Halloween Spider Pops

It's one of our favourite times of year! I'm not sure why the kids love it so much though it could possibly have something to do with the copious amounts of lollies that fill our house! We don't get any trick or treaters at our doors on Halloween, living in Australia, Halloween isn't a big thing! But we do make treats for our friends because its a bit of fun!

This year i knew i wanted to make lollipops but wasn't sure what to do. Tara suggested licorice as it is her favourite treat so i came up with these spider pops!



So firstly i used brown m&m's for the body and cut thin strips of licorice straps for the legs.

I laid the spiders onto baking paper and added a lollipop stick to the end of each one. Then i made a batch of toffee....

3 cups caster sugar, 1 cup water, and 1/4 cup vinegar bought to the boil for about 15 mins

or until golden

I gently poured the toffee mixture over the spiders, making sure to coat the stick and whole of spiders. Leave to cool at room temp for 15 mins the pull away from baking paper.

They didn't take long at all, the hardest part was the fiddly eight legs but the look great and the toffee really added to the spookiness by looking like zap from a tree. I found the FREE Halloween jar printable on this great site here... http://embellishinglifeeveryday.blogspot.com.au/





A glow jar of Fireflies

Glowsticks are everywhere in our house! We love them but we never usually open them...until now!
To make a jar of fireflies all you need is a jar of any size,thin glowsticks and glitter
Use scissors to cut the end off a glowstick, do this over a bin as it is messy and glowsticks do contain glass fragments so best to do this away from children. Open a glass jar and shake the opened glowstick into the jar. Banging it against one side of the jar to the other will give a splattered effect. I used three glowsticks in my big jar in different colours. Then add some sprinkle glitter into the jar, trying to get it to stick on the sides over the glowstick fluid.
Tighten the lid or silicone it closed if using these with younger children. These will last 6-8 hours so we did ours in the afternoon and then used them as nightlights at bedtime while the children read stories about fireflies. Great for camping or sleepovers too!

Glow Water

Want to make glow water but you don't have a black light?? This method creates a great glow in the dark effect even in daylight. Grab a yellow highlighter and snap it open to reveal the sponge which holds the dye Take this sponge out and cut the plastic open.

Place the sponge in a jar of water, put the lid on and let it soak for 24 hours, shake it every so often. The effect is amazing.It truly glows. The more highlighters we added the more vibrant it became. This glow water is purely water and highlighter ink so it is non toxic to play with and will wash off hands.

The options are endless with glow water,check out our other posts for a few things we created with it

Glow water pouring

Pouring is a classic Montessori activity but we decided to "spook" it up by using our glow water for Halloween.
Here i have set out a jug filled with glow water and two glasses with lines drawn at different levels. It is importan to use clear glasses to allow the child to see the liquid rising to the line.
Slowly the liquid is poured in and the object is to stop at the line

One is complete and onto the next

Once finished the liquid is poured back into the jug to be used again

Glow dough

We loved our glow water so much we thought why not try making some playdough with it. Using 1 cup of cornflour and 2 cups of water i mixed it and placed in the microwave for 3 minutes. It became a hard thick layer of dough. I added a touch more glow water and kneaded it until it formed a ball.
Such a simple recipe, no stove top needed and i was really happy with the outcome. Easy to mould and soft enough for little hands

Tara got to work making some glow stars for halloween

Glow Goo

What do you get when you mix glow water with cornflour? GOOOOO
This recipe was just cornflour with cold glow water stirred until thickened. This was the start of making playdough before i microwaved it but Tara saw that goo and wanted to explore it so we added some spiders and other creepy crawlies and she had a blast.
It is sticky,gooey and gets everywhere but the ingredients are all washable,non toxic and so much fun. Tara made some hand prints on our pavers outside which look super creepy at night!

Glow bottle

Tara was kind enough to involve her little brother in her Halloween activities by making him his own glow bottle.
With an empty plastic drink bottle, she filled it with some of her glow water, not too full, so then it would make a lovely swishing sound when moved.
Then she searched for some things to put inside it....some green fruit netting off our apples, some coloured balls for rattling and some coloured match sticks

Now Mason can enjoy the fun of Halloween while exploring his own glow bottle

Spider pops

We saw these spiders creeping around all the social forums so we thought we would give them a go! All you need is black pipe cleaners, googly eyes, a lolly pop and some glue
Cut the pipe cleaners in half for a "mummy" spider or in quarters for a "baby" spider and twist them around the stick. Make sure you have your 8 legs then bend the legs at the end toward the ground. Add your googly eyes and you have a creepy spider ready for your treat or treating guests!

Big or small these are ridiculously cute!

Hang them in some spider web for extra effect!

Halloween slime

Want to give your trick or treaters a healthy and fun alternative this year? why not make a batch of spooky Halloween slime and add some crazy critters. Arrange them in a small container and they are ready to hand out.
Our slime recipe is found at http://superpants.net/slime.html

Halloween-glow bath

Want a spooky way to clean your self this Halloween??
We made our bathroom as dark as possible with blankets covering all the windows and filled up the bathtub with warm bubbly water and added a handful of thin glow sticks.
We found glow sticks at NYE time at Aldi for $7.99 for a hundred pack and they make for some great spooky adventures!



Best of all the water is still safe for kids of any age to enjoy. When your finished keep the glow sticks in the freezer to increase their glow life and they can be used again the following nights.