Preschool and Kinder Hallowe'en Playdough Activities

A Little History....


Many of my Japanese friends have been astonished to learn that Hallowe'en is not originally from the US.  The Americans embraced it, embellished it with "jack-o'-lanterns" (I learned that word here in Japan) and the phrase "Trick or Treat!", however it has western European roots.  It is thought to have been primarily influenced by the Celtic Samhain (a Gaelic festival celebrating the end of the harvest season).   

The actual phrase is a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening" and I therefore spell it "Hallowe'en" - this is something all of my primary school and high school teachers were very particular about and it stuck!   However, I've noticed that the inclusion of the apostrophe has been dropped by Americans.  That said, I can't bring myself to spell it "Halloween" in my TpT store, even though it's an American website, it just seems so wrong to me.  Can you tell I was really influenced by my teachers? :-)  

Playdough



Playdough is fun and includes many benefits:

- it's therapeutic, there is definitely something calming about squishing and moulding
- it develops finger muscles which are important for pencil control and scissor skills
- it can be used to support math and literacy concepts
- it develops creativity, the possibilities of a lump of dough are endless! 

This week, monster baby and I have been working on playdough skills; specifically rolling dough into snakes and then placing it on Hallowe'en themed mats to make faces, numbers and letters.  


Meanwhile, I decided to have a go too....


Back to monster boy...


Downloads


The Freaky Faces Hallowe'en mats are available for FREE by clicking here.

The differentiated number formation, number concept, 2D shapes and vocabulary cards are available for sale by clicking here.


Ideas?


I'd love to hear your ideas for Hallowe'en with preschoolers and kinders.  Particularly because the local mother/toddler group have asked me to do a Hallowe'en Circle Time in English as part of their anniversary celebrations at the end of this month!  (eeek!)  


Best wishes,

OkinawanGirl Lisa


Credits

The pumpkin frame graphic in the post header was made by Hugs Designs and the cute ladybird girl is by Laura at MyCuteGraphics.