We wanted to share some of the lovely sensory activities for Halloween that we have come across recently…
Pumpkin carving is a great sensory activity – but remember you can try other vegetables as well. It is hard work turning the traditional Scottish turnip (a swede in England) into a lantern – but you will fill the air with a lovely turnip-y smell if you give it a go.
Gather together a variety of squash for tactile exploration. Or try some mini pepper jack o’lanterns for snack time!
For some Halloween baking try a pumpkin pie – the smell is heavenly! A slight cheat is to use pumpkin puree from a tin – Libby’s Pure Pumpkin comes with a simple recipe on the label.
Or bake some spider bread – this recipe from cookist.com is quite easy because it uses ready-made pizza dough.
If you prefer your recipes to be purely sensory you could make some special goop or slime for Halloween. There are lots of instructions online – or for a good range of ready-made slimes try tinknstink.co.uk.
Handprints are always fun – here are some excellent ideas for Halloween handprints from thebestideasforkids.com:
And this idea for spider painting looks a lot of fun – go to fantasticfunandlearning.com for instructions. (Once you have baked your spider bread and made your spider pictures you could sing a spider song – try There’s a Spider on the Floor from the Scottish Book Trust song library.)
We found this idea for hanging Halloween decorations at annasartundweise.de. Instructions are in German – but it looks quite straightforward (with the help of google translate). Possibly a little tricky for children to do themselves but a great way to decorate a room for Halloween.
Happy Halloween to one and all!
