While I didn't think I'd ever have the time for something like this, I've found myself volunteering in Evan's classroom quite a bit so far this year. I'm coming to the class 1-2 times per month to help out with class activities (so far I've helped a few kids work on their letter recognition). I've been a parent chaperone at Evan's first field trip (a walk through the neighborhood by his school that is being built for his 'shelter' unit). And then the most recent thing is that I volunteered to coordinate his class parties. There are a total of four for the year: Halloween, Winter Break, Valentine's Day, and End of School. The weird thing was the teacher's request for help coordinating parties came out just one week before Halloween, and so I emailed her to see what was involved. I have a good friend who's doing this for her Kindergartener's class, so I figured maybe it won't be too hard and my friend and I can plan things together.
So, planning for party #1 began. I started off with a quick search on Pinterest to find fun, age appropriate, somewhat simple, and yet hopefully a bit educational, activities. After checking out a lot of sites, I decided upon these two:
1) A spider web craft found on No Wooden Spoons
2) Free connect the dots pumpkin print outs as a "back up" activity in case kids finished the craft early found on The Resourceful Mama
I also decided it may be fun to have a little game that kids could play in small groups to take a break from their craft, so I planned a little bean bag toss game.
I also had to organize food, but I am glad that other parents signed up to bring all the food. I just had to set up a google spreadsheet with food ideas, and then people signed up to bring those items. I asked for more healthy snacks, and to limit sugar (the kids would all get plenty of candy when they went trick-or-treating that evening anyway!), so I had things like fruit, popcorn, and pretzels on the list. I did ask for one baked good (cookies, mini cupcakes, etc), because hey, it is a party after all!
Party Prep
I thought that not only would this craft be a fun activity that would let the kids practice their fine motor "sewing" skills, but it would make a neat decoration for the occasion. However, while it turned out pretty well in the party, it was a bit more prep work than I realized.
My first attempt I made the inner circle too large for the length of yarn (see left below), so then I started making my inner circles a bit smaller and it all worked out well. Cutting out the inner circles was pretty time consuming, but so was punching 10-12 holes around the inside of each plate after that! I attached one end of the yarn to the plate with tape and the bobby pin onto the other end of the yarn already so it was all ready to go. Shopping for the little plastic black spiders ended up taking me a lot longer than I thought it would too. Most stores were already sold out of them by the time I was out shopping for them (the weekend before Halloween...remember I didn't even know I was in charge of the party until one week before the holiday!). On my fourth store attempt, I found the last pack of them. I used glue to stick them onto the yarn, and that worked pretty well, after it dried of course.
My sample crafts
One craft prepped and ready to go
For the bean bag toss, I bought some pumpkin buckets at the dollar store and then borrowed some bean bags from a friend who has a corn hole game, but the beanbags were just a bit big and heavy for the buckets. So instead, I used those bean bags to weigh down the buckets, and then found some small beanie balls the kids had (hacky sack style), and I wrapped them with white wash clothes to make them look like ghosts. When Evan and Emma first saw this laying around the house, they had a ball tossing them into the buckets. I mean they spent a good hour playing the game by themselves. Evan even counted a running total of how many he got in the buckets and got well above 100!
The Party
I am so glad I got a foldable wagon before Evan's birthday party. That thing has come in so handy when we've gone to soccer games, and now it again came in handy for this party. I was able to haul all of the party supplies into the school in one easy trip. The celebration started with the school Halloween parade, so I first helped some kids get into their costumes and then while the class went outside to line up for the parade, I set things out for the party.
The food table
A quick story while kids are in costumes before heading out for the parade
Food is out!
Bucket bean bag toss set out (left) and crafts set out at each seat (right)
Connect the dots sheets set out
After the parade, the kids came back to find the crafts at their seats, but first we sent the kids to the food table to get snacks. The "one sweet treat" that was provided by a parent ended up being full-sized cupcakes, and then another parent brought bags of candy for each kid. Needless to say, Evan got his fill of sugar at the party (he broke into that candy bag without me even knowing after polishing off a plate of popcorn and his cupcake!). I was running the beanbag toss game, so I wasn't able to help Evan too much with his craft, but he did a pretty good job! The kids enjoyed the bucket toss, but just as I was able to get every kid through, it was pretty much time to clean up! The party was over so quickly, and there was a lot of leftover food, most of which I got sent home with. Next time, I'm going to have to make sure that I send food home with kids/parents before they all leave!
Party treats!!
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