So I’m Harrison’s kindergarten room mother. Not because I want to work my way up to VP candidate, but because I was the last parent in for testing (his testing, not mine) and it was the only position not filled. I asked the teach what it entailed and she said a few phone calls, a little planning, no biggie. I like the phone, I like a little mild planning, no problem. I signed on the dotted line.
Riiiight. She forgot to mention creating the class calendar and making all holiday assignments. I’ve been avoiding her since Johnny Appleseed Day. Out of guilt, I stopped by the classroom yesterday to see about the class Halloween party. Turns out, I AM the Halloween party.
“Oh, nothing big, just a few stations, maybe four. Easy stuff, a craft (WE ARE NOT CRAFTERS), some kind of cookie decorating activity (WE ARE NOT COOKIE DECORATORS), a game or two (I totally rock at games), and maybe a witch that reads stories…” (sometimes I’m kind of like a witch) Okay, I thought, you “just” want me to plan a Kindergarten Carnival then, is that is?
So if you have any great kindergarten ideas and happen to like working with five year olds (I’d take a teenager ANY DAY) please don’t keep all that brilliance to yourself.
And a BIG FAT THANK YOU to Danielle! Danielle is the button queen of the universe. I absolutely adore her, she’s made a fat load of Stupid Twilight Buttons for me and no one is more amazing. You should hire her to make you a button because she’s the coolest Buttoniere out there. If I believed in giving online awards and knew how to make a button, I’d make her a cool Buttoniere button and send her the code.
And I know nothing about code. I am going to figure out how to put the code up there (Al, where are you when I need you?!) and then you too can have a Stupid Twilight T-shirt Button.
Easy peasy! It’s just a carnival! You know what carnivals are like. Just do that. Minus the carnies. I don’t think they mix so well with 5 year olds.
Good luck to you!
Annie… USE MY MOM! She is perfect for this kind of stuff… AND she LOVES it! She has a great witch hat, a ton of Halloween books, and a file cabinet full of craft ideas that I’m sure would work for kindergarteners. It’s one-stop shopping! Good luck with the party!
Holy Crap! I’m room mom too. I’d better go talk to the teacher.
BUT I used to teach kindergarten. And so I’m really good at stealing ideas. The last one I saw was on Facebook. A friend of mine made a skeleton with her kids. All she needed was a skull head, black paper, Q-tips and glue. They made skeletons. It was so cute and I was thinking about doing it with my kids for fun. You could also have to make paper pumpkins, spiders. BUT whatever you do, keep it simple or you will be making 20 of the craft for them.
I think last year in Elijah’s class they did a cake walk and maybe a pinata? Or was that the last day of school? Call me if you need some help. But if I don’t talk to the teacher soon, I may need help myself. Ha.
Did you steal my Danielle?!?!? I’m glad. 🙂 She’s awesome. I love my little buttons.
Hey, I posted a link to your shirt site on both of my blogs, but I can’t seem to get the button to work! I even thought I knew what I was doing! HELP!
Hi you so don’t know me i’m a new fan of the mommy blogs! So joann crafts has these halloween foam craft kits. You just glue them together and hey you have candy corn man! or something like that. Check those out!
Annie! It’s up…and I’m going to post a disclaimer for my four regular readers that if they don’t buy from you that I will privatize my blog and not invite them to the party…is that cool?
Annie, I’ve been there! Twice! Sounds like you need someone else to be the Calander Mom.
Do you have moms signed up to help? If not, get a phone list from the teacher & call. Tell them you need someone to do xxxx, can they help out, & do they have any ideas? Let them figure it out, or here are some suggestions for you!
GAME #1
Pumpkin Bowling – it is what is sounds like, & is totally fun for all ages! It is a hit every time, & the kids’ classes now ASK for it!
Get 3 softball-sized pumpkins (in case 2 crack…)
2 plastic tablecloths (dollar store)
duct tape
6 empty 2 or 3 liter soda bottles (dollar store again!)
dry beans (food storage, right?)
Empty & dry the soda bottles. Fill bottowm of bottles (about 2 inches high) with dry beans. Tape the tablecloths to the ground to make a long “bowling lane”. Let the kids roll (sometimes they chuck) the pumpkin down the lane & VOILA!
(If doing in small groups) The one who knocks down the most gets a sticker & a piece of candy. The others get a sticker (or piece of candy…).
IF you have TIME (I usually don’t cuz I’m procrastinating…) you can decorate the bottles – Halloween stickers, tie black curly ribbon or a black helium balloon to the top, make stripes using colored electrical tape… whatever. Just remember, the frou-frou is just to impress the teacher/other moms. The kids won’t even notice.
GAME #2
Variations of Pin the Tail on the Donkey
– Nose on the Witch/JackOLantern/etc. or Hand on the Skeleton (again, these are dollar store finds, or you can find & print out from web)
GAME #3
Halloween Mad-Libs (You know what to do!)
CRAFTS
You have 2 options here – you can have an actual craft (that will go in the trash at home), or make the snack a snacky craft! Ding Dongs w/ licorice string & mini M&Ms becomes an edible spider. Or do the old Witch Hat – Keebler fudge striped cookie w/ Hershey’s kiss attached w/ frosting, tied with a fruit tape or licorice string.
If you want an actual craft – Go to Oriental Trading (orientaltrading.com). They have fun, prefab crafts at reasonable prices. Check out the sales! Free shipping right now w/ $49 purchase (they’ve got Christmas stuff too, so get the Christmas party stuff at the same time!)
Good Luck!
Hey my button won’t work either.
Umm…way to go kindergarten teacher for dumping your job on a poor helpless parent? That’s mental.
At our primary halloween party we did the station thing and it worked well. The kids each had a small piece of paper and got a sticker at eat station so the adults would know which they’d done and which they hadn’t.
We did face painting, cupcake decorating, pumpking bowling (plastic pins, small pumpkin they get to chuck), and pumpkin painting (itty-bitty pumpkins that came with paint sets they sell at the local grocery store.
Oh heck…I’m supposed to be organizing that this year. Remind me to come back here and steal some ideas, okay?
Re: Button issue. Sometimes when you copy button code it doubles the number of quote marks for some odd reason and you just have to delete one set so it’s back to normal. Common glitch.
Oh, and you’re missing the at the end.
Sorry, it won’t let me put in that you’re missing the a and little sideways triangle things on the beginning and end of the code.
This is what happens when you praise me! I’m sorry!
Oh, and then you need another sideways triangle and the letter img before the src.
Mine’s up and working now.
I have NO ideas for your carnival, sorry. (But a carnival seems a bit much! I just remember treats when I was in kdg.)
About the twilight tees – I love them! And I’d buy one or two or seven if I weren’t broke. Plus, I made one for a Breaking Dawn party already. Just with puff paint – nothing as fancy as yours! Love the “Cold hands are hot.” I was just going to tell you what my shirt said, in case you needed more ideas and want to print more.
“My favorite vegetarians are hunters.” (vegetarians was written in green, and hunter in red, with blood dripping down. Pretty cool if I do say so myself.)
I hope you get enough money to go see you hubby! 7 weeks is an INCREDIBLY long time to spend with someone else’s (your) kids and no other adult.
Kimberly is crazy computer literate! Whoa Nelly!
I’m kind of surprised that the teacher didn’t communicate this to you sooner / more clearly. She’s gotta realize as a kindergarten teacher that this is your first time as a room mom and you can’t read her mind. I always help out in my kid’s classes, but the teachers have always told me exactly what they needed (while speaking slowly in small words.)
I’m right here as always. (You know where I love remember.) It sounds like you may have gotten the button thing worked out although I didn’t see it (and I would totally use it) but drop me an email if you’re still having trouble.
I say if you’re crazy enough to be room mother, you might as well go for VP.
Frankly, I’d rather work with international leaders than deal with kindergarten crafts. What does that say about me?
I saw this recently at a halloween party.
a dad put shaving cream on his face and then the kids took turns throwing cheese puffs at his face. The winner was the one with the most cheese puffs.