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Teaching Science in Elementary School is crucial for nurturing young minds. But as educators, finding the time and resources to create engaging lessons can be a challenge. That's where this podcast comes in.

Welcome to Naturally Teaching Elementary Science, the show dedicated to supporting elementary teachers in their quest to bring authentic and place-based science experiences to their classroom. I'm Victoria Zablocki, a certified elementary teacher turned outdoor educator. With over a decade of experience coaching teachers on effective science teaching methods, I'm passionate about making science accessible, understandable, and fun for educators and students alike.

Join me as we explore strategies for teaching science in elementary school with practical teaching tips, insightful interviews, picture book reviews, and more. Whether you've taught for a long time or just started your teaching journey, this podcast is your trusty resource for enhancing your science curriculum. So let's grow together.

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All right, everybody. Welcome back to the Naturally Teaching Elementary Science podcast. My name is Victoria Zablocki and I'm your host.

So spooky season is coming. And I don't know about you, but I've been seeing Halloween decorations in stores since midsummer, which in my opinion is way too early. But it still has the holiday on my mind.

So I know some of us are not even thinking about classroom Halloween parties yet, while others have already started their to-do list. So for those of you that fall into the latter group, I'm here to give you some ideas. And then for those of you who haven't started yet, you can listen now and then revisit this episode again in a few weeks when you're ready to get rolling.

So, my disclaimer, if you've listened to the other episodes of the Naturally Teaching Elementary Science podcast, you all know that I think nature is a fantastic vehicle for your science learning. But did you also know that it makes an amazing space to hold your classroom celebrations? Think about it.

You've probably googled or used Pinterest to try to help you figure out activities, snacks, crafts, decorations, all the different pieces for your holiday celebrations throughout the year. But, nature offers you amazing opportunities naturally. And that means you won't need near as many things to keep your kids occupied, and you won't need as many decorations because Mother Nature has already provided you the perfect seasonal backdrop.

So, if you're on board or possibly on board with this idea of taking your classroom Halloween activities outside, I've got some ideas for you in this episode. And if you're thinking outside won't really work for you, listen anyway, and you may hear some activities that spark your interest or may inspire some of your indoor activities.

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So getting into it, you can't have classroom Halloween activities without including games. So nature provides you open space and gives you the opportunity to get all that Halloween party energy out. And yelling and laughing loudly are more easily tolerated outside. So let's take advantage of that piece of nature, because honestly, Halloween parties get a little bit nuts inside with the volume and the energy and the crazies.

So some games to consider using in your outdoor Halloween party could be any form of tag game with a Halloween twist. So for example, sharks and minnows could become bats and mosquitos. Elbow tag could become moth tag. And duck duck goose could become apple apple pumpkin. You could also play What Time Is It Mr. Fox? This doesn't have a huge Halloween correlation, but foxes are kind of sly and tricky and they come out at night. So they could connect to Halloween that way. You could do a pumpkin rolling relay race where you provide your students pumpkins that they have to roll around obstacles or something.

You could play standard-based games. So you could listen to Episode 17 of this podcast, titled "Six Fun Fall Activities Aligned with K-5 Next Generation Science Standards" and that will give you explanations for science games such as Season Tag, Day and Night Hopscotch, Squirrel Cache Capture the Flag, Migration Tag, Fall 20 Questions, and a Photosynthesis Relay. Or you could simply provide extra recess, so you could allow your students more time to play on the playground and enjoy free play as their main party activity, which I know all students want more of.

[4:41]

So moving on, not all of your classroom Halloween activities need to be high energy, though. It would probably be good for your kiddos to have a few options that are low key and provide them a breather from the craziness of the party. So some chill activities that you can have available are crafts. So you could do leaf-inspired crafts, such as collages inspired by the book Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert, or you could just have a fun leaf collage. You could make leaf bowls, leaf rubbings, leaf crowns...really the possibilities with leaves are endless.

You could do pumpkin-inspired crafts, such as using pumpkin seeds that are dyed or painted different colors to create pictures or patterns. You could paint mini pumpkins. Or you could do rolled pumpkin paintings, similar to those rolled marble paintings, but use pumpkins instead of marbles.

You could do apple-inspired crafts, such as cutting apples and using paint to make stamps. You could do coffee filter apple paintings or chromatography, where you have your students color with markers on coffee filters and then spray them with water, and that'll make the dye seep into the rest of the coffee filter. Or you could make smelly watercolor apple paintings, where you mix Kool-Aid with watercolor paint and then you paint that and then afterwards it'll smell fun.

You could have a variety of sensory activities. So as an example for that, you could make a mad scientist table where you have different shaped containers with different colored water and then you let your students have fun mixing water and natural ingredients to make potions and all sorts of other creations. And that could also easily be turned into a craft and you could create calming bottles if you wanted to.

You could also make mud pumpkin pies and apple pies. So if you have an outdoor kitchen or a sandbox, you could provide extra pie tins, pumpkin parts, and apple parts to make mud pumpkin pies and apple pies.

You could create feely boxes, also known as sensory boxes. And what those are are boxes that students reach into blindly, and you put different natural objects into the boxes that students can't see, but they have to feel them to try to figure out what they are. And as a bonus, you could actually put themed items from your most recent science studies inside of those feely boxes.

Another option could be to read some pumpkin books. And there are a lot of great pumpkin picture books out there, and your students could enjoy listening to one as they work through their crafts or they eat their snacks. And if you're looking for some titles, you could check out my article, "12 Instructive Picture Books on Pumpkins for Elementary Students" and that would help you find one that's connected to your curriculum. I am a huge proponent for using any and all opportunities to work towards your standards, including in classroom celebrations. And honestly, connecting literature is one of my favorite ways to do that.

You could provide an engineering challenge. So if you had mini pumpkins or apples, you could have your students protect them, and then you could drop them from your playground slide to see if they break open or not. It's kind of like a variation on the popular egg drop.

Another option would be to have a nature scavenger hunt, like my Five Senses of Fall Scavenger Hunts, where your students can challenge themselves to find as many things on the see, feel, hear, and touch scavenger hunts as they can.

[7:57]

And honestly, what's a Halloween party without food? So having food outside may not appeal to everyone, so you could always opt to have food inside, and then take your classroom Halloween activities outside. But if you're cool with having food outside, some suggestions for keeping things easy could include snacks that don't require your students to handle them. They'll likely end up with dirty hands from being outside. So things on sticks like cookies or rice krispies on a lollipop stick are great, or things that can be eaten with a spoon, like dirt pudding or yogurt, or you could even have things that could be drunk with a straw, like a smoothie yogurt.

Warm beverages would also be appreciated as well, like warm apple cider or hot chocolate, especially if your temperatures dip into the 50s or 60s during this time of the year. And you could also use the Taste Scavenger Hunt from my Five Senses of Fall Scavenger Hunt to guide your party food. So on that scavenger hunt are items that could be found in nature in the fall, including things like apples, soil (aka dirt pudding), wheat (like wheat thins), dandelions (you could use dandelion greens that you find in the produce section), pumpkins, deer (you could do small samples of venison), turkey seeds, and grapes.

[9:15]

And then one more thing to note, if you have decided to have your party outside, make sure to communicate that with your students' parents. This will help them in many ways, including knowing what sorts of outdoor clothing to send with their student that day. Also, if they're volunteering their time to come and help you, they will also be dressed appropriately to spend time outside. You want them to have a positive experience with this, and if they can't be prepared to be comfortable outside, their experience could likely turn negative.

If they happen to be running games for you, this will also put them in the mindset of whole body gross motor activities in lieu of indoor games which tend to be more chill and controlled. If they happen to be donating items for crafts, they can consider whether students will need different materials based on what gear they'll need for the day. So for example, if it's really cold, large glue sticks are easier to handle with mittens than small glue sticks.

And then if they're donating food for the party, and you suggest that the food can be transportable, parents will be more likely to follow that suggestion if they know that their students will be moving around outside.

You'll also want to make sure to communicate with the front office and administration if you'll be moving your party outdoors. It's good practice to have support from inside the building while you're outside with kiddos just in case an emergency comes up or the front office needs to get ahold of you, then they'll know where you are.

[10:41]

And also, if for some reason, your Halloween party takes place after Halloween, like if Halloween happens on the weekend and the building decides to have the Halloween party after said holiday, you can use your Halloween pumpkins or donated Halloween pumpkins to enhance your party. So to get some ideas, you could check out my article, "Pumpkins in November: How to Use Halloween Pumpkins to Teach Students." And in that article, I described using old pumpkins to attract wildlife for observation, examine decomposition and its role in the food chain, and then consider pumpkin life cycles as well.

[11:16]

So in a nutshell, we talked about the benefits of moving your classroom Halloween activities outside. We also talked about different games that you could play outside, such as tag games with Halloween twists, pumpkin rolling relay races, standard-based games, using extra recess as an option.

We discussed different low key activities like crafts, sensory activities, reading pumpkin books, an engineering challenge, using scavenger hunts. We also talked about food and how it would be helpful to have transportable food or warm beverages available. And then we also talked about the communication piece, where you talk to your parents about the fact that you're moving your party outside as well as administration.

And don't forget, if you're looking for fun standard-based games to play during your outdoor Halloween party, you can listen to "Episode 17: 6 fun fall activities aligned with K-5 Next Generation Science Standards." And also if you're looking for engaging scavenger hunts, make sure to check out my 5 Senses of Fall Scavenger Hunts in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store that include opportunities to see, hear, touch, smell, and taste fall nature.

So thanks for taking time to listen today. I know you're busy and I truly appreciate the time you take to tune in. If you have any questions, wonderings, or outdoor classroom Halloween activities that you use, get a hold of me on Instagram at naturally.teaching, or you can email me at victoria@naturallyteaching.com. And don't forget to check out the show notes for this episode at naturallyteaching.com/episode19. Thanks again for joining me today. And until next time, keep exploring, keep learning, and keep naturally teaching.

Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of the Naturally Teaching Elementary Science podcast. I hope you found it informative, inspiring, and full of actionable insights to enhance your science teaching journey. Connect with me on social media for more updates, science tidbits, and additional resources.

You can find me on Instagram and Facebook at naturally.teaching. Let's continue the conversation and share our passion for elementary science education together. Don't forget to visit my website at naturallyteaching.com for all the show notes from today's episode.

If you enjoyed today's episode, please consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps me improve and reach more educators just like you. Thank you again for listening, and until next time, keep exploring, keep learning, and keep naturally teaching.