This fun Halloween sensory activity for toddlers and preschoolers encourages open-ended play and exploration with sensory materials. Children can build a jack-o-lantern with these fun felt shapes, and then build them all over again.
Build a Jack-o-Lantern Sensory Craft
What you need for this build a jack-o-lantern activity:
- Orange and Yellow Felt
- Poms Poms
- Pipe Cleaners
- Googly Eyes
- Buttons
- Felt Leaf Stickers
To make the build a jack-o-lantern sensory craft:
Cut the orange felt into the shape of a pumpkin (or opt to purchase pre-cut foam pumpkins like these).
Cut the yellow felt into face details. Provide three or more variants of each: the mouth, eyes, and nose.
Cut the pipe cleaners into 1-2 inch segments.
Place various details such as pom poms or fall felt decor in a tray. Allow for open-ended play and exploration of the materials for children to create their jack-o-lantern.
While this ‘craft’ may not create an end result, it’s more of a sensory play activity where children can feel texture and shape to create their jack o lantern. Plus, this way they can create over and over again experimenting with different combinations of shapes and materials.
Tips/Play Suggestions:
- Introduce the activity by talking about Halloween and carving jack-o-lanterns.
- Allow the children to explore and create their unique designs.
- Encourage kids to get more involved by naming their pumpkins. They can also create a story centered around their pumpkin.
- Practice counting and sorting with the different accessories.
- Encourage kids to explore emotions by challenging them to make a surprised pumpkin, a scared pumpkin, a happy pumpkin, etc.
- Get a variety of pom poms with different sizes, shapes, colors, and textures. This will encourage sensory play as kids describe the characteristics of each pom pom they use. The same goes for the pipe cleaners.
- This is designed to be a repeatable activity, so no glue or tape is used. After you are done, all the parts can go into a baggie to be played with again later.
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