Halloween Craft

I did this fun little craft with my first graders on Friday to get our classroom Halloween ready and it worked out so well! There is not much going on in a grade one classroom on Friday afternoons. My kiddos are exhausted from the week, so I typically organize a little craft or game (preferably educationally oriented) for Friday afternoons. This past Friday, the anticipation for Halloween was high and my class was rowdy! It was a loud and busy day but as soon as they got going on this craft, I put some Halloween music on and they were quiet as can be! Here is what we did...

This is the example that I made to explain the craft to them. Here are the materials you'll need for this craft...
- yellow and orange paint
- Q-Tips
- Halloween stencils (I had a bat, a ghost, a pumpkin and a cat)
- black construction paper (one for each student in your class)

I showed them my example and explained how I held the stencil and then used the Q-Tip to dab paint around the edges. It was a quick and easy explanation and they were ready to go.

I did this craft right after lunch, so I was able to take a little of my lunch time and cover the tables in newspaper and get all of the other supplies ready. I highly recommend having everything set up so that your students can get right to work.

Here are some of the cute paintings that my students made...

As my students were working, I walked around with a white pastel to write their names in the corner of the paper (this is why there are black boxes on every child's work!). I have to say I wanted to cry a little when some of them started painting the inside of the stenciled work. But I was able to let this go pretty quickly when I realized how different and how special each piece was becoming based on their individual preferences! They all turned out so cute and they look so precious hanging on the walls of the classroom!

Now, I have a question for any fellow teachers - how do you avoid the mess!? I think I did a pretty good job covering everything in newspaper and prepping them with some rules when using the paint. But they are still quintessential six year olds - they dripped paint, they got paint all up their arms, they got paint on their chair, they got paint on the carpet, they even somehow managed to get paint under my serious newspaper-ing! Is this something I will just need to learn to embrace or am I missing a secret trick!? Please fill me in if you have any secrets or tips!

Happy Halloween, sweet readers!