Friday was my designated slot for Friday Funday in Thomas’s class. This year his class has a sign-up to read on Fridays and do an activity of your choosing with the class. I’ve been quick to realize that signing up around a holiday is to your advantage if you’re not naturally crafty like myself. I thought Halloween would be a fun time to volunteer, and I was right. Our kids are so into Halloween. Before having kids I thought it was just okay and they’ve made me a convert!
Their reading time is right after lunch, so naturally Thomas wanted me to eat with him first. Tom’s mom graciously offered to watch Arthur and JL so I could go to the school for a few hours. Per his request I brought him Burger King for lunch. Apparently that’s the popular restaurant from which most kids get lunch. While I’m not a fan of eating this on a regular basis, I obliged him this time!
After lunch we headed back to the classroom to read. It’s the sweetest thing at this age how they’re so excited to show and tell you about every little thing. He held my hand as we walked down the hall and pointed out which bat hanging from the ceiling was his and how it had scary teeth and so on.
The kids got settled on the carpet and Thomas took his place in a chair beside me. I brought one of our favorite Halloween books to read, The Berenstain Bears’, Trick or Treat; but Thomas already had another spooky book from his classroom picked out for me to read when I got there.
After we read the kids went back to their tables ready to play. I found these adorable Halloween Bingo cards to print and thought they would make a fun activity. I also took the suggestion of having the kids work in small groups and having the Bingo cards laminated for future use, and I’m so glad I did. I brought candy corn for the markers. This was a little bit of a distraction for some. I had to make sure the rule of NOT eating the candy corn was clear.
I brought a small cauldron filled with Halloween goodies from the dollar section at Walmart: bubbles, stampers, bracelets, Playdough, snakes, etc. Each time a team got a Bingo, they got to pick a treat and were out of the game. We went on until all the groups had won one time.
They had so much fun. Thomas’s teacher said she enjoyed it too. She liked the fact that they did something where they were sharing and working together and also having fun. We’ve also been enjoying playing some games of our own at home. A win all around!
I also printed some of these handy Halloween coloring pages. We didn’t have time to get to those, so I left them with his teacher to use later if she chose.
I had such a fun time doing this for Thomas and his friends. It can be somewhat intimidating to because whipping out a game or craft doesn’t come easy to me. Thanks to Pinterest or a number of other online platforms that look picture perfect this can leave you feeling a little bit overwhelmed seeing the thousands and thousands of options to choose from and maybe wondering how you’d pull it off.
I have another friend who’s struggling with a recipe for her daughter’s preschool Halloween party. She found something that’s super cute, followed the directions and tried it multiple times and it’s not turning out how that beautiful blog photo shows it. It’s frustrating when that happens! And we try again and again thinking just one more time because how can this be so easy for someone else and so hard for me?
I’m thankful for times I’m able to use someone else’s talent to do something special for family. I’m learning what works for me. Printing out a game to play? Yes! Whipping up some “easy” pumpkin pretzels? Maybe not! And that’s okay. I’m learning more and more to find my assurance and confidence in the One who’s given me my own traits and talents to sow my own area that He’s given me and not compare myself to others with different gifts.
