SHAPE JACK-O-LANTERNS

Review simple shapes and fine motor skills by making jack-o-lanterns out of paper shapes and Play-Doh. Perfect Halloween activity kids will enjoy without realizing educational.

Materials:

• orange & green Play-Doh
• back construction paper
• crayons (need white, black & orange)
• scissors
• worksheet (for practice)
• black marker (to draw faces on worksheet)

Process:

Start out by reviewing simple shapes that can be used to make pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns. What shapes do you see in the examples below?

After reviewing shapes, complete the worksheet by practicing turning pumpkins into shape Jack-o-lanterns.

1.) Using orange Play-Doh, make a big ball. Flatten the ball. It should be a flat circle once complete. Then, using green Play-Doh make a small stem at the top. To make the stem- make a very small ball, flatten, shape into rectangle & place on top. Pumpkin complete!

2.) Looking at the completed worksheet, create one of the pumpkins from it. What shapes do you need? Draw those shapes on the black construction paper with a white crayon. Cut out and place on the pumpkin.

Size relationship– help your child figure out what size eyes-nose-mouth work on their pumpkin by trial and error (don’t tell them). This will sneak in extra cutting practice too.

3.) Make several different faces from your worksheet. Which is your favorite? Why?

Examples:

Notes:

• You can find a single can of orange or green Play-Doh at Dollar tree for a dollar (normal size) or at Walmart for 50 cents (mini can).
• Differentiate by age: For younger kids, cut out the shapes for them. Review by taking turns making different faces and asking what shapes they are. Also, make the pumpkins much larger (use whole container of Play- Doh).
• For older kids who are learning or know how to use scissors, have them cut out the shapes and review. They can also make the pumpkins 3-dimensional, instead of flat (see example below).
• If child/children sad about not having a project to keep, since Play-Doh dries up, use non-hardening clay, model magic, or paint/color a white paper plate orange and use that instead.