Halloween is always about fun and festivities with preschoolers. Unlike older children, the preschool crowd is not into getting scared. Your three, four and five year olds will enjoy instead making neat crafts, playing festive Fall games and hearing fun Halloween stories. Here are some ideas to start off your brainstorming, either for home, your classroom, a playgroup or a homeschool co-op. Be assured that the ideas and products suggested below are completely preschool friendly, and noone will be frightened.

Halloween Games- Turn familiar games into Halloween ones with some simple variations. Duck- Duck- Goose can become Ghost- Ghost- Boo! Red Light- Green Light can become Red Leaf-Green Leaf. Plan a candy scavenger hunt, a pumpkin patch maze, or a costume party guess who game!

Halloween Crafts- Pumpkin Play Dough is always a hit to start off the season of Autumn in a festive way. Find the recipe for this below- but do remind the children this is for playing with and creating with- not eating!

Pumpkin Play Dough

5 1/2 cups flour
2 cups salt
8 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2-3/4 cup vegetable oil
5 Tablespoons of Pumpkin Pie Spice
Orange food coloring ( To make use 2 drops of yellow and 1 drop of red)
4 cups water

Mix all of the ingredients and cook them in a large pot. Stir the ingredients over medium heat, until all of the lumps disappear. After the mixture is cooled and solidified remove the dough ball. Knead the dough on a floured surface until it is smooth. This stores well in an airtight container at room temperature.

Halloween Books- Halloween themed stories are fun for everyone. Classics include The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat by Jan and Stan Berenstain, Clifford's Halloween by Norman Bridwell, Corduroy's Best Halloween Ever! by
Don Freeman, and Little Critter: Happy Halloween, Little Critter! by
Mercer Mayer. Today's beloved tv characters are also featured in some wonderful Halloween themed books, like Thomas and Friends: Halloween in Anopha by Rev. W. Awdry, Happy Halloween Max and Ruby! (Nick Jr.), and Dora's Spooky Halloween by Sonali Fry. Other great books include Franklin's Halloween by
Paulette Bourgeois, Arthur's Halloween: Book & CD by Marc Brown, and Froggy's Halloween by Jonathan London.


However you choose to celebrate Halloween with your preschool crew be sure to have fun and enjoy the season!