It’s October and that means…. HALLOWEEN!
I will admit that being Australian meant I was quite oblivious to the enormity of Halloween until I moved overseas and was ‘enlightened’. After 20 years abroad working in international schools in Asia and watching the amazing lengths Americans (and others) went to in celebrating this event I admit I will be feeling the loss this year ~ my first back in Australia.
So in order to get my Halloween teacher-fix I thought I’d make something for our early learners that’s educational, Halloween-y, and not too scary. You can find the link at the end of this post.
This lift-the-flap poster can be made by either children or adults (if you just want your little ones to guess the letter sound) & includes both colour and blackline versions. If you want a more durable poster just laminate the poster and flaps before assembling.
Extending the Activity with Spooky Halloween Sounds
Kids love to use their bodies, recycled bits and pieces and their mouths to make weird and wonderful sounds, especially in October! While leading up to this activity you might like to get your kids in the mood by creating Halloween sound effects. A Halloween Sound Box would be loads of noisy fun and if you have a group of children they can work together to create special sounds as a prelude for each flap before it’s lifted.
With their mouths: wind, howls, ghostly noises, cats, owls, crying, noisy eating sounds.
With their bodies: stomping or running on the spot, tip toeing on crinkled paper, fingertips tapping tin foil, armpit ‘burps,’ scraping feet on carpet or sandpaper.
With recycled materials: tearing paper slowly, flapping paper for bat wings, sliding styrofoam on wet glass for screeching, tapping sticks on plastic or metal containers.
You can hear examples of some of my classes making night noises at this previous post. And if you’re looking for a fun poem incorporating spooky sounds you’ll find one in my Halloween Poetry for All Year pack.
Wherever you are and however you celebrate I do hope you can use this lift-the-flap poster to add a little more Halloween-y learning into your child’s day!
Here’s the link to this free activity: Spooky Lift-the-Flap S..S..Sounds
What’s your favourite Halloween activity combining kids and learning? Please leave the link in the comments so we can check it out!
I wish you happy teaching and learning.
Hi Liz! I don’t exactly have a Halloween activity to share, but I do have a Fall activity that combines hands-on fun with learning. Students draw three Fall picture cards and use each picture to come up with an oral and / or written story. You can definitely do this without my product, but here is the link if anyone else wants to take a closer look.
Best wishes!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Writing-Centers-Idea-Development-Ideas-BME-Beginning-Middle-End-1454866
Jen 🙂
Thanks Jen, that’s a great idea since there would be so many possible card combinations that the stories would all end up very differently. Thanks for sharing!