October Round table- More Halloween things

Since I love Halloween and we still have a few weeks to plan some den meetings, I shared some more Halloween ideas at Round Table.

 I love these mason jar luminaries. There are tutorials all over the internet, just Google Halloween Luminaries and you will get a bunch. By making these you can pass off either part of Wolf Elective 9a, or Elective 9b or c. It will also pass off make a craft in the bears, but I can not find which one that is.

They are so easy and fun to make, my wolves loved this activity. I will give you some advice on doing them. Make sure you use the wide mouth jars. I told all of our boys to bring a wide mouth pint (you can do bigger, but the smaller ones are easier for the boys)size jar and only one of them did. He had no problems doing his. The other ones were still able to do theirs but they struggled a bit more.

I gave them a choice of different faces that I found by googling(is this a word? I am going to use it either way) Halloween faces.I then used Photoshop to put 6 on a page and print them out. They could pick  a crazy pumpkin(which is the one pictured), skeleton, ghost, vampire bat, traditional pumpkin, and Frankenstein. You could do any color tissue paper but we had the pumpkins orange, ghost and skeleton white, Frankenstein green and the vampire bat purple.

I had them cut each piece of their face out and then using white school glue had them glue it on to the inside of the jar. They then took pieces of tissue paper and started gluing (with a thin coat) those to the inside of the jar as well.

I will get a picture of the ones the boys made and post it later.

I used the battery operated tea lights that I got from the dollar store in a two pack.

 Here is a Halloween board game that I wish I had come up with, but I didn't I found the idea HERE. I  gathered all my supplies and spent the next few hours working on it. I know you are probably wondering why did it take so long for me to put squares onto a poster board...well I originally cut the squares to big and then had to cut them all down.

Here is what you will need to make one:

• poster board
• Halloween scrapbook paper (I used 5 prints) cut to 1 1/2 inch squares 
• Solid color card stock (I used green, white, purple, and black) Cut to 1 1/2 inch squares
• Halloween clipart (most of mine was found HERE)
• adhesive of some kind (since I knew I was laminating mine I used a tape runner and just put a small strip down the back of each square. If you are not laminating it you will need to glue them down better)
• Printable game cards from HERE I used made my own using the ones from that link, but I left out all the ones that said go back to pumpkin patch(which is the beginning), and I changed a few. 
• dice
• candy or small prize for finishing game(optional)

Game piece supplies

• Candy for pieces-I used miniature peanut butter cups, you could also use the pumpkins that come in the bag with the candy corn.
• tooth picks
• name flags

To play have the kids start on pumpkin patch. Roll the dice and move that number of spaces. If you land on a white square draw a card and follow the directions. When they get to Trick or treat trail(the end of the game) they could pick a piece of candy or small toy out of a small bucket. 

 Here is a fun Halloween project you can do with your bears that will help pass off Achievement 19a,b,c, Shavings and Chips. This is something our bear leader  has done with the boys for a few years now and she was kind enough to let me borrow them this year to share with you.

This started out as an apple that the boys carved and then their leader took them home and dried them in her oven around 125 degrees(she left them in over night for several days).

The following week the boys used cheese cloth and scary cloth(the black found at Walmart) to make the bodies. There is also a piece of wire(you could use a wire hanger) to form the shape of the cloth. If you look close you can see it in the black one on the right side.

September Round Table Part TWO- Halloween Party

Get ready for a long post but one filled with lots of great ideas. I love Halloween and every year my Wolves help plan a party. This month is the perfect time to start thinking about planning a Halloween party for your Cub Scouts. Elective 9b in the Wolf book says to help plan a party by making decorations and playing games.

Check out my Previous post here for a simple decoration the boys can make. I start about 3 weeks before the party and show the boys the samples and let them choose one that they would like to make. The next week at den meeting I have the boys paint their blocks and let them dry until the following week when we add the details.  Then they will be all ready for the Party at the next den meeting.

A few notes: I usually don't do the bat because you have to use stiff felt for the wings and it can get pricey depending on how many boys you have.

Also when making the mummy you can use plain white fabric and tear stripes about an inch and a half wide instead of using gauze.

For Frankenstein you do not have to use real screws you could use the wood furniture buttons similar to the ones found HERE and just paint them gray.

With all that said here is what you will need

• 2x4 cut into 6 inch pieces
• paint; white, apple green(or preferred green), orange, black, and gray
• foam paint brushes
• Black sharpie
• Hot glue gun/glue sticks (ADULT SUPERVISION IS NEEDED FOR THIS)

Frankenstein-

• black felt, fun foam, or construction paper
• googly eyes
• screws or wooden furniture buttons
• small furniture buttons (nose)

Pumpkin

• green ribbon for the stem

Mummy-

• gauze or white fabric 
• googly eyes

Refer to the picture to put them together 

Here is a quick, fun treat you can make to give to the boys as they leave. Plus it makes a great decoration on your food table if you have one. 

Materials:

• Candy corn-goblin teeth
• Marshmallows- ghost poop
• Golden grahams cereal-monster scabs
• Chocolate chips- witch warts
• Snack size Ziploc bags
• Colored paper; orange, purple, green
• stapler

Instructions:

• Print label onto colored paper
• Fill bag with some of each ingredient
• Staple bag topper to top of bag.

If you would like to use a colored version and print them on white paper instead send me an email and I will create it for you. 

Here is a picture of our food table that I did last year and forgot to post. I have each boy bring a treat to share. I went to the dollar store and bought the plastic eyeballs, ears, flies and all that creepy stuff then gathered jars and spray painted the lids black. When I am ready to decorate I fill the jars with water and a little bit of food color. You could make labels for them such as "french flies" 

I made the eat if you dare sign using photoshop if you would like a copy of it feel free to email me. 

The mummies on the right are made out of the bottom half of a water bottle then wrapped with torn pieces of fabric and googly eyes. Check out last years post HERE to see a close up of one. 

Have the boys make a Jack-O-Lantern glyph to use as decorations.If you are not familiar with glyphs they are used a lot in school. It is a fun way for the kids to represent things about them or things they like. I found the printable HERE and used the questions she had done, but you could easily make your own questions.

Kids always love playing bingo. Here is a game I made years ago using Halloween words. 

or if you want pictures you can make one just like this HERE. I love this site they have so many options for making your own bingo games. You can make it the size you see above or you can make it bigger (5 pictures by 5pictures). Check it out they have a bunch of holiday ones. 

Here is a fun game I made. Halloween Scavenger Hunt. 

Materials:

• Each boy will need a sheet of items like above (one sheet will do two boys). 
• Gather the items on the list (or print out pictures of each one) 
• brown paper lunch bags (one for each player)

To play: Place items in large bowl on a table and have them pick one item and place it in a brown paper bag (try not to let anyone see what item you have)

The players then need to find out who has which item. They may ask other players to show them what's in their bag. When they know what item that player has, write their name in the space next to the item. Don't tell any other players what each person has, let them find out on their own. Repeat this process for each item. See who can get them all done first.

Variation: To make it a little harder have the boys go around the room and ask each player on or two yes or now questions about their item. For Example player is trying to figure out who has the apple. He will go to a player and could ask him "can you eat the item in your bag?" "is your item red?" if the player answers no then move on to the next person until you find who has that item. If the player answers yes and does in fact have the apple, write their name in the space next to the item. Continue this way until you know which item everyone has. 

 Here is an easy pre-opening activity. Halloween activity book. The boys can work on these as the others are arriving, and can take them home to finish if they do not have enough time.

Here is a sample of what is in the book. 

If you would like a copy of this please email me

Halloween party Decorations

Every year for my wolves to pass off Elective 9a-Plan a party, we do a Halloween party. The boys have so much fun with this. We let them wear costumes then we plan games and have them make some decorations and bring a treat. We also invite our other dens to join us.

This is what I had them make this year. These are ones that I made several years ago but they are simple enough for the boys to make.(forgive the no one eyed ones, my cute 1 year old thought it would be fun to pull the eyes off and I am out of eyes and haven't made it to the store) I gave them a choice between the mummy,pumpkin, and Frankenstein, because I didn't want to go buy the stiff felt for the bats wings.

I will have to get a picture of the ones the boys made, they were excited that they get to keep them once our party is over.

The other thing we are having them make are these...

  Mummy treat containers. These are water bottles with the tops cut off. We bought muslin and tore strips then glued them to start(using a hot glue gun) and had the boys wrap them. Then they picked out googly eyes and we glued them on for them.

This one is filled with candy for picture purposes but we usually fill them with popcorn since it is a bit cheaper then candy. This year we will be filling them with pretzels and candy corn.