If you know me, you know how much I love the fall/Halloween (see how I decorated Carson’s nursery for fall and Halloween) and wanted to incorporate the changing of the season in our play time. I thought it would be fun to share how we shared the fun with Carson this year!
1. Pumpkin carving – Obviously your little one won’t be able to actually carve with you but you can still have fun in the process. Have your LO sit with you and let them feel and explore the pumpkin; talk about the texture, color, and smell. When you carve into it, let them stick their hands inside or pull out some of the guys and let them get messy just remember to keep the conversation going. If you carve a face into your pumpkin point it out and then find those parts on you and baby – relating things back to things their familiar with will make it extra fun for your LO. Lastly, get a battery operated light and put it in your pumpkin and turn the lights off; now you can practice phrases like on/off and light/dark!
2. Pumpkin /squash food – Another way to bring fall to life is incorporating it into their food. Pumpkin and squash are great additions to their diet and are soft enough to add in as soon as you’re comfortable doing so. We just cut them in half, bake for an hour, and then purée in a food processor!
3. Stamp pumpkin painting – This may difficult for some babies but it’s still fun to try if you don’t mind getting a little messy. Carson loves to smash things so this was extra fun to watch.
5. Play Halloween music – “Alexa, play some Halloween music” is a regular phrase in our house these days. It’s a fun way to mix up our usual rotation; throw some on in the background while you’re playing, cooking, or changing diapers!
6. Read books – Carson loves reading books (ok mostly turning the pages and touching all the colorful images) but this is such a fun way to spend time with your LO and get into the spirit of Halloween! One of our favorites is The Itsy Bitsy Pumpkin that reads to the tune of – you guessed it – the itsy bitsy spider. That’s been a fan favorite from day one so it was fun to see him light up to this variation! A few others we’re loving are:
8. Apple picking – Like the pumpkin patch, you have lots of things you can talk about with your LO. If the orchard allows it, bring a picnic and enjoy the outdoors together! Studies have shown that fresh air is SO good for babies and helps them sleep better at night. Win – win.
9. Play with leaves – Real leaves may not go over well since they tend to break easily and will most likely end up in little mouths so I recommend buying some fake ones at the foliage store or your local craft store. You can throw them in the air and let them fall around your LO (we get some great laughs out of this). Again, you can talk about the different colors and shapes/sizes of the leaves
10. Rain maker – All you need are some plastic water bottles and a few dried items like corn (or candy corn) to make some music! Add varying amounts of each and mix up the sizes to get different sounds.
12. Go for a drive to see the leaves change – I know this may not be doable for some people but you could swap out leaves for lights too! If you’re able to pull over and see them a little more up close, that’s great too.
How do you like to celebrate Halloween? Make sure to check out my 31 days for Halloween movies!
The Petite Greek 