Sanity Savers: Spooky Sensory Bottle

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By:Amelia Schrader
Senior Manager of Learning and Education

Thank you to our Halloween Spooktacular sponsor, Hunt Real Estate.

Hunt Real Estate

Download a PDF version here!

Materials:

Empty Water Bottle (with cleaned off label)
Baby Oil
Room Temperature Water
Glitter (color of choice)
Googly Eyes
Food Coloring
Hot glue

Length:

Activity Time: 5 minutes +
Play Time: Unlimited!    

Academic Subject:

Art
Science

Halloween is fast approaching!  This holiday can be over stimulating for many of our friends so Explore & More has put together a simple lesson to make a Spooky Halloween Sensory Bottle. This quick activity is has a calming, meditative effect while being played with and as an added bonus, it is mess free! Having your child help make this bottle with also refine fine motor skills used in pouring and early math and science through measuring.

Directions

Step 1: Make sure your bottle label is cleaned off. If you are having challenges with sticky residue, trying using a sticker remover then washing with warm soapy water.

Step 2: Fill the bottle about halfway with room temperature water.

Step 3: Add a few drops of food coloring and glitter to your bottle. You can add as much or as little as you want. I have a rather large bottle so I added about 2 tablespoons of green glitter.

Step 4: Time to add google eyes! Like the glitter, you can add as many or as little as you want. For my bottle, I used about 1 tablespoon of google eyes in various sizes.  

Step 5: Fill the bottle the rest of the way with baby oil. You want to fill the bottle almost all the way to the top then let any air bubbles escape. Once air has had a chance to escape carefully finish filling the bottle with oil, getting it as close to the top as possible without spilling.

Step 6: Carefully screw on the lid of the water bottle. With the help of a grown up, seal the bottle with the hot glue!

Now it is time to play with your sensory bottle! This calming toy provides hours of sensory fun! You can customize these bottles any way you want. Change up the glitter or add in spiders instead of google eyes. The possibilities are endless!

For more Storytime stories click here!

Storytime, Spooktacular Halloween Edition: Henry Sanders reads We’re Off to Find the Witch’s House

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Special thank you to our Super Spooktacular Halloween sponsor, Hunt Real Estate!

Halloween Spooktacular

Storytime, Spooktacular Halloween Edition: Henry Sanders reads We’re Off to Find the Witch’s House by Mr. Krieb

When a group of friends heads out on Halloween night to visit the witch’s house, they happen upon an assortment of spooky creatures, including a vampire and a skeleton, who make their best attempt at frightening the foursome away, in a slightly spooky holiday tale.

For more Storytime stories click here!

Sanity Savers: No Mess Pumpkin in a Bag Painting Sanity Saver

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By: Valerie Drapeau,
Education Coordinator 

Thank you to our Halloween Spooktacular sponsor, Hunt Real Estate.

Hunt Real Estate

Materials: 

Pumpkin template 
Yellow washable paint 
Red washable paint 
Gallon sized Ziploc bag (with a zipper seal) 
Piece of newspaper 
Scissors (optional) 

Length: 

Set-up: 5 minutes 
Active: 15-20 minutes 

Academic Subject(s):

 Art/Color Theory 

Are you looking for an easy art activity to do this fall, especially around Halloween?  Our Pumpkin-in-a-Bag painting activity brings all the fun without the mess!  Young children who may have sensitivities to touching paint will love this no mess pumpkin art because their hands will stay clean, but they will still enjoy the sensory experience of the squishy paint.  Your child will be so proud of what they created! 

Directions: 

Step 1: Print the Explore & More Pumpkin Template.  Cut the excess white paper around the pumpkin shape of the template off if you wish.  This could be a great opportunity for your child to practice their scissor skills! 

Step 2: Place the pumpkin template in the gallon sized Ziploc bag.  Before sealing, squeeze a quarter-sized dollop of yellow paint on the pumpkin inside the bag.  Repeat with the red paint.  Parents, in addition to this activity being a fun, mess-free way to paint, it is also a lesson in color mixing!  When your child sees the yellow and the red paints mix as they manipulate the paints through the bag, they will experience the colors blending to become orange!  They will be having so much fun, they won’t even realize they are learning about color theory! 

Step 3: Make sure the bag iscompletely sealed before you allow your child to start painting.  Once sealed, encourage them to start pressing their fingers into the plastic and to start moving the paint around.  Once they get the hang of it, they will really see the paint colors start to mix and the paint cover the pumpkin as well! 

Step 4: When they are all finished painting, take the pumpkin out of the bag and allow it to dry thoroughly on a piece of newspaper.  Discuss with your child what happened when the yellow and the red paints mixed together! 

Vocabulary Words: 

Dollop – A shapeless mass or blob of something that exists without measuring. 

Color Mixing – In color mixing for painting, the fundamental rule is that there are three colors that cannot be made by mixing other colors together. These three: red, blue, and yellow, are known as the primary colors. If you mix two primaries together, you create what is called a secondary color. 

Color Theory – In the visual arts, color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual effects of a specific color combination. There are also definitions (or categories) of colors based on the color wheel: primary color, secondary color, and tertiary color. 

For more Storytime stories click here!

Sanity Savers, STEM Edition: Cheesecloth Ghosts

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Presented by National Grid

Written By Dan Walsh
STEM Educator

Thank you to our Halloween Spooktacular sponsor, Hunt Real Estate.

Hunt Real Estate

Supplies ideas:  

Cheese cloth, scissors, glue/ modge podge, construction paper, tape, cooking tray with edges 
Shapes for the ghost such as a water bottle, balloon, tin foil 

Length:

Build time: 10 minutes 

Academic Subjects:

Science & Art

Directions for Cheese Cloth Ghosts

This is a classic Halloween Tradition where you can bring a ghost home! The activity needs a pinch of patience, but the final product is extra ghastly!

  1. Create the shape for your ghost on top of a cooking sheet. Take a water bottle, place a balloon on top, then add tin foil for arms. Place your piece of cheesecloth over the frame to make sure it fits right. 
  2. Pour glue or modge podge in a large bowl or container, and then dilute the glue with water by 50 percent.  
  3. Take your cheesecloth and dip it into the glue. Ring out just a little glue, but make sure the cheesecloth is saturated.   
  4. (Make sure you build on top of the cooking tray, it will make cleaning so much easier) Pull the cheesecloth out of the bowl and place it over your ghost frame. Make sure it drapes over the entire frame.
  5. The cheesecloth will take 6-12 hours to dry. Leave somewhere safe overnight.
  6. Using construction paper, cut out eyes and a mouth. Once your ghost is dry, you can glue the eyes and mouth onto your ghost.  
  7. Bonus step: add a battery powered candle or glue stick to give the ghost an extra ghastly glow!   

Vocabulary:

Fright– a sudden feeling of fear. Dan was full of fright as he saw the cheese cloth ghost.
Cackle– a harsh sound while laughing. The witch cackled as she brewed her position.
Ghastly– resembling a ghost. The ghastly cheese cloth looked great on Halloween!

For more Storytime stories click here!

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