Throw a Preschool Halloween Party

Halloween can be one a fun holiday to celebrate with young children. Careful planning is the key to a successful party. Here are some basic tips.

Set the Stage

Your best source of decorations is artwork and projects that the children have made. There are many places online to find clipart and patterns for your inspiration. Here are two galleries to get you inspired.
Artist Exchange Web Design
The selection of background music can get help set the mood and there are many Halloween CDs available.

Games

• "Skeleton Skeleton where' s your bone?" This is a simple variation of the old favorite, "Doggy doggy where's your bone."

• "Pin the Nose on the Jack-o-Lantern."

• "Ghost Ghost Boo!" This is a fun variation of " Duck Duck Goose."

Trick-or-Treating in a Daycare Program.

The idea of trick-or-treating at daycare has gained popularity as more communites have discontinued trick-or-treating at night and many parents have safety concerns about younger children trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. In larger daycare centers each classroom can serve as a post where aides, parents or volunteers give out treats while the teachers take children from room to room. If there is one classroom housed in another facility such as a community center or church you maybe able to recruit secretaries or others to set up treat posts within the building.

If you are going to ask parents to bring in treats you may wish to provide them with a list of more nutritional/fun alternatives to candy. Popular items include; stickers, finger puppets, raisin boxes or noisemakers. Be sure to limit smaller objects for children under age three.

If you are going to have a masquerade party, it is best to ask parents to bring in the costumes to be changed into later. This helps to avoid costumes becoming soiled, losing accessories or children being uncomfortable in a cumbersome costume for the remainder of the day. It is also wise to discourage masks. Not only for safety reasons, but also many younger children may be frightened. You may even wish to show younger children mask photos and make masks to remove some of the mystery and fear associated with the masks.

Pumpkin Fun

Jack-O- lantern carving, is a fun and traditional party activity. The children can help plan the face maybe by drawing and designing prototypes, while the teacher can do the actual carving. Everyone can participate in the fun of removing the ooey gooey pulp, a great sensory activity. For safety purposes, you may wish to light up your new friend with a flashlight instead of a candle. For tons of ideas about everything pumpkin visit our Family Crafts guide.

Craft Projects

Visit the Kids Arts and Crafts guide for lots of fun projects!

Songs and Rhymes

Five Little Pumpkins

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate (hold up fingers for pumpkins)
The first once said "Oh my! It's getting late"(slap face ala Home Alone)
The second one said, "There are witches in the air"(point)
The third once said " But we don't care"(shrug shoulders)
The fourth once said "Let's have some fun" (throw hand in the air)
Then " Ooooooh" went the wind (say softly)
And OUT when the lights (clap hands to the word "out" and say loudly)

Eight days of Halloween

On the first day of Halloween my true love gave to me:
An Owl in a dead tree
2 trick or treaters
3 ghosts a booing
4 shaky skeletons
5 scary spooks!
6 bats a flying
7 ghouls a groaning
8 witches cackling