I LOVE holiday parties in class because the kids have the best day ever; however, I am all for easy planning!! I want to enjoy the party too and not be stressed out! These are some ideas of centers I have done in the passed, along with ones that I want to try out!
When I have a holiday party in class I usually have my room mom take care of the centers/emailing parents for donations, etc. But I do tell my room mom some center ideas and things that I want to see. I have found that when I don't take some control of the holiday parties, my room mom has great ideas, but some aren't age appropriate or some are too short and the party is over too quickly (which then means the kids get wild), etc.
I ALWAYS do centers at my parties. The kids have to stay in their center until the bell rings, then we all switch. If I don't do centers, some kids rush through the activities and are done with the hour and a half party in twenty minutes. Then what? Centers are MUCH easier, trust me.
One of my favorite Halloween centers is decorating mini pumpkins. The kids love this and it also gives them something to take home! I ask that each child donates a mini pumpkin. Then I purchased the foam stickers from Oriental Trading. They stick VERY well!! You can find one pack HERE.
At one center we played Candy Corn bowling. The kids loved this center (just make sure it is somewhere in the corner where the pins aren't flying everywhere). You can make this center academic too! HERE is an awesome addition worksheet to accompany the bowling.
Now this is an activity I haven't tried yet, but I love it! I think it would be easy and fun! You can purchase the mini play-doh's at Target or even Costco. I found them on Amazon HERE. I wound't pre-package this center as a kit. I would leave the play doh, beads, eyes, and pipe cleaners out for children to use. Then, when it is time to clean up, you can stick it in a zip-lock bag for them to take home and use again! This idea is from 'A Dab of Glue' and she offers the printable for free as well!
Another cute and easy center is this pumpkin q-tip painting center. When these dry, I add them into their poetry notebooks. You can grab this freebie HERE.
Another cute and easy center is this pumpkin q-tip painting center. When these dry, I add them into their poetry notebooks. You can grab this freebie HERE.
I like to always have one center that is a 'cooking center'. Here are a couple cooking center ideas!
Make your own monster cookie. I would buy the cookies pre-made from the grocery store. We use food coloring to dye the vanilla icing and I leave tongue depressors in the icing for kids to use as they spread the icing on their cookie. You can ask parents to donate small tubes of gel icing for decorating and you can find the googly eye sprinkles at the grocery store or on Amazon HERE.
If you haven't use this cooking activity yet in class during your bat unit, then it is perfect for your Halloween party. Super simple and the kids love it!! Again, I used a small tube of gel icing as the 'glue' for the eyes and the fangs.
I didn't want to have too much sugar so I had mini water bottles at the center for the kids to have a drink. Just made it a little more fun by adding these bat straws!
I usually have 4 or 5 centers at our holiday parties. When all centers are complete, I gather the kids at the carpet for one whole group game. This gives my volunteers time to clean the room up while we are all together (calming down). At our Halloween party we play 'pin the nose on the Jack O' Lantern'. I've always made a pumpkin and noses in the passed with construction paper, but I found this one cheap online HERE. This is SO fun and a perfect way to end the party.
Towards the end of the day we watch a Halloween video or two and say our goodbyes! It really is a calm and fun day...not too much planning and prepping involved, but the kids have a blast!!
Here are some videos we have enjoyed in the past:
Dancing videos:
Stories/Shows:
