11 pages

This is a quick, easy and fun craft that even young children can do. Children trace the pumpkin template on a sheet of newspaper and color it with an orange marker or crayon.  Students find and cut out shapes to make a pumpkin face, as well as letters that spell their name.  These will be used for the pumpkin's smile.  They can also search for all of the letter Pps on their pumpkin and circle them.  This packet will be FREE for an entire year, after which time it will be revamped and put in my TpT shop. Pumpkins in the News.

10 pages.

There are 3 options for this cute pumpkin bowl craft.  You can review 2D shapes and have students draw a Jack-O-Lantern face on the back, or you can teach some pumpkin facts with the pumpkins ARE, HAVE, CAN writing prompt; (I've included a completed sample.) or you can explain the life cycle of a pumpkin, and have students color, trim and glue that circle to the back of their pumpkin bowl.  This freebie has been up-dated and is part of my whopping 85-page Life Cycle of a Pumpkin Packet, in my tpT shop.  For your convenience, I've included a PREVIEW with this freebie here.

1-2-3 Come Do Some Pumpkin Craftivities With Me

Quite a few of my most popular downloads are those that involve a hands-on craft.  With all of the standards we have to teach, I realize that many teachers don't feel that they have any time left in their day for the "fun" things they used to do. 

With that in mind, I try to incorporate some standards in the crafts that I design, thus the name "craftivities".  I decided to feature  A Baker's Dozen   of my all-time favorite pumpkin craftivities in this article, since the number 13 can certainly be associated with Halloween.  Although I've used the term a baker's dozen for years, I didn't know why it came about.  If you're curious too, click on the link. 

Since Apple Sense was such a huge hit, I decided to make a Pumpkin Sense one.  This is a quick, easy and fun way to review the 5 senses, as well as work on the importance of adjectives in descriptive writing. 

Having a carved class pumpkin isn't necessary, but really helps.  Adding a hand print leaf and photo adds that finishing touch.

Another writing craftivity is the Personal Pumpkin Patch Craft.Family relationship names, (mom, dad, sister, brother etc.) are a part of most teacher's word walls, so I wanted to think of something that would tie into building that vocabulary. 

Via a note home to parents, which is included in the packet,  you'll have the personal information needed to help your kiddo's make a personal pumpkin. 

There are also family word cards that you can use in a pocket chart or for flashcards, plus several worksheets and a Tally Time activity with math extensions.

Pumpkins In The News  reinforces the letter Pp, and has a variety of writing options as well. Students find and cut out shapes to make a pumpkin face, as well as letters that spell their name.  These will be used for the pumpkin's smile.  They can also search for all of the letter Pps on their pumpkin and circle them.

 For writing practice, younger students trace and write the Pp is for pumpkin worksheet and glue it to the back of their pumpkin.  Brainstorm with older students of why pumpkins might be in the news.  They choose a topic and then write about it on the pumpkin template, trim and then glue to the back of their newsprint pumpkin. 

Punch a hole in the stem and suspend from the ceiling. There's also a pattern for a class-made book entitled: The Case Of The Missing Pumpkins. 

The Shapely Pumpkin Packet  reviews 2D shapes and includes a spinner game and worksheet. Sponge painting is a super-fun, non-messy way for little ones to paint with awesome results.

I've been doing the Peekin' In A Pumpkin for 15 years.  It also reviews shapes, as a Jack-O-Lantern face is on the front. The "guts" of the pumpkin are on the other side. 

I put a dollop of Elmer's glue with a bit of yellow paint in the middle and let my students swirl it around with a Q-tip, then glue bits of yarn and real pumpkin seeds on, for an awesome result.

Add a bit of science to your day with the Life Cycle Of A Pumpkin Craftivity.  There are 3 options for this cute pumpkin bowl craft. 

You can review 2D shapes and have students draw a Jack-O-Lantern face on the back, or you can teach some pumpkin facts with the pumpkins ARE, HAVE, CAN writing prompt; (I've included a completed sample.) or you can explain the life cycle of a pumpkin, and have students color, trim and glue that circle to the back of their pumpkin bowl. 

Curling ribbon and a child's hand print leaf add the finishing touches.  These look terrific suspended from the ceiling too.

The  Triple Play Pumpkin  also has 3 options.  

One involves measurement activities, another investigates the inside and outside of a pumpkin and uses adjectives to record findings; while the last one involves writing about things that scare you. 

This is a 3 dimensional pumpkin as students glue 3-4 paper circles together.

We do a lot of singing in Y5's.  It's a fun way to learn all sorts of things, review concepts and the children really enjoy it.  One of their favorite October songs was Pumpkin Round and Fat. 

When I Googled the song, I found a sweet Popsicle stick puppet over at Teacher Mama.  Click on the link for a pattern and my version. Pumpkin Puppet.

If you're a homeschooling parent and looking for an awesome, but easy fall centerpiece that your child can make, then I think you'll enjoy the  Dryer Hose Pumpkin.

This idea has been around for decades, but I just learned of it a few years ago when I met a crafty gal at Hobby Lobby.  I actually made these with my Y5's.  Their mommies were really impressed, as they turned out so cute.  They cost about $1 each to make.

If you haven't made puffy paint by mixing shaving cream, Elmer's glue and tempera, then you're in for a treat. 

This photo doesn't do justice to how absolutely awesome these turned out, as our pumpkins puffed up to over an inch high when they dried.

We also revisit this technique in January when we make snowmen.  Click on the link for the Puffy Pumpkin.  To see a photo of our snowmen click here. For some reason, you can see the puffiness much better in the snowman pictures.

Finally, to round out my baker's dozen, I wanted to share 3 outstanding pumpkin crafts that I found Online. 

Tammy's Kool Aid Pumpkins from over at Housing a Forest, has been pinned over 1,000 times from my pumpkin Pinterest board.  She has a quick tutorial of how to make these terrific-looking pumpkins that smell scrumptious.

Mrs. Withrow, over at Garden of Praise, makes these adorable Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater nursery rhyme pumpkins with her kinders, and substitutes their name for the word wife.  LOVE the pictures she took of her kiddos to place inside.

Lastly, but not "leastly" is a sweet paper plate pumpkin Mask, from over at DLTK Kids. 

If you don't have time to have each child make one, whip 5 different Jack-O-Lanterns up yourself, and have students use them as manipulatives to act out the popular 5 Little Pumpkins Sitting On A Gate poem.

Mrs. Alvarado over at Learning Safari does this with 5 large tag board pumpkins.  Too cute!

Whew! That's a whole "lotta" pumpkin stuff. Hopefully you found a few things to add some extra fun to your pumpkin activities. 

I'm off to do some much-needed grocery shopping.  Maybe my grandson and I will make a stop at the farmer's market to pick out a pumpkin!  Wishing you a fun-filled day!

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out." -Unknown