Happy Halloween!

So I finally got motivated to decorate our door for Halloween Trick-or-Treaters.  It just took me until the day before Halloween and a hurricane to get me there.  I decided to do a pumpkin patch theme and to have Austin and his friend help me make the decorations.  Now I'm not about to go spend money on store decorations this year (Budget, Budget, Budget) and I have tons of construction paper from my working days so it only made sense to make our pumpkin patch decor from what we already had on hand.

pre-cut supplies separated into baggies

The night before I was super busy after Austin went to sleep getting all the supplies ready.  I cut out all the pieces each kiddo would need to make his/her own jack-o-lantern out of construction paper (eyes, nose, mouth, stem, pumpkin).  Since Austin and his friend are under the age of 3, I'm not about to hand them a pair of scissors for them to cut the pieces out themselves.  So tomorrow, the kiddos will paste the face pieces on their own pumpkins (I made a model Jack-o-lantern in case they need some inspiration).

 Then to spruce the door up some more, I made some grass, flying bats, a full moon, and a "Happy Halloween" sign.  See below for the final master pieces!

So since I have my degree in Occupational Therapy, whenever I do crafts like this, the wheels in my brain are always turning on how I can adapt my activity so any child could complete it.  So check out my list of adaptations in case you want to try out this activity (or one similar) with your own kiddo(s).  Feel free to comment with other suggestions and ideas!  Brainstorming with others is often the best way I get fresh and new ideas.

If the directions above seem to easy for your kiddo:
Let your kiddo cut out the pieces themselves after you have drawn all the shapes on the paper.
Don't give your kiddo a model to follow.  Let them use their imagination and knowledge of body parts to figure out where each piece should go on the pumpkin.
Give your kiddo the freedom to design each piece on their own by providing just the paper they will need for each part.

If the directions above seem to difficulty for your kiddo:
Give them a coloring page with the jack-o-lantern's face already on it.  No gluing necessary.  Let them color away.
Trace out the shape on the pumpkin so your kiddo has a target for where to glue the face pieces to.
Let them draw in the eyes, nose, and mouth instead of gluing.
Use glue-dots instead of a glue-stick or liquid glue to minimize sensory sensitivities to messy play.

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Halloween!

Our Finished Door