While I firmly love working with a curriculum, I get so excited about theme units, especially around holidays or special events! I'm always posting pictures of activities we do, and people want to know where I found the activity. I thought I would share some of my favorite ideas that I have tried and use every year. Keep in mind that this is a growing post and Halloween, Fall and Thanksgiving activities are all included.
And all of these are FREE! (By the way, I am not endorsing any of these bloggers or being compensated in any way. These are truly just my favorites, and I believe we should share! Some of these are even my own.) Be sure to check back each year as I add more resources.
5 Little Pumpkins Book: We read this book to practice using ordinal numbers to 5 and even found a great sing-along on Spotify.
Before and After Bats: These are great to work on the counting sequence with a number written and the students determine the missing number before and after. There are different levels for students counting within 100.
Pumpkin Addition Mats within 10: These mats help students work on addition facts with 10 with a great visual and even student work sheets.
Spider Web Tracing: We love some fun crafts to decorate the room, and this activity is awesome for working on fine motor skills. Allow your student to use the hole punch to work on hand strength and then thread the string through.
Tear Paper Pumpkins: I saw this as a picture somewhere and decided to do it every year. This is another great activity to work on hand strength for cutting or tearing paper. Simply trace a pumpkin in glue and allow your students to create.
Spider Sensory Bin: We take beans and rice to build an awesome sensory bin. I also include some plastic spiders I have found and even some bouncy ball eyeballs!
Sink or Float Activity: Did you know pumpkins float? Because a pumpkin is mainly filled with air, it can float rather nicely in a body of water. Challenge your students to study what objects sink or float and then try the pumpkin. (We did little ones in a bucket, but they had to see if the big ones would float!
Making a Jack-o-Lantern with Shapes: This is my FREEBIE! Cut apart some shapes using black paper and invite your students to make their own jack-o-lantern. Then ask your students to describe the shapes present. You can grab this FREEBIE recording sheet by completing the form below.
Teen Number Pumpkin Match: These are great cards to help students master their teen numbers. We love these to count and work on place value.
Hundred Chart Pumpkin Mystery Picture: Use this hundred chart to help students identify numbers to 100 to color this super cute pumpkin.
Fall Graphing Activity: This is one of my FREEBIES that help students to organize data and make a graph. Follow the link for the blog post.
Numbers to 10 Mystery Picture: These mystery pictures are great for students working on numbers to ten by coloring these fun pictures!
Fractions and Decimals Color the Pumpkin: This coloring activity challenges Grades 4-6 students by converting them and coloring in the correct box. Once the boxes are filled in, check out the cool picture. Grab your free download by completing the form below.
Equivalent Fractions and Decimals Mystery Picture: Even our older students love coloring and finding missing pictures. Check out this mystery picture that uses equivalent fractions and decimals.
Planning a Thanksgiving Feast Activity: This one is a special activity that helps your students see what parents go through each Thanksgiving preparing a super meal! Students will choose the items for the Thanksgiving meal within a budget. It gets even more complicated as students have to change their pricing based on the number of tables they serve. This activity is completely free and available by clicking on the link!
While these are only a few activities to get you started, check back as the list continues to grow! Feel free to comment with your own favorites!
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