Activity name:
Jack-O-Lantern Sort & Count

Materials needed:
Orange poster board
Empty egg carton (cut apart)
Black permanent marker
Hot glue gun
Pumpkin seeds or other small items to sort

Preparation:
Cut out a pumpkin shape from the poster board (or you can use cardboard painted orange).  Hot glue egg carton cups to form a jack-o-lantern face on the pumpkin.  Write a number in the bottom of each cup*.

Carrying out the activity:
Have the children look at the number in the bottom of the cup and place the same number of pumpkin seeds or other small items inside.

*Special Note ~
For younger children who cannot recognize numbers feel free to put dots in the bottom.  Have them count the dots and place the matching number of seeds into the cup.

Activity name:
Triangle Jack-O-Lanterns

Materials needed:
Black construction paper
Orange construction paper
Scissors
Glue stick

Preparation:  click here for patterns
Cut out 8 triangles from black construction paper.  Cut out one pumpkin from orange construction paper.

Carrying out the activity:
Have the children glue the triangles onto the pumpkin shape like the picture shown.

Activity name:
Hand Bats

Materials needed:
Black construction paper
White crayon, chalk, or paint
Scissors
Glue stick

Preparation:
Trace each child's right and left hand with fingers slightly apart onto the black paper.  (Do not go all the way in between the fingers--only go a little bit.)   Cut out (or have children cut out).  Cut out one small circle (or trace and have children cut out) about 3" diameter.

Carrying out the activity:
Have the children glue their hands to the bottom sides of the circle.  Hands are wings, circle is head.  Have the children draw or paint a face on their bats.  Bats can be glued to paper, or attach a string to the back and hang from the ceiling.

Activity name:
Orange Jack-O-Lanterns

Materials needed:
Oranges
Whole Cloves
Toothpicks (optional)

Preparation:
None. (For smaller children, you might want to pre-poke holes in their orange with a toothpick to make inserting the cloves a bit easier)

Carrying out the activity:
Have the children make a jack-o-lantern face on their orange by gently inserting the whole cloves.

Activity name:
Pumpkin Seed Jack-O-Lanterns

Materials needed:
Orange construction paper
Clean, dry pumpkin seeds
Scissors
White glue
Paintbrushes
Pencil (optional)

Preparation:
Trace or draw a pumpkin shape onto the construction paper. Cut out the shape (or have the children do this if they are old enough). Draw a face on the pumpkin (optional).

Carrying out the activity:
Have the children paint a face (or trace over pencil drawn face) on their pumpkin shapes with the glue. Have them place the pumpkin seeds on their pumpkin.

Alternate Idea - Make collages by randomly gluing the seeds on the pumpkin shapes.

Activity name:
Fuzzy Jack-o-lanterns

Materials needed:
Orange construction paper
Orange and black medium sized pom poms
Scissors
Glue
Paintbrushes
Pen or pencil

Preparation:
Trace or draw a pumpkin shape onto the construction paper. Cut out the shape (or have the children do this if they are old enough). Draw a face on the pumpkin using circles the size of the poms. Use one circle for each eye, one for the nose, and five in an arc shape for the mouth.

Carrying out the activity:
Have the children paint their pumpkin shapes with the glue. Have them place the pom poms on the pumpkin using the black ones for the stem, eyes, nose, and mouth; and the orange ones to fill in the pumpkin shape.

Activity name:
Dancing Ghosts

Materials needed:
White cloth material cut into 18" x 18" squares (approx.)
Ping pong balls
White pipe cleaners or twist ties
Long straws (non-bendable)
Hot glue gun
Black permanent marker

Preparation:
Hot glue a ping pong ball onto the top of a straw. (Hot glue guns are just that--HOT. Please take care when using them around children.)

Carrying out the activity:
After glue is dry, drape the white cloth over the ping pong ball. Secure cloth, using a pipe cleaner or twist tie, by lightly twisting around it where the ball connects to the straw. Using a marker, make two eyes on the cloth over the ping pong ball. To make the ghost dance, simply hold in one hand and move the straw up and down.

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