Halloween recap

Hubs and I always make pumpkin people for our porch.
{The witch was my favorite this year!}

Ooooooo.... spooky!
Here's the porch at night.
{red lights - some with white paper globes, spider webs, and bats}

It was even spookier in the entryway!
{black light, tissue paper ghosts, orange flagging, and frightening portraits}

We nibbled on monster fingers and toes.
{Get the recipe here.}

Here I am dressed as Carmen Miranda, having a ball!
{One of my top 10 favorite costumes}

Overall, the evening was spook-tacular!
{I can't wait until next year!}

busy hands

tweezing terrifying spiders
from a box filled with black beans
{much easier to clean up than rice!}

lacing wallpaper pumpkins
{more durable than regular paper}

pumpkin number sequencing
{the idea for this came from My Montessori Journey}

opening bottles
{filled with imaginary potions}

using tongs to arrange orange puffs on a palette

rolling out sugar cookie dough
{get the recipe here}

cutting out a bat

and adding the final touches...

ta da!
the scary treats fresh from the oven
{We ate them all day long!}

our finished jack-o-lantern mosaic
{Featured today over at The Crafty Crow!}

Happy Halloween Eve!

a jack-o-lantern mosaic

Many of you lovely blogging friends gave me great ideas
of things to do with paint swatches.

SO,
today we used them to make a jack-o-lantern mosaic.



First, I drew an outline of a jack-o-lantern on a big piece of paper.
I set out paint swatches in shades of orange, green and black.
I cut and glued on a few, so the children would get the idea
of what colors went where.

In the beginning, it was a little tricky for some of the children
to visualize what in the world we were trying to make,
but as the jack-o-lantern filled in, they all caught on.

It was kind of like working on a big puzzle...
each child stopped by the mosaic throughout the day,
pausing to cut and glue on a piece or two (or twenty),
and then went along with his or her daily business.

It's not quite finished
{it will be waiting for the children tomorrow morning}
but I wanted to give you a peek at how beautiful it is.

I love the sense of community it's brought to the classroom, too.
The children so often make things for themselves or their families;
it's been extra special for them to make something for their classroom!

black light fun

It was pretty much like a Montessori
RAVE
in the cubby room this morning.

I covered up the windows and replaced the regular light bulbs
with black compact fluorescents.
{purchased at Home Depot after searching all over town}

What better way to start a Monday morning
than drawing with highlighters under a black light!

Our clothes were glowing, the paper was glowing,
and the fluorescent markers were nearly electric.

After everyone had a turn to draw,
we busted out the Putumayo World Music
and danced with silky neon scarves.

It was awesome.

I think fluorescent play dough would be REALLY fun under a black light.
{Next time!}

fabric lacing

The idea for this lacing activity came from Montessori Mama.


A small group of children laced squares
of upholstery fabric onto ribbons.
Some ribbons were threaded with needles, some with buttons.

The work was so satisfying,
I couldn't prep the fabric fast enough!
{I was cutting upholstery samples into small squares,
then cutting a slit in the middle.}

Here are some of the uses the children came up with for their creations:

cat toy
fishing line
necklace
snake