Life since our school kicked off this year has been busy, to say the least. I have a 3rd grader this year and for some reason, the pressure on myself has set in for “serious” school. I realize it is self-inflicted, but with the content that I want to cover, I was feeling neglectful towards my littles (my Kindergartener and Preschooler). There has been a week here and there where I just haven’t had the one-on-one time I want with them, and my glorious plans for themes have already been thrown out the window! Their learning consists of coloring and games, which is great still, however, let’s be honest, the mom guilt seeps in. Have you ever taught a child to read? Seriously requires one-on-one!
So, when my Kindergartener begged to do some “Halloween” themed activities, I first groaned and then took a minute and thought about what I could do on the spot. So, I cut a pumpkin shape out of construction paper, glued it on a piece of white paper and put in a sheet protector and came up with the Jack-o-Lantern Draw activity. She drew for an hour and then it became a game! I drew on the whiteboard shapes for her to draw as the face, nose, and mouth on the pumpkin. I knew as soon as I did this, I just had to share with fellow moms! I made it a little nicer looking for you guys in a printable (which we then played again over and over), so please print and enjoy! No need to laminate as I did, just slip it into a sheet protector and dry erase away! All you have to do is draw different shapes besides the Jack-o-Lantern parts for them to then draw themselves on the pumpkin.
You can download the free printable RIGHT HERE.
Of course, as soon as my daughter was having fun with a Halloween activity, my youngest wanted the do exactly what she was doing! I knew he couldn’t draw a shape yet, so, I thought why not see how fast I could make a matching game on the computer. Sometimes it is faster to make something on your own than search Pinterest (get lost for an hour) and then find a ton of things that look cute but then they cost money. It was super quick in powerpoint to draw a pumpkin, copy the slide a few times and then add the pre-done shapes from the Insert tab. I did take the extra time after printing to laminate it, so it looked nicer for pictures. I love to laminate and watch Breaking Bad (maybe it’s the burning, chemical smell that makes it the perfect combo)! It was a last-minute decision to add the velcro pieces since I had them already in my homeschool drawer.
Feel free to just print the file as is and use immediately, or even as a match and glue worksheet type activity. You can download this file RIGHT HERE.
I really hope you enjoy these fun Jack-o-Lantern activities. Have a safe and joyful Halloween!
Love the two pumpkin/shape actives above! Thank you for the free link! The pictures of your little guys matching the shapes shows a nose on the pumpkins, but the printable doesn’t have noses. Would you be able to either add the nose to the pumpkins (cuter for sure) or add a separate page of smaller shapes we could cut out for noses ourselves? Thanks again for all your great ideas!