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On Sunday night, a few kids asked me if I’d teach them about Halloween. I hadn’t planned on doing anything special, but coming from a family that lives off of Halloween parties, I enthusiastically said yes. The first step to any good Halloween party is obviously the candy, so I took a trip to the local store to pick up $20 worth of sweets and began planning. (In case you were wondering, Thai convenience store M&Ms are far from delicious.)
Come Halloween, I quickly got to work on the party. Naturally, I started by cleaning an rearranging the room. The first real step was to make the “Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin” game. I found a great guide at Family Education which I projected upon the board. I then (rather poorly) traced the outline of the pumpkin on some paper and colored it orange. I took some scrap paper, crayons, and tape to make the pinnable stem. As for the blindfold, I can thank Qatar Airways for supplying the sleep mask. Once finished with the great pumpkin, I worked on planning and setting up the remainder of the activities.
Once it was time for the party, I was greeted by a bunch of “ghostly” kids. In a rather resourceful manner, they used baby powder to turn their faces white. They definitely one-upped my struggling rock star look. We began the party by working on some Halloween coloring sheets. I took this time to teach the names of the various monsters, which allowed me to transition nice into the first game. The kids had to complete an obstacle course while pretending to be whatever monster I call out. For example, if I say zombie, then they must complete the course while limping slowly. Afterwards, we finally played pin the stem on the pumpkin. My effort was not in vain as the kids absolutely loved it. Lastly, I put on my rad Halloween playlist and had the kids play musical chairs. “It was a graveyard smash.”
In order to make sure the kids really understand trick or treating, I decided to show them the best Halloween movie there is (okay, technically it’s a TV special, but it’s my classroom and it’s my blog, so its title stays), It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. They enjoyed watching the Peanuts Gang in their costumes, and really loved the party scenes. Their attention spans were a little short, especially with the show being in English, but I think they learned a thing or two from watching it. If not, at least I had a good excuse to watch the show myself.
We ended the party by playing Halloween bingo. It was super simple to setup, reinforced their vocabulary, and was lots of fun. Afterwards, I grabbed the candy bowl and had the kids practice trick or treating. They really seemed to enjoy partaking in the tradition, even if it was a bit different. Of course, they could have just been excited to receive candy, which is okay too. If anything, that means they’ve mastered the motives behind the holiday
I hope you enjoyed the longer midweek read. Due to a special adventure, I’m off the grid until Sunday. As a result, it’s likely that this week’s report will be delayed or possibly even skipped. However, don’t fret; there are big things to come. As always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a groovy week.
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