Clayton Crew: Spooktacular Halloween Fun...

There is no denying it, the Clayton Crew just loves us some holidays! October 1st is always a very giddy day for the kids and I as it begins three whole months of holiday activity fun.

We always kick off October 1st by decorating the house...

We have an advent calendar that is hung every year to help us countdown to the big trick or treating day. Along the way to help get us in the spirit, I have several spooktacular activities for us to participate in like decorating the front door...

I showed Kason several ideas on pinterest and he chose the mummy door. We had a lot of fun putting it up, but unfortunately it's not a keeper because it unraveled way too quickly. I also planned for a few craft projects the kids could hang up inside.

All three had fun making our tissue pumpkins...

especially Max :)...

I cut out jack-o-lantern faces while the kids tore up black tissue and pressed down onto contact paper. This part was serious business for Mr. Max...

He is getting way better at touching different textures and joining in a little bit with his siblings. As does most artwork in our home, we just had to display their pumpkin patch...

especially in a window so we could showcase those tissue smiles! One of the kids favorite activities is painting, so I added a twist while painting their candy corns...

I clipped white pom pom balls to clothespins so the kids could make "dot art"...

I think they turned out super cute...

For Kason, I'm always trying to find creative ways to integrate homework with things he loves. Therefore, while working on patterns one afternoon he created a Halloween bunting to decorate with...

He did a really good job and especially loved being able to use a stapler :).

Oh, it's always the little things in life that seem most exciting to kids...hehe! Now, you know me and I absolutely can't get away from my love of sensory play! Therefore we had a couple of terror-ific activities! I've done several variations of hanging baggies in the windows and they are always a hit. This time I created creepy, crawly Halloween themed...

Kason's favorite was the monster mash (purple slime with eye balls)

while Zoe pretty much loved all of them :). She couldn't get enough of the squishy fun! Max seriously loved this activity. I taped his bag to the light box so he could reach it better and I knew the light would illuminate the color and objects for him to see easier...

He got so tickled that we ended up rotating baggies for him so he could explore all four. Of course we can't let the entire month of October go by without something melting or distorting...right?!? So, one day while the boys were at school, little lady and I made a cross between silly putty and slime...

girlfriend thought it was the best thing ever!

When Kason got home from school, we made melting pumpkins!

We rolled the slimy substance into a ball, decorated it like a pumpkin...

then watched it slither into a pancake. Our last sensory activity was a graveyard bash...

The little rascals had to go graveyard digging for skeleton bones!

I unfortunately didn't get into the kitchen with the kids like I had planned this Halloween, but I did squeeze in time for monster treats...

And of course, we culminated our jeepers, creepers month of fun by carving our very own jack-o-lantern!

Kason has been itching to get his hands on that big pumpkin he picked out at the pumpkin patch. I am proud to say he did most of the work! Daniel helped cut open and guide him in getting the insides cleaned out. I tried getting Zoe to help me finish off the last bit, but she was a little miss priss and wasn't interested :)...

Daniel (our family artist) drew the jack-o-lantern outline based on Kason's vision...

then Kason pretty much carved the pumpkin all by himself!

Man he was so proud...it was adorable. He kept telling Zoe to stand back, his "knife" was sharp :). I had to help him with a few turns, but overall he did the main work.