Halloween

Make a homemade vending machine with leftover Hallowe'en candy

Leftover Hallowe'en candy... it's still hanging around at this momstown mama's house. Enter ingenuity and the love of any craft made from a cardboard box, and my 8 year old designed his own vending machine - complete with a full year's supply of candy!

 

If you have leftover Hallowe'en candy and a box with dividers (we made a trip to the liquor store for ours), your kids can make their own homemade vending machines. We've had hours of pretend play 'buying, selling, stocking' and even a few media literacy lessons along the way!

 

vending machine homemade

If you look closely, you'll see my children haven't done very much price-checking!

 

What you need:

  • Cardboard box with dividers (wine boxes work really well - they have 12 'slots'
  • Markers, scissors, tape
  • Hallowe'en candy

 

vending machine homemadeYou can write onto the slots to label them (this is a fun sorting activity for kids of any age), or cut out small pieces of paper and stick them on. If you open up both sides of the box and lay it on its side, you've got a 'display' front as well as a way to 'stock' from the back!

 

 

 

vending machine homemadeThen, the pricing can start. It's a great way for kids to practice their money sense (small amounts equal to coins are easiest for little ones). If your kids are older you can talk about 'comparing' too, for example how much should a bag of chips be compared to a small chocolate bar?

 

 

 

 

 

 

vending machine homemadeThen, the 'vending' can begin! My boys had lots of fun trading and selling (rather than eating, fortunately!) and my 8 year-old even designed a 'closed' sign for when he was not 'in the store'.

 

Check out these other great ideas for leftover Hallowe'en candy!

 

 

 

 

Posted by momstown team on 11/10/2012 - 19:53
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Halloween Paper Bag Pumpkin

It’s cold and windy outside! Stay inside from Hurricane Sandy and get crafty with your youngsters today. Pull together this simple Halloween Paper Bag Pumpkin craft with recycled materials around your house, just like momstown Milton did at a recent toddler program.

 

momstown milton pumpkin

 

Things you Need:
Brown paper bag
Old newspaper to crumple up to fill
Orange paint (paintbrushes)
Fun sparkles, stickers, black paper or markers to include a face
Twist ties or tape to tie off the paper bag


Your little ones will love crumbling up the paper and stuffing the bag and then painting it to resemble a pumpkin. Once dry, glue on a face with black paper or draw it on with markers.


If it’s a long day inside you could make an entire Pumpkin family to match your own!

Posted by momstown mama on 10/29/2012 - 22:11
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Top 10 Halloween Party Ideas for Kids

 

Creating a fun Halloween Party is often even better than going door-to-door!  Whether it's too cold or wet to walk around the block or you just want to celebrate this creepy holiday, visit your local dollar store or decorations and get ready for indoor fun!

momstown has the BEST ideas to make your Halloween Party a hit with kids of all ages!  Invite your neighbours or do a rotating party at a few houses on your street using these Halloween craft, activity and treat ideas!

 top 10 halloween party ideas for kids

 

1.  Ghost Bowling is simple to set up and so much fun for the kids!

 

2.  Let the kids do some baking with cereal or decorate cookies and cupcakes using these Easy Halloween Treats.

 

 3.  Put on Halloween puppet shows, tell ghost stories or read some fabulous Halloween books!

 

4.  Keep it healthy with these BOO-nana Frozen Treats!

 

5. Sing some well-known songs with Halloween words like this one,


THE HAUNTED HOUSE
(tune: "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round")

The ghost in the house goes "Boo! Boo! Boo!"
"Boo! Boo! Boo!, Boo! Boo! Boo!"
The ghost in the house goes "Boo! Boo! Boo!"
On Halloween.

The steps in the house goes "Creek, creek, creek..."
The cats in the house go "Meow, meow, meow..."
The mice in the house go "Squeak, squeak, squeak.."
The kids in the house go "Trick or Treat"

 

6.  Treat or Treating inside? Fill a pinata with your treats, create treat/loot bags or play "find the candy" and hide it around the house!

 

7.  Carve your pumpkins or paint them and then bake the seeds using these 5 recipes!

 

8.  Do a costume parade around the house to music or play freeze dance to Halloween music.

 

9.  Get older kids to write a scary Halloween recipe for Witches Brew and fill containers with the creepy ingredients- then let the kids mix up this haunted concoction! 

 

10. Create some Halloween crafts to use as decorations next year!

 

Posted by momstown team on 10/29/2012 - 11:16
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Spider Web Science for Kids

Spiders are often associated with Halloween, but they are fascinating creatures at any time of year. This easy, fun, and active spider web science experiment is a wonderful way to teach your preschooler or kindergarten student about how spider webs work, and even toddler junior scientists will enjoy the sensory fun and gross motor skills challenge it provides.

 

Spiders produce a special sort of silk that is sticky and incredibly strong. If you were to compare an equally thick piece of steel rope and a spider's silk, the silk would be stronger. Scientists believe that spiders may have begun to spin webs to protect their eggs, but most spiders now use their silk to capture insects that the eat. A spider will spin a web, or even leave a "trap line" of sticky silk. Unsuspecting insects get stuck to the web, and are trapped there. Spiders themselves don't stick to the silk because of a special oil their body produces.

 

To learn more about how the strong, sticky spider webs work, we built one of our own.  All you need is masking tape and cotton balls!

 

 

First, we stuck strips of masking tape across a door opening, criss-crossing them in spider web fashion with the sticky side of the tape facing out.

 

Next, we gathered a bag of cotton balls to represent our insects.  If you want, you could even use a marker to draw eyes on each cotton ball.  After gently touching the "web" to see that it felt sticky, we stood back and tossed the cotton balls at the web.  Sure enough, many got trapped on the sticky tape.  We then got up close to the web to see just how everything was sticking:

 

 

This was a fun and easy activity that helped us understand a little bit more about the science behind spider webs. It was also a fun sensory experience and an effective way to incorporate gross motor movement activities into our day.  Deconstructing the web and playing with the resulting cotton ball and tape balls was pretty fun too. 

 

If you would like to learn a little more about the science behind spiders, make sure you watch the "Along Came a Spider" episode of "The Cat in the Hat" on Kids' CBC.  After the main characters in the show, Nick and Sally, discover that their soccer goal has a hole in it, the Cat in the Hat takes them on an adventure to see Mabel the spider, who teaches the kids how she spins webs and fixes holes. 

 

You could even finish your afternoon of spider science off by making these yummy chocolate rice krispy spider treats. 

Posted by momstown Teach on 10/25/2012 - 13:37
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DIY Pumpkin Spider Craft

This DIY Halloween craft is so cute and easy that mom might want to make a bunch herself to decorate the Halloween mantle! But – this craft are so simple for children to make create. Invite your children over for some simple, Halloween fun!

pumpkin spider


momstown Burlington created a web of pumpkin spiders during their Fall Festival Art and Play program. Easy enough even for the wee toddlers to get in on the creative action.


Supplies you need:
Mini pumpkins
Black pipecleaners, cut in half
Sharp skewer (to poke holes into the squash to help little hands)
Googly eyes and glue and/or Black marker


The first step is to gather your pumpkins. If you include your child on this adverture you could make a whole field trip out of it by selecting the perfect pumpkins or add it to the list when you stomp out into the field to pick your jack ‘o lantern pumpkin. The smaller the better for this activity, the wee gourd-like pumpkins work best.


Step two is the real crafting stage. The pipecleaner legs need to poke into the pumpkin.

But, they are kinda bendy so if you make a hole in the squash first (use a skewer to make a small hole, you don’t want the pipe cleaner to fall out!) then little fingers will have no problems at all adding the legs.


Some kids will be done at that stage. But adding a face to the spider is loads of fun too. Draw a face on with black marker. Or glue googly eyes or pom pom eyes. Give your pumpkin some personality!


Display those pumpkins! Perfect for the mantle to to decorate the kitchen table. Thanks momstown Burlington for the idea!

Posted by momstown mama on 10/24/2012 - 12:50
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Halloween Spider Web Weaving Craft

Ever wish you had a trick to keep your little Halloween goblins quiet for a moment? Need an activity to keep kids keenly focused and also helps with hand-eye co-ordination? AND has a Halloween theme?

 

Try our Halloween Spider Web Weaving Craft! momstown Hamilton had this terrific activity going during their Halloween Boo Bash this fall and it was a hit! Perfect for children who can manipulate the yarn and holes (3 years+) and fun to do with their parent if younger.

 

spider web paper plate craft

You need four things only for this no-glue craft:

1. Strong Paper Plate

2. Hole Punch

3. White Yarn

4. Scissors

 

Simply cut out the middle of the paper plate (or if your child is comfortable with scissors, have them do it). Then holepunch around the outside of the paper plate every couple of inches.

 

Loop and tie one end of the yarn through the plate. Show your children how to find another hole (ideally across the hole in the plate to create the strips of "web") then loop through another and another. When it won't stretch any further, tie it off in the last hole.

 

When cutting a length of yarn, estimate one that will easily stretch across the plate 4-5 times. If it too long, it will get tangled in te 'weaving' process and frustrate your child. It's better to have shorter yarn that you can do a couple of times than have a frustrated kiddo.

 

Have fun and thanks to momstown Hamilton for the awesome idea and great fun!

Posted by momstown mama on 10/24/2012 - 11:54
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