BOO!

Halloween in a Montessori classroom is much different than in a traditional setting. There are no scary images posted around the school and the children are not coloring pictures of witches on their brooms. Instead, the children are learning about bats and the way that they "hear" with echolocation. They are studying the many uses of a pumpkin and exploring the pumpkin life cycle. Check out this book from your local library, it's fantastic. You can also preview half of the book here. We do sing Halloween-inspired songs that allow for use of the imagination, but are not scary or threatening. The children haven enjoyed singing Stirring the Brew, while adding their own concoctions to the brew! We also sing Five Little Pumpkins, but we remove the word "witches" and replace it with "bats". Here are the lyrics if you'd like to sing it at home, also, each child gets a chance to shut off the lights when we sing "out went the lights" near the end. That's their favorite part!

"Five Little Pumpkins"

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,

The first one said "Oh my, it's getting late!"

The second one said "There are bats in the air!"

The third one said "But we don't care."

The fourth one said "Let's run and run and run!"

The fifth one said "We're ready for some fun!"

Woooooo went the wind and

Out went the lights!

And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

There are several different variations to this song, but this is the one that we've always liked. If you would like to make a "Five Little Pumpkins" mini-book at home, follow the directions here.

Scroll down to the printable templates at the bottom of the page. On Halloween celebration day, we continue to sing songs and I will paint little decorations on their faces. We do not dress up for several reasons. Many times children dress up in very scary costumes and this changes the child's peaceful personality entirely. Younger children spend the day frightened and/or crying because of these costumes. Also, parts of the costumes break easily or are lost and the teacher spends much of the day consoling or trying to fix swords and wands. Instead, we have lots of fun and enjoy a non-threatening aspect of the holiday.

Have a fun and safe Halloween!