There's no "I" in Halloween

 

A Kindergarten student drew this Mickey Mouse jack-o-lantern. Cute!

Halloween is a team sport. There’s no “I” in this game, but there is a “we” in Halloween. It’s a storm of collaboration, from the neighbors decorating their yards, to the fun of opening the door to kids in costume. It’s all about what we can do together to make this season fun. In that spirit, my students have made spooky art for Halloween.

Kindergarten colored some Halloween art to get into the trick-or-treating mood.

I asked this Kindergartener if ghosts with teeth go to the dentist.
He wasn't sure. Do you know?

First grade also colored Halloween coloring sheets. It looks like Frankenstein was having a bad day…

Second grade experimented with different faces and color schemes for Jack-o-lanterns.

I envisioned this project looking like stained glass, with colorful background shapes.

Third grade colored haunted houses, with giant full moons.

The lesser-known Barbiecore Frankenstein:

My fourth grade students colored a haunted house scene I drew and photocopied. I encouraged them to make 3-D paper ghosts, which we glued to our scenes.

Fifth grade made multiple mummies. They cut out the bodies and used the leftover paper to make strips of “bandages.” I encouraged them to rip rather than cut their paper so that the bandages have a ragged edge, which is much spookier. Some kids added extra touches like blood (and one mummy somehow lost its head, but my impish student said the mummy would hold his own skull as an accessory). What’s always fascinating to me is how differently the kids interpret the assignment. One kid gave the mummy a “relaxed fit” bandage wrap. Others gave their mummies a disintegrating bandage look. Varied and scaried—oh, I mean “scary.”

Fun fact about mummies: since there was no Joann’s Craft Store back then, you could not go buy fabric for wrapping. You used what you had. Sometimes strips of old clothing were used. It is hard to imagine, but the family gathered approximately 4,000 square feet of material for the wrapping.

Sixth grade made three-dimensional pumpkin patches from cardstock. I designed this after pop-up cards, with the pumpkins sitting vertically. Each is different, and many have an ominous feel, which is appropriate for this season. We are doing more 3-d art this year, and the kids seem to like that challenge.

Seventh grade also made mummies, and some of the kids really got into creepy, oozy details.

Eighth grade created wonderful three-dimensional haunted house scenes. I came up with this idea because I remembered as a child, cutting out shapes from the back of cereal boxes, which you could fold into something fun. Folding cardstock into a shape is delightful, yet folding laundry is somehow less exciting. (One of the universal truths of adulthood.) I love how varied these turned out. One crafty teen even drew details on the inside of his haunted house, which is a delightful touch. (He always goes the extra mile…)

So back to our original topic: putting the “we” in Halloween this season.

We will be carving pumpkins--and let’s face it: the slimy pumpkin guts do lend a creepy tone…

We will put out a bowl of candy and we will trick-or-treat.

We have a live, huge, scary spider in our yard. She’s an orangy-brown one, commonly known as “cat faced spider,” or for purists, araneus gemmoides. If you Google it, don’t blame me if you get nightmares! Her body is the size of a marble, and her legs are spooky and pointy. I am both captivated and horrified by her. But I named her Esmerelda because…I don’t know. It seemed to fit.

On that note, I’ll leave you to plot your HalloWEen Hijinx. I’ll see you again next month, when we’ll meet back here with Thanksgiving art and my gripes about the shorter days. Until then, be safe, have fun and Happy Haunted Halloween!