But first!
Read Our Monthly Themes for Play:
for our full list of themes
and to learn why we loveeee monthly themes.
October’s themes:
Halloween
Activities + toys:
a Halloween block set I grabbed from Target last year
I think technically it’s a Jenga-type game, but whatever
this halloween dot sticker activity
I used orange dot stickers and black dot stickers
this pumpkin bells magnet color sorting activity!!
I used these pumpkin bells and these magnetic wands
See a quick tour of our playroom (and how we store our toys) in this reel.
Here’s how we store monthly activity items the rest of the year.
Books:
Here's the three ways we store our toddler’s books.
We have a little bookshelf in our den, where we do a monthly book rotation. See a quick reel here!
And a gentle reminder that we love to ask for books for holiday/birthday gifts. Here’s the five gifts we love to ask from loved ones.
ghost afraid of the dark (glow in the dark!)
hoot howl halloween: interactive children’s sound book
Magnetic activity for our big ol magnetic chalkboard near the kitchen:
and/or we’ll just set out our orange and purple magnatiles
and/or we’ll start the tradition of taking photos each year of our Halloween costumes, and hanging the photos here!
if time/energy, I’d love to grab any of the Halloween magnet craft kits you see in craft stores and/or Oriental Trading! I’ll definitely be grabbing some on clearance to save for next year.
Art supplies + activities:
Here’s how we store our art supplies + activity books in our home.
maybe finding some Halloween printables of some sort
And I’ll definitely be grabbing Halloween craft kits and art projects on clearance and tucking them away for next year!
We also love to work on these as apart of our beloved Evening Quiet Family Time ritual.
We only offer our Halloween-themed art supplies during October, our Halloween-themed month - so we reuse these things year after year. Here’s how we store monthly art items the rest of the year.
A gentle reminder that we love to ask for these things for holiday/birthday gifts. Here’s the five gifts we love to ask from loved ones.
Play dough favorites:
I loved all the ideas in DIY Halloween Play Dough Kits for All Ages!
inspired by that, I plan to gather up things we already have:
play dough
various Halloween trinkets from Dollar Store/craft stores
and/or Halloween erasers
and/or big black buttons, big orange buttons
and/or these Halloween charm things
some mini Halloween cookie cutters from Target
I also bought a pre-assembled play dough kit from my favorite small shop!
Also:
Here’s how we store our art supplies and our play dough tools.
Here’s how we store these monthly play dough items the rest of the year.
Here's a post on our favorite play dough, our favorite tools, and when we use play dough.
I’d love to try:
Sensory bins:
KK loves her two sensory tables!
this month, inspired by this black rice sensory bin, let’s do:
black beans
See a quick tour of our playroom with KK’s two sensory tables in this reel.
Here’s how we store these monthly sensory bin items the rest of the year.
We have a separate, simple rice bin - like this Busy Toddler post! - that KK LOVES.
this month:
let’s throw those great Halloween Easter Eggs from Target into the rice bin, inspired by this great Easter Egg Rice Bin!
I grabbed these Halloween Easter Eggs last year, but I’m hoping Target has them again this year! Or, here’s a similar Amazon version of what I have.
I also loved:
Here’s how we store these monthly rice bin items the rest of the year.
Play Kitchen:
Here’s a quick reel on the 13 things we keep in our play kitchen. And then each month we rotate 2-3 “new” food or cooking toys. This rotation works really well for us!
So in October, we’ll set out:
some felt pumpkins (vase fillers?) I had from Target last year
this precious felt tamales play set, as a nod to our Halloween Dinner Tradition
some felt pretzels + cheese, as a nod to our Annual Pretzel Dinner in October
Also:
Here’s how we store these monthly kitchen toy items the rest of the year.
See a quick tour of our playroom with our play kitchen in this reel.
Here’s a blogpost on our DIY-ish Play Kitchen with a Phone and Mailbox.
Resources + Other Ideas:
Whew!
Want to see photos? Follow me on Instagram - I’m always sharing peeks into our home and our daily life on my stories. I’m always tweaking our home and our routines and our systems to best meet our current needs in our current season, so my Instagram has the most up-to-date photos.
Loved this post? I highly recommend the “play area” highlight on my Instagram!
Read Our Monthly Themes for Play for our full year of play themes.
I created these monthly play themes as part of my baby prep for Baby #2. See the full list of other things I’m SO happy I did to make Joey’s arrival easier here!
And see my Amazon storefront for more of our favorite things.
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