Halloween Sensory Activities for Toddlers

Halloween is always a festive time at LVCC and the perfect opportunity for innovative sensory games. Located inside William Allen High School in Allentown, LVCC at Allen provides early childhood education for primarily infants and toddlers. The creative teachers came up with some fun learning activities.

First, the children danced around in costume while listening to children's Halloween music. The songs were lively and not at all scary.

Dancing to the music

Next, the toddlers crawled through a garland maze. Without knocking down the garland decorations, they had to climb over and under, working their gross motor skills. The indoor pumpkin patch created additional obstacles to crawl around.

Garland maze and indoor pumpkin patch

At the sensory table, Ms. Maisha (center director and teacher) guided the children through hands-on exploration of a pumpkin. Seeing the size and bright color of the pumpkin, the children each attempted to roll or lift it. As soon as the lid of the pumpkin was removed (precut by Ms. Maisha), the children discovered the gooey texture inside. Some of the children tasted or smelled the pumpkin flesh. Combining sensory experiences with science makes for a full day of learning fun.

Further activities to engage toddlers include painting designs on the pumpkin, using the pumpkin lid as a paint stamper on paper, or adding the pumpkin seeds and flesh into see-through resealable zipper storage bags to make squishy sensory bags.

Pumpkins in the sensory table

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Halloween, Parades, Stories, Oh My!

All the LVCC students were busy this week preparing for the Halloween festivities. Many of the activities centered around pumpkins, black cats and creative costumes. LVCC Campus Center paraded around historic Bethlehem in their costumes, while parents proudly played paparazzi. The youngest representation of the toddler group must have sent each other memos in advance. They were a roaring hit as a cub pack. Ms. Adams and her creative after-schoolers at LVCC Forks School decorated their class with Halloween artwork and created signs for their "Halloween Costume Show". Every child took home an award for their imaginative costumes. Ms. Dana at LVCC South Mountain Pre-K Counts read a story about an astronaut during reading circle time. Afterward, a number of students wanted to be an astronaut and wear a helmet for trick-or-treat! The Toddler Room stirred with anticipation as everyone took turns mixing a batch of Halloween brew on one side of the room, while the other side of the room learned about creepy bugs, yuck!

To see more photos of the exciting happenings this week, log on to www.flickr.com/photos/LVCC or like us at www.facebook.com/LVCConline.