Homeschool Halloween Party Plan and Free Bingo Download

We have never celebrated Halloween with our kids. Not out of any big conviction, but just because we have never been in the United States while our kids were trick or treating age. That is... until last year. Last year they got the full, candy-filled, costumed-out, Halloween experience. We went to Halloween parties, a Halloween parade, and trick-or-treated in our neighborhood (yes, our OWN neighborhood, which I came to sadly find out is rare these days). I was glad that they got to experience all of that at least once, even though it did start a steady stream of candy into the house that wouldn't end until after Easter.

So now, for the first time, I feel somewhat obligated to give the kids at least a little dose of festivities this year. Since the kids are in Pre-K, 1, 2, and 5, I'm trying to find activities that will be fun for everyone, with a little bit of art, science and math mixed in without them noticing much. And of course there will be candy, lots and lots of candy.

1. Halloween Bingo

This Free Bingo Download will engage all of your kids from Pre-K to fifth! There are 4 levels that include different mental math problems from Number Recognition to Order of Operations. But the best part is, they all end up in the same numbers, so that everyone can play together!
Level 1 - Number Recognition, suitable for Pre-K to 1st, depending on skill level. Even if your Pre-K student doesn't recognize numbers all the way to 50, this is a party, so let bigger siblings help them out! 
Level 2 - Addition and Subtraction up to 20, Doubles, and Near Doubles Facts. For numbers over 30, its Missing Numbers. Ideal for K-2, depending on skill level.
Level 3 - Addition and Subtraction up to 100, a few Missing Numbers and a few Adding 3 numbers. This is good for 2nd-3rd.
Level 4 - Multiplication, Division, and Basic Order of Operations. This would work for 4th-5th.

Depending on your students' mental math skills, you could choose to let them, or not let them, work the problems first and write the solutions in the square. I love that it is so flexible, and I've kept it simple because ink is expensive! There are two different cards for each level. Click below to download! 

halloween_bingo.pdf
File Size:	521 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

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2. Graphing M&M minis

My mom teaches sixth grade and has been doing this project with them for the 15 years! The key is the M&M minis! This means kids will have more candy to count, organize and graph, with less candy to eat. Sneaky, right? And this is great for all ages too!
Pre-K - Organize the colors and match them to a colored cup or square.
K-1st - Count the candies and organize them by color, least amount to the greatest amount. Older learners can also make a simple bar graph.
2nd-4th - Make a bar graph or line plot by color.
5th-6th - Make a pie chart of the color ratios.

3. Candy Science

Its definitely a win if you can use up some candy without it actually being eaten, right? So maybe these are great after-Halloween experiments to use up some of that trick-or-treat treasure in a way that doesn't involve cavities.
We are going to try Steampoweredfamily.com's Layered Lollipops, but she also has a whole 31 days of Halloween STEM projects that are worth checking out. 

4. Pumpkin Art

My 2nd grader recently told me that we don't do enough art in our schooling and I have to admit that she is probably right. So I'm looking for easy, low-prep, low-cost ideas that I can incorporate on a more regular basis. When I came across this Pumpkin Apple Stamping from frugalmomeh.com, I thought it was so cute and perfect! 

5. Candy Corn Fractions

I saw this on pinterest as an easy way to make a Halloween banner. But we are going to make it the day before and do some fraction lessons with them first. Then we can hang them for the next day's party! 

So that is the PLAN for Halloween! We get back from Malaysia just two days before, so I am trying to prep now and cross my fingers that I will have the energy and togetherness to get everything ready for the big day! 

You can follow on Instagram @thetypetree to see the final results!