I love integrating arts activities with children’s
books, but I know there are ways to teach with the arts other than using a
children’s book. Every once in a while I will be posting a “special post.” It will not be centered on a children’s book;
it will be focused on something else- like a holiday or age group- and still have
arts integrating activities! This is the
first special post of the blog!
It is now October, and I know many teachers and
parents have begun thinking about school or family Halloween parties. If the teachers or parents haven’t, the kids
sure have!! It’s hard to ignore that
fact that once the leaves start changing colors- Halloween is on the minds of
little (and big) kids everywhere! Here
are some ideas/activities that incorporate the arts into your classroom or
family home parties. Some of these ideas
are more academic than others, and can actually be integrated into lessons
during the month of October.
Subjects: Writing, Music, Drama, Dance, Art
Music:
When
I was student teaching, I had the kids do a lip sink to a song of their group’s
choice. The kids had a chance to pick
the song, practice, and then perform.
They had a ball. You could do
this for Halloween fun! Here is a list
of kid friendly Halloween songs that would be fun to karaoke or lip sink to:
1. The
Monster Mash
2. Spiderman
3. Ghostbusters
4. Ding
Dong the Witch is Dead
5. I
Want Candy
6. The
Witch Doctor
7. Thriller
8. Dem
Bones
Another
Music Activity: Music can be used for so many things during a
Halloween party because it is fun. Some activities
that involve music for Halloween parties are: (you may have heard of some of
these before)
1. Cake Walk:
Put numbers on the floor and have the students walk around in a circle while
the music is playing. When the music
stops, draw a number and whoever is standing on the number you drew wins a cake
or cupcake!!
2. Musical Chairs:
Put the same amount of chairs in a circle in the room as students- minus one
chair. While the music is playing, have
the students go around the chairs. When
the music stops, have the students sit in a chair. Whoever is not in a chair is out. Continue playing, but be sure to take a chair
out after each round so you always have one less chair than number of students.
3. Dance Moves:
Start the game
by having the kids write down random words on slips of papers. Put the papers
into a bowl and gather everyone into a standing circle. Pass the bowl around
and have everyone pull out a slip of paper. After they've read their paper,
turn on some music and pick one child to start the game. She'll come up with a
dance move using the word on her paper. For example, if she has the word
"kangaroo," she can use hopping as her dance move. Once she performs
the move for about 10 seconds, the person to her left comes up with a dance
move. This continues around the circle as everyone creates their own moves.
Once everyone has contributed, have the kids vote on the best dance move. This game came from ehow.com: http://www.ehow.com/list_6597778_music-party-games-kids.html#ixzz2gVYbegn9
by having the kids write down random words on slips of papers. Put the papers
into a bowl and gather everyone into a standing circle. Pass the bowl around
and have everyone pull out a slip of paper. After they've read their paper,
turn on some music and pick one child to start the game. She'll come up with a
dance move using the word on her paper. For example, if she has the word
"kangaroo," she can use hopping as her dance move. Once she performs
the move for about 10 seconds, the person to her left comes up with a dance
move. This continues around the circle as everyone creates their own moves.
Once everyone has contributed, have the kids vote on the best dance move. This game came from ehow.com: http://www.ehow.com/list_6597778_music-party-games-kids.html#ixzz2gVYbegn9
4. Dancing Body Parts: This game would go well
with the song, “Dem Bones.” Gather the kids into a circle and stand somewhere
they can see you. After you put on some music, tell them they can only move the
body parts you instruct them to move as they dance to the music. For example,
start by only moving your pinkie finger, keeping the rest of your body
motionless. Invite the kids to mimic your movements; anyone who doesn't is
eliminated from the game. Make the movements more difficult as you go on, for
example, only move your stomach muscles, or combine two movements, such as
shrugging your shoulders while you tap your feet. The game ends when only one
player--the winner--remains in the game.
This game idea came from ehow.com: http://www.ehow.com/list_6597778_music-party-games-kids.html#ixzz2gVZB4bTo
Art:
There are countless Halloween
Art projects out there, so I will only give you one idea that dives more into
creativity than just making a cute cat hanging for the wall. One reason kids (and adults) love Halloween
is because they get to where costumes.
Some schools don’t allow costumes. This activity can be done with or
without costumes. Before the party, take
a picture of each child’s face. Make the
picture actual size of the face and print it as a dark watermark. Then have the students choose their favorite
animal. The activity is to have the student’s create the face of that animal on
their own face picture using paint. This
would be a good chance to incorporate an art lesson on combining colors,
texture of paint, etc.
Dance:
One
year when I was in college I was in a show choir and we put on a Halloween
performance for a big Halloween party.
We actually sang and danced to the songs we were singing, and it was a
live performance, but an idea like this can be incorporated on a much smaller
scale for a classroom party. Throughout
the month of October you could teach the students a Halloween dance, such as “Thiller,”
by Michael Jackson. If you don’t know
how to do the dance, here is an instructional video that gives you step by step
moves on how to do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFEu2vd0nPk
During your classroom Halloween party, have
the students perform the song for their parents, other students, or the
school. Obviously, “Thriller” is for
older students, but this idea/activity can be done in younger grades with other
songs. You could even make up a dance to
“5 Little Pumpkins,” if you wanted to!!
Writing/Technology-Media
Art/Drama: For a writing integrated activity, you could have the students as groups write
a Halloween radio show using sound effects.
The students would write a “story” to share on the classroom radio as if
it was the 50s and they have to make all of their sound effects
themselves. After writing the story with
sound effects and different voices for the characters, you could have them
record their radio stories on a device (tape, mp3, or whatever technology you
have) and play each story to the class as if they were listening to the
radio. If you don’t want to have the
students record their radio stories, you could put up a sheet in front of the
classroom so the audience cannot see the performing group. The group who is sharing their story goes
behind the sheet with all of their sound effects and reads the story making the
sound effects as if they were live on the radio in the 50s. There are “spooky sounds” and Halloween side
effect cds and audio files on the internet if you want to allow your students
to use pre-recorded sounds. (This idea is not my original idea. It was something we did when I was taking the
Arts Academy through BYU while teaching).
If
you have more ideas on how to integrate the arts into classroom or at home
Halloween parties, please feel free to comment with those ideas!! Thanks for sharing!
