Halloween Activities for your little one

Halloween can be such a fun time for your little one. From picking out costumes, to trick or treating or even carving pumpkins. There are a variety of activities for you to do with your little one to make their first few Halloweens memorable.

• Sensory Bins: food coloring angel hair pasta (orange and black), orange and black scraps of paper, pom poms, pipe cleaners, orange jell-o (w/ fake spiders or googly eyes) *please supervise sensory play and make sure they are age appropriate and there is not a choking hazard.

• Carving pumpkins: letting your little one explore the insides of a pumpkin can be exciting but also a BIG sensory experience. Let them touch the insides without forcing them. You could also have them paint the pumpkin with finger paint or using a paint brush if they cannot tolerate touching the insides.

• Costumes: playing dress up, putting on a variety of hats or even drawing silly pictures on their face and having them look at themselves in the mirror. These are all super fun activities for you and your little one that will be sure to be entertainment for all!

• Spider webs: You can use spider web, string and a laundry basket. String the string in random directions and then stretch out the spider web material over the string. You can place fake spiders, googly eyes or other halloween trinkets. This can make for a fun exploratory activity that will surely capture your child's attention! This helps build fine motor skills and with touching different textures.

• Halloween Lights/Decorations: You can decorate a tunnel, a small section of their play area or their room with different colored halloween lights or streamers. This is a fun interactive activity for your little one that also prepares them for the different lights and decor they will see on Halloween night! This is good for helping provide visual sensory input and a variety of textures.

• Ghost stacking cups: get white cups and draw "spooky" ghost faces on each cup. Demonstrate stacking the cups on one another and then knocking them over. Allow your child to imitate you and celebrate when they stack them correctly. This is a fun activity that helps with hand-eye coordination, cause and effect and motor planning placing the cups on top of each other.

Another benefit of Halloween is it is a great opportunity to work on social skills. You can practice saying "Hi" and waving, saying "trick or treat", saying or signing thank you!

These activities are appropriate if your baby has started consistently eating solids (6+ months). All activities should be under supervision.

Have a happy and safe Halloween!