Preschool Lesson Plan Halloween

Halloween

The word Halloween comes from the "All Hallowe'en" which meant to go out on October 31 and celebrate All Hallow's Evening, this got shortened to All Hallow's Even', then to Halloween.

About 2000 years ago the Celtics (Ireland as we know it) celebrated "Samhain", meaning "summer's end", this represented the end of Summer and the beginning of Winter. This was a religious festival, celebrated by their priests, known as Druids, in honor of their Sun God, Baal, who they believed helped them with their harvests.

The Celtics believed that "Samhain", their Lord of the Dead, gathered the souls of their dead ancestors on October 31, so that these souls could visit with their living ancestors. Some ghosts were not happy, maybe with their living relatives, so they played pranks on humans.

How did witches come into the picture? For thousands of years the ancient civilisations believed in sorcerers, magicians and witchcraft (we call them scientists today) because the sourcerers, etc, knew a lot about plants, herbs and animal parts that were believed to have magical powers. This knowledge was kept a secret and handed down from generation to generation. The word Witch comes from the Wicca religion meaning "wise one". Witches weren't ugly, in fact most of the female witches were considered beautiful (and yes, they had male witches). At gatherings the women did most of the cooking or brewed the medical potions to make cures - the witches brew!

Trick or Treat? Some anthropologists believe this came from the Druid priests who would put on masks and go around to homes or farms begging for food and tithes for their Celtic House of Worship. The people feared that if they didn't give something to the priests the Irish God, Muck Olla, would do something to their properties. Mysteriously those that didn't pay did have something happen to their property...hmmm.

Halloween came to the US during the potato famine which brought many Irish and Scottish immigrants, along with their celebrations and superstitions.

Gross Motor:	Play some Halloween music or SPOOKY sounds then have your child creep, walk and jump like a cat. (Get Ready For School clients should use the Lion Leap from the Advanced program as a guide.)
Fine Motor:	Pipe Cleaner spiders. Provide your child with pipe cleaners to make spiders. Have them twist the pipe cleaners together to form a body and legs. Discuss how many legs a spider has then use them to decorate your home. Pumpkin worksheet.
Visual Perception:	Halloween Cat worksheet. Pumpkin worksheet.
Language:	Children can learn many important lessons and language skills by reading, watching or hearing a story. One of the greatest indicators of understanding is when your child repeats or retells stories in their own words. Talk about big and small using the Cat worksheet. Talk about shapes using the Pumpkin worksheet.
Suggested reading:	Room on the Broom	Scary, Scary Halloween	The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
Special:	Trick or Treat for Unicef

Five Little Pumpkins (finger play)

Five little Pumpkins sitting on a gate
The First one said "Oh, my it's getting late!"
The Second one said "There are witches in the air!"
The Third one said "Well, we don't care!"
The Forth one said "We will run and run and run!"
The Fifth one said "We are ready for some fun!"
Whoooo oooo went the wind
And out went the light
and the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

When using the Halloween worksheets make sure your child uses the correct:

Pencil Grip
Scissor Control
Did he or she manage the Visual Perception task?

To learn how to teach these skills correctly, improve your child's abilities and help prepare your child for school use the Get Ready For School program.

	©