Welcome to our “Halloween Week” – a collection of days filled with relaxed learning and fun activities all themed to the awesome holiday – Halloween! For this day, we turned our attention to the dark and mysterious werewolf! Read on to check out a fun filled day of learning, reading, crafts, and activities all on werewolves!
A TYPICAL DAY
All kids are different and you can definitely vary your day with whatever works for you 🙂 Our relaxed & learning fun day kicks off with an introduction to the day’s theme. Then, we move onto videos and themed activities (reading, writing – or story telling – time, crafts, food crafts/snacks, and games or experiments). Feel free to pick and choose whatever works for you 🙂
INTRO
While werewolves have generally belonged to the scarier category of legendary creatures, they’ve also been featured in kids books, videos, and toys in much less scary cartoonish and kid friendly appearances. So, for this Halloween day, we focused on werewolves, brought out one of the cutest werewolf squishmallows, and learned all about the werewolf legends!
Note: while the werewolves are generally depicted as menacing and scary, we focused a bit more on the creature itself and its origins. Some of the videos and books may be a bit mature for younger audiences, so check beforehand.
These resources are some great introductions 🙂
WHAT TO WATCH
We find that mixing in a short video themed to our day is a great way to add some learning fun! We try to pick informative videos OR mix in a cartoon favorite (where they don’t even realize they’re learning). Below are some of the videos we picked from for the day:
- Could Werewolves Be Real? | COLOSSAL MYSTERIES by Colossal Cranium (3m)
- Are Werewolves Real? | COLOSSAL QUESTIONS by Colossal Cranium (3m)
- The Legend of the Werewolf | CBC Kids by CBC Kids (2m)
- Werewolves | The Legend of Lycanthropy by Mythology Unleashed (14m)
FOOD CRAFTS / SNACKS
What’s more fun than taking a break and having a simple snack??? Including the snack in your theme of the day! We find that our kiddos are more than happy to eat the snacks they create especially when they can arrange them into fun shapes and scenes!
- Werewolf Paws by Martha Stewart
- Werewolf Claw Pretzel Rods Are A Howling Halloween Snack! By the Purple Pumpkin Blog
READING
It’s no secret that reading is an important part of learning, which is why we pick out a handful of books that are fun and filled with some learning tidbits. For our older ones, we have them fill out some worksheets (or let them create some of their own comics) to describe what they read and/or learned! These are a few we picked from for the day:
- Behind the Legend Werewolf by Erin Peabody
- The Legend of the Howling Werewolf Written by Gertrude Chandler Warner Book #148 in the The Boxcar Children Series
- Werewolves Author: Aaron Frisch
- The Werewolf Chase: A Mystery about Adaptations (Summer Camp Science Mysteries) by Lynda Beauregard
WRITING & WRITING PROMPTS
Just like reading, writing is a great way to keep kids learning by both encouraging their creativity and thought process as well as helping them practice their motor skills and penmanship.
If you’ve got a little one, have them trace words related to the theme: HALLOWEEN, WEREWOLF, MOON
If you’ve got older children, have them write a sentence or two up to a page or two (depending on their age). Encourage them to be creative AND give reasons for why they made certain choices. This was our writing prompt of the day (and we offered up some examples as well) but definitely pick something your kiddo might be interested in writing about!
- Werewolves are creatures who are mostly human but turn into a wolf at night. What other creatures do you think would be terrifying if a human turned into it?
- If you were a werewolf, would you be afraid of the moon or would you be excited for it?
- Why do you think werewolves turn at night? Would they be just as scary if they turned into werewolves at sunrise?
- Werewolves are in many stories and cartoons. Do you have a favorite werewolf? Why?
- Monster Mash Mad Libs
CREATE & CRAFT
If you’ve got a crafty little one, a simple craft is a great way to keep them interested in the topic. While their creative juices are flowing, you can also chat about what they’ve learned so far or ask them what else they’re excited about learning!
STEM & STEAM ACTIVITIES
While crafting and writing get their creativity and imagination flowing, we also like to add in an activity that gets them thinking along the lines of science, technology, engineering, or math! These engaging activities or experiments are a great way to keep them learning!
- Lego Minifigure Werewolf. Lego has released quite a few werewolf figurines over the years. If you’re lucky enough to have one on hand, have your kid create a lego werewolf scene!
- Nanoblock Werewolf. Note: these are nanoblocks, so they are VERY tiny. and not compatible with Legos Younger kids may need some help.
- 500 Pieces Werewolf Jigsaw Puzzle
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you so much for checking out our learning fun article!
If you did enjoy this, please let us know below or follow us on Pinterest. Also, If you’re still looking for more Halloween Learning Fun, check out our Halloween Week or Halloween Ideas!
Happy Learning & Happy Halloween!
