Pumpkin Snow

The kids needed something to do the last hour of our day, so I quickly searched our cupboards and came across the baking soda first. I mixed together a good amount of baking soda (I failed to take pictures of this as I had 7 little helpers with the mixing), cold water, orange food coloring, and pumpkin spice. I mixed it together with my hands and got: Pumpkin Snow. 

I made this "snow" numerous times last winter for our snow sensory play days (read more about one of our first expereinces with this "snow" here: http://ashlen-kidspert.blogspot.com/2014/01/no-school-monday.html), but this was the first time that it kept the kids entertained for a full hour (a few kids even more than that)!

 I set out the Halloween cookie cutters so the kids could make shapes with their snow.

 The kids loved making shapes and crumbling the snow into "snowflakes."

 So, this is a messy activity, BUT it cleans up super easy (or so says the Hubs who has kitchen cleaning duty every evening). It washes off hands, faces, hair, and ears with just a bit of water and doesn't hurt clothing at all (I just gave most clothes a quick brush off with a towel). My six year old loves this stuff because "it's just the right kind of messy" as he informed us all. Bonus: it's simply baking soda and water and is safe for the youngest of kids who may try to sneak a taste (and yes, that happened today too). This was such a hit with the kids, that next week we'll be trying out Apple Snow!

Toilet Paper Roll Ghosts

Looking for a super simple Halloween craft for your little one? Toilet paper roll ghosts fits the bill....and they can also double for Halloween decorations afterward (this scored big points with me because I rarely have a chance to decorate before Halloween).

All you need for this craft: empty toilet paper rolls, masking tape, white paint, and a black Sharpie marker.

Start by covering one end of the empty toilet paper roll with masking tape (the only reason I used masking tape is because it was handy in the junk drawer and can be painted on).

Next, the kiddos paint them with white paint. It can take a few coats of paint to completely cover up the brown holders, but these kids didn't seem to have a problem as they put gobs of paint on anyway. Let them air dry once completely painted. Our's took about 6 1/2 to completely dry.

 After the ghosts have dried, use the Sharpie to draw a ghost face.

The kid's favorite part of these: making ghost noises into the toilet paper roll made them nice and loud!

When the kids were done making their ghost noises, we put their toilet paper roll ghosts in the window "so they could scare the mailman."

Stay tuned for more easy peasy Halloween crafts and activities from the daycare kids!