Category Archives: Halloween

Mummy on the Move! (Halloween version of Elf on the Shelf)

I have heard about the Elf on the Shelf Christmas idea for awhile now. I have never read the book, but from what I have gathered, there is an elf that moves around every night watching the kids and reporting back to Santa if they have been naughty or nice. Sounds fun, and I would love to do that for Christmas this year.

And Halloween.

I searched around online and couldn’t find anything, so I had to kick my creative gears into motion and come up with my own idea. I came across this fun and pretty easy tutorial on movable mummies from Family Chic which I made. (I added batting to make the mummy more poofy since my husband said the mummy looked anorexic! ha!). Any mummy doll would work- preferably the ones that bend, because then you can have more fun! Amazon has a little mummy doll that is part of a Halloween set that looks fun, and Toys R Us has a mummy plush doll.

Here is the plan: The night before our first day of our Halloween countdown, I will read my daughter this short Mummy on the Move story I wrote (I have to add that I haven’t read the Elf on the Shelf yet, so any similarities are purely coincidental!).

During the night I will hide the mummy somewhere in our house. In the morning, my Boo will search the house and find him (it is a boy, since according to her all the bad or scary guys are boys!)

I am really super excited to have our little mummy on the move at our house! This is just another fun holiday activity to get us excited for Halloween!

Happy Haunting and as always… Happy Teaching!

Glow in the Dark Bone Recognition Game

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My little family and I spent an evening at the dollar store (fun times- those dollar stores!) I bought a glow in the dark skeleton thinking it would be so cool to hang in my daughter’s room- like a Halloween night light!
Well, you get what you pay for. The dollar store skeleton didn’t GLOW very well. But that’s OK. Because we were able to come up with this fun and very educational activity!

Glow in the Dark Bone Recognition Game

Boo highlighting the femur during our Bone Recognition Game

Supplies:
dollar store glow in the dark skeleton
flashlight
knowledge of bone names

Pregame stuff:
Hang up the skeleton (so your kids can reach the skull- for a non-example look at the pic above!) Tell your kiddo that you are going to play a glow in the dark game with the skeleton! How fun, right! Show ’em how you highlight an area of the skeleton by shining the flashlight directly on top it. It’s like you are painting the bones with light.

If your skeleton is a cheap one like mine, only the bone that was highlighted with direct light will glow… and not for a very long time, either.

Game:
Have one child step out of the room. Give another child a flashlight, and tell her to highlight the femur (or any other bone) on the skeleton with the flashlight (remember direct light for a few minutes). Bring the first child back into the room and tell her to quickly point to the femur (She shouldn’t be able to tell which one was highlighted). After she guesses, turn the lights out to see if she guessed correctly! Remember to play fast!

There are also game adaptions-

For those just learning the bone names, you can have them highlight a bone and then talk about it.
You can use the everyday names (shoulder, foot, backbone) instead of the scientific names for those young learners.
YOU can highlight a bone, turn the lights off, and have a young child state the everyday name(shoulder, foot, backbone) and an older child state the scientific name.

Happy Teaching!

Candy Corn (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

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I decided to do a fun Halloween countdown with my daughter (read more about it HERE). While we aren’t starting quite yet, I wanted to compile all my ideas by October 18th so I am ready to go. Each day has it’s own Halloween theme. Enjoy!

Our thirteenth (and last!) theme for our 13 day countdown is candy corn. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. There are SO many fun candy corn ideas!! Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas…but with a Halloween twist!)

Make one of the MANY candy corn treat ideas to share with a neighbor/friend
Take a friend to a corn maze
Help neighbors with their gardens

Literature

Julius’s Candy Corn Good, simple book about candy corn. Can easily integrate counting ideas with this book. (Check out Primary School@ Suite 101 for a post about using this book to teach math)

Learning Time Fun

Candy Corn Wonderland (I have a feeling this would be a great site to visit if you like candy corn! Ha!) shares some ideas for using these candies to help teach math.

First School has a page dedicated to candy corn ideas… the handwriting pages are always helpful!

Mrs. Freshwater’s Class has a cute candy corn numbers download. Darling!

Creative and Curious Kids shared some great math activities centered around candy corn. I love her ideas with estimation, addition and subtraction, sorting, and patterns. (OK, I love ALL the ideas.)

The Activity Idea Place has some great ideas for preschoolers centered around candy corns. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the site- the ideas are fantastic!

Treats & Eats
Food Family Finds posted this very sweet idea of candy corn marshmallow pops. So cute!

Taste and Tell shared a recipe for candy corn fudge… it sounds delicious!

How yummy do these candy corn sugar cookies look? Great idea from Kathie Cooks.

Kitchen Daily posted her recipe for candy corn jello. Step aside green jello, you have some competition.

Parents shared this healthy vegetable snack in a healthy candy corn display.

The Curvy Carrot posted this fun way to frost cupcakes.

I Heart Cuppycakes shared her candy corn cupcake recipe.

Sharon Bower’s posted this recipe for candy corn pizza on the Oprah site.

Serious Eats posted this recipe to make homemade candy corn- I had no idea this was even a possibility!

I love this candy corn pudding idea from Paper Jewels. It looks delicious!

Our Best Bites (amazing site!!) has a recipe and step-by-step directions for these delectable candy corn cupcakes.

Just looking at these homemade butterfingers with candy corn from In Katrina’s Kitchen is making me hungry. Mmmmmm……

I love this candy corn cheesecake from Wilton. You do need a checkerboard cake pan (must put this on my wish list!)

I LOVE this idea for Rice Krispies candy corn treats from Lick the Bowl Good. Man, I am officially starving and will need to take a snack break!

Arts & Crafts
Better Homes and Gardens shared this fun idea of making a candy corn garland- would be a fun craft for kids!

Visit the Teacher Wife to learn how to make a darling candy corn art project.

How cute are these candy corn treat holders from Skip to My Lou? Her site has a great tutorial to make these!

Better Homes and Gardens shared this fun way to paint your pumpkins to look like candy corns. Simple, but I love it!

DLTK has a printable candy corn man art project- I think it would be fun to use this idea, but without the template (it would make for more original art!)

Games

Make some of these fabulous candy corn cones (image and tutorial found at Zakka Life) using old orange soccer cones. Have your kiddos run around the cones or come up with simple relays to add some gross motor activities to the Halloween season! Love it! (Also check out her cute knit candy corns– perfect for a play kitchen!)

Fingerplays and Songs

I was left to my own creative juices to come up with this fingerplay about candy corn.

Candy Corn
Candy corn looks like this (put fingers together like a triangle)
and is very good to eat, (rub your tummy)
I like to taste it right away (pretend to eat)
It’s my very favorite treat! (put hand on heart)

Misc

An entire book dedicated to Candy Corn poems from James Stevenson. Wow.

Happy Haunting!

Owls (13 Days of Halloween)

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Our twelfth theme for our 13 day countdown is owls. All of these ideas would be great not only for Halloween, but all through the fall season. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas…but with a Halloween twist!)

Make donations to a local bird refugee , aviary, or nature center
Make owl treats and share with a friend/neighbor- write “thanks for being a hoot!”
Talk about ways to keep the skies clean and free from pollutants and make a plan as a family to implement one of the ideas

Literature

Owl Moon, Owl Babies, and The Littlest Owl are all great books about owls. While they aren’t Halloweenish at all, they are still great books!

Learning Time Fun

Making Learning Fun has a GREAT selection of owl themed learning activities. We like the dot-to-dots, handprint owl idea, and these cute magnet pages.

WOW- Our Little Monkeys has an Owl Tot Pack post FILLED with great owl ideas/links. This is a must visit site for anyone wanting owl ideas!!! She has art ideas, food ideas, plus her learning pack. 🙂

Treats & Eats
Superheroes and Princesses has a WONDERFUL idea for owl pancakes. She also has posts on healthy owl snacks and a cute little owl mask for the kids to make.

Look at these cute owl treats from Family Fun!

Amy at Living Locurto has a recipe for these darling owl smores. And oh my goodness, she has the cutest owl party set. So cute!!!

Life With the Depews posted an owl smores idea, too. These are stinkin’ cute!

Arts & Crafts
Womens Day has directions for this simple candy corn owl craft.

While She Naps (I can totally relate to the title of this blog!) posted a cute paperbag owl puppet.

I absolutely love these owl treat bags from Work In Progress Kits. Darling!

Visit Crafts by Amanda for a paper plate owl tutorial.

I Heart Crafty Things made these super cute owls with her kids after reading Owl Babies. Would be fun to do something similar with thumbprints!

Lee, Me, & the Girls posted these adorable owl thank you cards.. made by her kids! I love this idea!

Fingerplays and Songs

This song was found at KidnKaboodle.

Halloween
(tune: Mary Had a Little Lamb)
Halloween is coming soon,
Coming soon, coming soon
Halloween is coming soon,
Boo, boo, boo!

See the owl flying high
Flying high, flying high
See the owl flying high,
Hoot, hoot, hoot!

Misc

I am in the market right now for bookends for my daughter’s room…. i just LOVE the look of these from The Little Appleseed!

Happy Haunting!

Haunted House (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

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Our eleventh theme for our 13 day countdown is haunted houses. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas…but with a Halloween twist!)

Have your little ones clean up their house so it isn’t haunted by clutter!
Take a walk outside and straighten up any untidy homes in your neighborhood (such as picking up litter, sweeping porches, raking leaves, etc!)

Literature

Inside a House That Is Haunted: A Rebus Read-Along Story This is a book we actually have! Think of this as a Halloween twist on the classic “This is the house that Jack built” story. It would be fun to have older kids come up with their own haunted house rebus stories.

Learning Time Fun

Learn English Kids has an online I spy game where kids search for objects in a haunted house. Great game for those learning letters.

Teach your little ones their street address so they know where their haunted house is!

This is a GREAT time to sit down with your family and make a fire escape plan. Draw a simple map of your house on large paper, and have your kids (with your help) come up with at least two escape routes.

Treats & Eats
Kraft Foods posted a haunted house cake recipe- looks delicious!

What’s For Lunch at Our House posted this fun haunted house lunch. Be careful when visiting this site- you can easily get sucked into the most adorable lunch ideas EVER.

I love this no bake haunted house kit from Williams-Sonoma. I think Target might sell something similar- good practice for the gingerbread houses during Christmas!

Arts & Crafts
Super cute haunted house project made from a brown paper bag from Busy Bee Kids Crafts. I think this would be fun family home evening project- make an entire neighborhood of haunted houses!

Popsicle stick haunted house from All Kids Network. Would be fun to make into a magnet!

All Kids Network also posted these easy haunted house lift the flap art project. I know my almost 4 year old would enjoy making this- and how fun would it be to add words- like a bat sticker and the word bat.. just trying to keep things educational. 🙂

I love this magnetic haunted house craft posted by No Time For Flash Cards (love this site!)… a nice quiet activity that is perfect for the Halloween season!

Games

Create your own haunted reading nook!

Decorate the area by displaying spooky self portraits made by your little ones
Make a spider web by stretching cotton batting in corners- add spiders!
Play eerie music or scary sound effects
Bundle all your Halloween books into a Boo basket (don’t forget to check the library)
Dim the lights, grab a flashlight, and have a bone-rattling read-a-thon!

Eat a candlelight dinner with the house lights off. Eat frightening food (check out our other 13 Days of Halloween posts for some delicious ideas) and don’t forget the spooky background music!

Fingerplays and Songs
All of these were found at Kid’n’Kaboodle.

The Haunted House
(Tune of “Wheels on the Bus”)
The ghost in the house goes “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
“Boo! Boo! Boo!, Boo! Boo! Boo!”
The ghost in the house goes “Boo! Boo! Boo!”
On Halloween.
The steps in the house goes “Creek, creek, creek…”
The cats in the house go “Meow, meow, meow…”
The mice in the house go “Squeak, squeak, squeak..”
The people in the house go “Eek, eek, eek…”

Haunted House…
(Pop Goes The Weasel)
All around the haunted house,
The bat chased the goblin.
The ghost floated overhead.
Scat! went the black cat.

The Ghost in the House
(tune: “The Wheels on the Bus”)
The ghost in the house goes “boo boo boo,
Boo boo boo, boo boo boo”
The ghost in the house goes “boo boo boo”
On Halloween
Other verses:
The steps in the house go “creak creak creak”
The cats in the house go “meow meow meow”
The mice in the house go “squeak squeak squeak”
The people in the house go “eak eak eak”
We also added other creatures ( monsters, skeletons, mummies etc.) and made up our own sounds for them!

Oh, Haunted House
(Sung to: O Tannenbaum)
Oh, haunted house,
Oh, haunted house
the mansion stands so proudly,
Oh haunted house
Oh, haunted house
its shutters bang so loudly
It’s wooden staircase groans and creaks
It’s doors have lots of eerie squeaks
Oh, haunted house
Oh, haunted house
The mansion stands so proudly

Misc

This is a fun mommy craft from Better Homes and Gardens. What a fun place to put Halloween candy!

Happy Haunting!

Monsters (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

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Our tenth theme for our 13 day countdown is monsters. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas…but with a Halloween twist!)

Have your kiddo tame their inner monster for a moment and perform an anonymous act of service
Embrace your inner monster and spend the afternoon running, jumping, and climbing at a nearby park- even if the weather is a bit blustery.

Literature

Go Away Big Green Monster Although this isn’t necessarily a Halloween book, it is a fun book about monsters. It would be fun to have your little one create their own monsters after reading this book!

Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli It sounds like a fun read! It has received great reviews on Amazon! I think this book is geared for the picky eater (I know we all have one in our family!).

Learning Time Fun

1+1+1=1 (an AMAZING resource for any parent!) has a whole monster themed learning pack suitable for the kindergartener. She also has a link to other monster related teaching materials….. very nice!

Homeschool Share has another cute Monster learning pack.

Treats & Eats
From Glitter to Gumdrops posted this idea for transforming brownies to monsters.. and they are pretty cute, too!

How fun are these mini monster cupcakes from the Decorated Cookie! What a talented gal!

Pickles & Paisleys shared a fun monster themed birthday party- I especially like this simple idea of adding googly eyes to paper cups.

Arts & Crafts
These cards are ADORABLE from Angela Sgro Designs– I love them! What a clever way to use paint chip cards!

Blissfully Domestic made these fun monster blobs.

I like this idea from House of Baby Piranha – wiggly eyes and play doh. Simple and fun!

House of Baby Piranha has another fun idea- shape monsters! Darling!

Giggles Galore has a great way to handle tattling- tattle monsters! Check out her site for a great tutorial to make this project!

Games

Classroom Freebies has a fun Monster dice game.

Play musical chairs to the song Monster Mash

Fingerplays and Songs
The first song was found at Kid’nKaboodle, and the Monster Mash video was found while searching YouTube!

In The Graveyard
(Tune: Clementine)
In the graveyard,
In the graveyard,
When the moon
Begins to shine
There’s a doctor
Crazy doctor
And his monster,
Frankenstein.

Oh, my monster,
Oh, my monster,
Oh, my monster,
Frankenstein
You are very,
Very scary
Don’t come near me
Frankenstein.

Monster Mash
Classic, catchy song- and the cartoon is great for kids of all ages!

Misc

Sesame Street + R.E.M. = Furry Happy Monsters. Love it.

Happy Haunting!

Mummies (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

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Our ninth theme for our 13 day countdown is mummies. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas…but with a Halloween twist!)

Write your mummy a note telling her how much you appreciate her!
Make a mummy treat (or other Halloween yummies) to share with a mom in your neighborhood who may need a little cheering up- include notes of gratitude and why you think they are special mummies!
Tell your kiddos why you are glad that you are their mummy
Have your kiddos write notes of love and appreciate to their grand-mummies

Literature

Where’s My Mummy This book looks darling! I can handle the cute mummies.

Learning Time Fun

There are some printable activities from Print Activities (such a suitable name for this site, right?) These pages are more for the older elementary aged child.

Treats & Eats
Recipe Girl shares a recipe for mummy head treat using rice krispies. Cute and yummy!

Aren’t these mummy Nutter Butter cookies from Four Girlies adorable? And with just three ingredients- this is definitely a recipe I can handle!

How Does She posted a recipe for these mummy cookie suckers. And they are made with Oreos…mmm!

If you really want mummy food, go to Betty Crocker‘s site. They have recipes for mummy lasagne, ground beef mummy bread, baked potato mummies, chicken enchilada mummies, crunchy mummies (celery sticks), crunchy mummy fingers, and two different mummy cookie recipes. Geesh! This is like one stop shopping for a mummy dinner!

The Idea Room had a birthday party with a mummy theme- so there are lots of great ideas! I like the mummy pretzel sticks. They also posted darling mummy dogs and mummy mini pizzas!

Bright Ideas also had a cute mummy pretzel stick recipe.

How cute are these mummy drinks from One Charming Party?

I never thought a mummy looked cuter than this fun lasagne recipe from The Knead for Speed.

Imagine shared a fun idea of wrapping juice boxes to make drinkable mummies!

Arts & Crafts
Family Chic posted this movable mummy craft. The fact that it is movable got me thinking… how cute would this be to make and then move around every day during our Halloween countdown? Like the Christmas Elf on the Shelf- but with Halloween flair. And it could be called “Mummy on the Move”. I am totally trying this out… I think this could be the beginning of a new trend 🙂

I love this craft stick mummy project from Family Fun.

Parents has a mummy treat holder craft- darling!

Busy Bee Kids Crafts has a mummy craft using a toilet paper roll and a paper towel- all things we have on hand!

Skip to my Lou posted this idea for easy candy bar covers.

These mummy treat boxes from Groppi Girls are simply to die for!

Games

Family fun posted two fun games- A Gift from Mummy (unrolling toilet paper to find treats) and the classic Mummy Wrap Game. I don’t see myself doing either of these but they do seem fun! (I can see my Boo thinking unraveling toilet paper ALL the time would be fun- don’t want to give her any ideas!)

Fingerplays and Songs

I had to make up my own mummy song. Not too shabby, I have to say. 🙂

Mummies
(to the tune of I’m a Little Teapot)
I’m a little mummy dressed in white,
Look at me- I’m quite a sight!
If you chance to meet me Halloween night,
I will give you such a fright!

Misc

I love this mommy craft from TLC– it is super cute!

And you can’t mention mummies without saying something about Thriller by Michael Jackson. I won’t be showing this to my four year old- I get a little scared watching it!

Happy Haunting!

Spiders (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

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Our eight theme for our 13 day countdown is spiders. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas…but with a Halloween twist!)

Spend all day browsing the web… ha! I am totally kidding!
Help someone dust cobwebs
Make spider treats to share with friends/neighbors

Literature

The Very Busy Spider Fun little spider book. While it has nothing to do with Halloween, it’s a great spider book- especially for those little tots!

How Spider Saved Halloween This is a highly recommended book how Spider saves Halloween from disaster. If you can’t tell, I haven’t read it and I am just writing what the little blurb on Amazon says.

Learning Time Fun

Mathwire has a whole page of spider themed math activities! Cool!

I added two spider pages to my wiki– fact and opinion, and a printable book.

Check out the spider theme from First School– lots of great printables!

Making Learning Fun (I think I pull up this site a million times a day!) has a lot of really cute spider ideas. I like the roll a spider game and their instructions on making a dixie cup spider/treat holder!

Treats & Eats
Fahrenheit 350 shared a simple way to add a little spider to your drinks!

I found some DARLING spider recipes from Our Best Bites (I just love this site!) They posted an easy way to make spider cookies as well as a trick to make your dip spider-licious!

Another fun tutorial from Our Best Bites… how to give your cookies a spiderweb makeover!

Kitchen Fun With My Three Sons made these fun spiders with a plum and dark grapes.

Gourmet Mom on the Go posted a simple recipe for making mini spider web pizzas… they would be so much fun for lunch!

How cute are these donut spiders from Prepared Not Scared. She suggests tying strings to these babies and having family members try to eat the entire thing with no hands. Fun!

Arts & Crafts
Crafty Crafted posted a great spider paper plate craft that is not only a decoration- but it also doubles as a treat holder! Too cute!

I also love these spider suckers from Ohdeedoh… I love that she cuts up a garbage bag to make the spiders black… how resourceful!

My Delicious Ambiguity (another site that I love!) shared a sweet spider handprint art project. I love this because it is a keepsake of those lovable little handprints.

House of Baby Piranha posted a cute marble spiderweb and spider craft. They also posted a darling spider hat and spider pop craft!

Let your little spiders spin their own webs with this idea from Preschool Rock.

Games

One Charming Party shared a simple spider toss game. (They also have a cute idea of putting spider toothpicks on cheese and crackers.)

Have your children try to keep their balance while walking across the spider swamp… this idea came from Parents.

Have a fun spider relay by crab-walking- great idea from TipJunkie!

Prepared Not Scared shares an adorable spider leg dice (mod podge needed!)

Fingerplays and Songs

These were found at Kid’n’Kaboodle and Making Learning Fun.

The Spider Spins a Web
(tune: The Farmer and the Dell)
The spider spins a web,
The spider spins a web,
Round, round, up and down,
The spider spins a web.
Additional Verses:
She spins it in and out.
She spins it back and forth.
She spins it good and strong.
Spin, Spin, Little Spider
Sung to Ten Little Indians
Spin, spin, little spider,
Spin, spin, wider, wider.
Spin, spin, little spider,
Early in the morning.
Dance, dance, little spider,
Dance, dance, dance out wider.
Dance, dance, little spider,
Early in the morning.
Additional verses: Run, run little spider; Crawl, crawl, little spider;
Jump, jump, little spider.

Little Spider
See the little spider
Climbing up the wall(crawl finger up arm)
See the little spider
Stumble and fall (crawl fingers down arm)
See the little spider
Tumble down the street.(crawl finger down leg)
See the little spider
Stop down at your feet.

Spider, Spider
(tune: Wheels on the Bus)
Spider, Spider, (Lock thumbs together, wiggle fingers)
weave and weave. (Spin hand over hand)
Spider, Spider, (Lock thumbs together, wiggle fingers)
weave and weave. (Spin hand over hand)
Spider, Spider, (Lock thumbs together, wiggle fingers)
Weave and weave(Spin hand over hand)
It’s time to spin your web.

Misc

Tip Junkie posted this cute DIY spider web plate! LOVE it!

I also love this video! So cool to see a spider in action!

Spider web timelapse from Doug Jensen on Vimeo.

Happy Haunting!

Pumpkin Candy Corn Popcorn Balls

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I recently learned that you can use candy corn (and a little butter) to make popcorn balls (Thanks Shirley).

I also saw this recipe for pumpkin shaped popcorn balls from Bee in our Bonnet (spotted this one on Pinterest!) that are super cute.

So I thought… what the heck? Why not combine them into one glorious treat? And so I did! And they are SCRUMPTIOUS! And besides the taste- the ingredients for this recipe will appease all you budget minded people out there!

Ingredients:

marshmallows and butter not pictured….

1 9 oz. bag of candy corn (bought at the dollar store)
1 bag of microwavable popcorn (we didn’t have any popcorn kernels- or we would have gone the homemade route!)
Butter (about 4 tablespoons)
Handful of mini marshmallows
Tootsie Rolls (bought at the dollar store)
1 Green Apple Airhead Candy

Directions:
Make the popcorn. Place popcorn in bowl and toss in a handful of candy corn.

Over medium heat, melt butter and the rest of the candy corn. Stir constantly!

Pour the hot (I have to add that adjective because I kept burning myself!) melted candy corn over popcorn.

It was at this point when I realized I needed a little more STICKINESS. So I ran back to the stove and melted a handful of marshmallows with 2 tablespoons butter. I quickly then poured that mixture on top of the popcorn/candy corn. (It might be easier to just melt the marshmallows and candy corn together at the beginning … but I am not a chef and I don’t know if that would completely mess up the entire recipe!)

Carefully (because of the heat) form popcorn into balls.

My hands were getting burnt at this stage so there are no pictures…

Form several leaves from the Airhead Candy (I threw mine into the microwave for 5 seconds to soften it).

Place candy leaves and unwrapped tootsie rolls on top of your popcorn balls to complete your pumpkin look!

Can you spot that large chewy candy corn inside the popcorn ball? Biting into those pieces gave it an extra sweet taste!

Some of the popcorn balls got a “spray tan” with orange food color mist. It was a nice touch, but not necessary!

These were simple, fast, and purely delicious.
Enjoy!

Black Cats (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

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Our seventh theme for our 13 day countdown is black cats. Here are some of the fun ideas I have found (sorted by category). And while I will only have time to do two or three of these ideas, I wanted to include everything I found that was noteworthy. Many of these were found on Pinterest (i just LOVE this site!) some are on my wiki, and some I have found through google searches.

Service Project (Same concept as 12 days of Christmas…but with a Halloween twist!)

Make a donation to an animal shelter
Make a black cat treat to share with a friend/neighbor

Literature

Moonlight: The Halloween Cat A book about a cat’s perspective of Halloween. It has gotten great reviews. (This is on our still need to read list!)

Scaredy Cat Splat Splat wants to be scary, but he keeps getting scared. (Yet another book on our still need to read list)

Learning Time Fun

1+1+1=1 has a whole pack of cat learning activities! My favorite are the nomenclature cards and complete the pattern activity… plus a lot of great tracing pages!

Treats & Eats
Hungry Halloween (love the name of this site!) posted a recipe for black cat rice krispies treat pops…. yummy!

All Recipes shared a black cat cookie recipe- it must be pretty good because it has excellent reviews!

Arts & Crafts
I love this simple, yet adorable, pipe cleaner finger puppet craft from Craft Jr.

Easy Child Care Crafts posted a simple cat craft using a toilet paper roll.

If you have an extra wooden lying around, you can use it to make this black cat craft from Activity Village.

Check out this link to 123 Child for a cute cat fingerprint art idea. (this isn’t a Halloween cat- but you can easily change that by using black paint!)

Games

Check out this black cat treasure hunt game from Family Fun. Simply hide clues on black cats, on a mission to find the hidden candy treasure! I am thinking of adapting this to fit into my daughter’s safari birthday party.

My daughter LOVES the game “The Old Gray Cat is Sleeping” (a version similar to the one we play can be found here). You could make it a Halloween game by changing the cat from gray to black!

Fingerplays and Songs

These were found at Kid’n’Kaboodle and CanTeach– there is a lot more Halloween poems and songs on these super sites!

Black Cat
(Tune: Mary Had a Little Lamb)
We saw a black cat, black cat, black cat.
We saw a black cat on Halloween.
He was stretching his paws, his paws, his paws.
He was stretching his paws on Halloween.

Cat
Cat,
Cat,
Your eyes are bright and green,
Where have you been
What have you done
So skittery-scary this Hallowe’en?
And where did you get
that pointed hat?
Tell me that,
Cat!

Black Cat!
Black cat, black cat
Looking for a witch.
All around the
Night is dark as pitch.
You can see because
Your eyes are greee.
Black cat, Black cat
This is Hallowe’en!

Hallowe’en is Coming Soon
(can be sung to the tune of London Bridge)
Hallowe’en is coming soon, coming soon, coming soon,
Hallowe’en is coming soon,
Oh, what fun!
Black cats sitting on a fence, on a fence, on a fence,
Black cats sitting on a fence,
Meow! Meow! Meow!
Owl’s a-hooting in the trees, in the trees, in the trees,
Owl’s a-hooting in the trees,
Whoo! Whoo! Whoo!
Witches flying on their brooms, on their brooms, on their brooms,
Witches flying on their brooms,
Eee! Eee! Eee!
Jack o’lanterns grin at you, grin at you, grin at you,
Jack o’lanterns grin at you,
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Hallowe’en is coming soon, coming soon, coming soon,
Hallowe’en is coming soon,
Oh, what fun!

Misc

Womans Day posted these DARLING black cat pillows (definitely a Mommy craft). Cuteness!

Happy Haunting!

The Home Teacher

A Blog Designed to Create Life Long Learners at Home

Category Archives: Halloween

Mummy on the Move! (Halloween version of Elf on the Shelf)

Glow in the Dark Bone Recognition Game

Candy Corn (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

Owls (13 Days of Halloween)

Haunted House (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

Monsters (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

Mummies (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

Spiders (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)

Pumpkin Candy Corn Popcorn Balls

Black Cats (13 Days of Halloween Ideas)