13 Days of Halloween Countdown Craft

I'm a little late posting this, but wanted to share it anyway.  I decided to do a 13 Days of Halloween Countdown activity with my kids this year.  With the new baby coming very soon, I feel like they are getting left out of a lot of our normal Halloween activities.  Mommy just can't do as much at 8 months pregnant with a chance of going early. :-(

So, after doing some searching I came up with a plan.  13 days started on the 19th.  I wrote down the dates and days, then compared to our schedule.  That allowed for easier planning.  Here's what I came up with:

Sat 10/19-Movie Marathon.  I had DVR'd all the Halloweentown's on Disney during the week so we could watch them all at once.

Sun 10/20-Decorate Sugar Cookies.  We bought a really cute kit at Wal-Mart for $6 that included 12 sugar cookies, icing and sprinkles all ready to go.

Mon 10/21-Library.  We went and picked out some Halloween books to read each night over the next week.

Tues 10/22-Spiderwebs.  I found a cute tutorial here to let them make window cling spider webs.  Super easy and cheap.

Wed 10/23-Coloring Pages.  I'm printing out some coloring pages I've found online for them to color after homework today.

Thurs 10/24-Make a Halloween garland with construction paper.

Fri 10/25-Paint mini pumpkins.

Sat 10/26-Fall Festival.  We have a little mill town close by that hosts a variety of events on the Saturday before Halloween.  The entire town does a trick or treat trail starting at 5pm.  Bonus 1: it's a flat ground and easy for this mommy to be to walk.  Bonus 2: All our trick or treating is done in the daylight.

Sun 10/27-Trunk or Treat.  Our church will be hosting their annual Trunk or Treat on Sunday evening.  Thankful for great friends that will let my 2 tag along so I can rest!

Mon 10/28-Cupcakes.  This day is a teacher workday so I will need to keep them entertained while I try to work from home.  I bought the Pillsbury Orange Icing that came with sprinkles.  I'll bake the cupcakes and just let them have at it. 

Tues 10/29-School Festival.  Our elementary school will be doing a trunk or treat hosted by each of 3 football teams we have.  My daughter is a cheerleader and will get to be one helping hand out candy which she is excited about.

Wed 10/30-Pumpkin Carving.  At school, my son's class is doing a "donuts for dads" day along with pumpkin carving.  After school we will carve one with my daughter as well.

Thurs 10/31-Halloween!  This year we are going to a friend's house that does a drive through trick or treat.  Treats for the kids, tricks for the adults.  My 2 are excited to be participating.  They are going to run the popcorn machine and hand out popcorn and treats to anyone that comes by.

So some days I didn't have to think of an activity or craft.  If there was something we had already planned or talked about, it went in the countdown activity.  Here's how I did our countdown:

I found some Halloween colored scrap book paper, folded in half, and cut out pumpkin shapes.

 

This allowed me to write on the inside and seal them up.

 

I cut little stems from the scrap paper and attached with tape.

 

Write the numbers 1-13 on them.

 

On the inside write your activity and seal with a piece of tape.

 

I sealed mine first and shouldn't have but it still worked out.  I put some ribbon through the tops of each one and hung it like garland over our living room window.  Each day after school they take one down, starting at 13, and see what it says.  It's exciting for them, even if they know what to expect on some days.  This is also a great tool in teaching them counting backwards.

 

So there's our little countdown calendar!  Hopefully this will start a new tradition for our family.  If time permits, we will do the same for Christmas.  Baby C is due the first week of December, if she can hold out that long.  What ever we do, it will be silly simple, but sure to be lots of fun.

 

Until next time...

 

Amy~The Dixie Diva