Submitted by Kim Morrison, Culver, Indiana

Idea posted October 12, 2001

I tried a fun Halloween activity this week and the kids really enjoyed it. I've never gotten around to trying the cup game yet, but I tried my own Halloween version. I bought 24 little plastic pumpkins at the dollar store. They came six to a package. Every year I do some kind of activity where the kids get "treats" at Halloween time, so I put little spider rings, candy, stickers, etc...in each pumpkin. We sit in a circle with each child having a pumpkin on the floor in front of them, and we practice a pattern. With the younger kids I did "grab, clap, clap, pass." We did it to the "Monster Mash," which was a nice tempo to start. They really enjoyed it, and they loved the anticipation of not knowing what they'd have in their pumpkin at the end. I've been varying the pattern, adding a "boo" and reverse here and there. It's really been fun. I have two CDs of Halloween songs, so we've been varying the songs, too. Just thought I'd share.