Candy Land Trunk or Treat

The beginning of September I found out that I was in charge of the ward trunk or treat along with my presidency and I could also use the primary presidency for help. I knew I had lots of great people to work with and I love putting together ward parties. It truly feels like magic when you have this vision of what it could look like and then seeing all of our hard work come together into this wonderful and fun party. I came up with the idea of going off the theme of Candy Land and I'm so glad I did. I knew it was something we could really work with and come up with something that was magical and an experience for the kids.

For the past two months I have been doing A LOT of painting in any free time that I had. I traced and projected and painted all the characters in the game, signs, giant playing cards, the Candy Land sign and castle, and giant squares. I decided to be in charge of the gym along with one of my counselors. My counselor created some large candy pieces and I did the tables and some other décor to bring it all together.

The way it all came together was AMAZING! Anna did the hallways and she really caught the vision that I had and she went all out and did such an amazing job. When you first walked in there was this GIANT gingerbread tree to welcome you.

Then to the right was Peppermint Forest with Mr. Mint. I love how she created this experience for each of the different parts.

At the end of this hallway was Gumdrop Mountain with Jolly. This room turned out so cute. In each of the rooms was also activities that the kids got to do that had to do with the theme of that room. The kids got to create gumdrop and toothpick creations and also there was a basketball hoop that gumdrop shaped beanbags were thrown in.

Then going back and if you turn left after the gingerbread tree you would go through Licorice Lagoon. Lord Licorice is the mischievous one in the game and the darker character and this section of hallway provide the perfect mood for that.

At the end of this was Nutty Acres with Gramma Nutt. The tree that was created was so big and turned out so cute. I love the details that everyone thought of. This room the kids got to use nerf guns to shoot darts through the holes in the trees.

Then the last hallway was Lollipop Woods with Lolly.

This hallway was so cute and just filled with so much color!

The last room was Snowflake Lake with Princess Frostine.

I especially loved the hanging snowflakes in this room. The activities for the kids in the snow room was a snowball toss into the snowmen, some "ice" fishing, and some fun coloring pages.

Then the gym was King Kandy's area. On the stage I painted this huge candy land castle mural and behind the food table was a "Welcome to Candy Land" sign. There were large painted squares that led to the castle from the doors.

I just wanted the gym to be very colorful and like you entered Candy Land. I used circle tables cloths on the walls to add more color along with large playing cards.

Some pictures of the cute large candy decorations that added to the gym and then table decorations. On six of the tables I put light pink tablecloths for the 6 pink squares on the game that have the characters on them. Each table represented the different characters and one table was black with licorice with miss your turn signs on it. On six other tables I had the playing squares on them. Then on the circle tables I had some gingerbread characters and just some other fun colorful decorations.

If you look back at the pictures you will notice some gingerbread characters. If you look at the Candy Land game board you will see these little gingerbread throughout the game and that's where this idea came from. I painted 10 different gingerbread characters representing each different area along with some extra for the gym. It was Paige's idea to create a Search and Find for the kids to do for another activity. I wish I would have announced this more during the night but I'm sure whoever ended up doing it had fun finding them. Nate and I had fun hiding them in the different areas. Nate even had the idea of putting one on the back of the basketball hoop in the gym and then the hoop was raised so you had to look pretty far up to find that one.

Then in one corner of the gym was my favorite part that I did which was the Chocolate Swamp with Gloppy. I got these velvet brown tablecloths from someone in the ward and then I made a whole bunch of chocolate desserts along with 2 others ladies. We individually wrapped all these chocolate desserts to have all over in the swamp. It turned out so good and delicious!

I also made 3 of these prizes for the top 3 best decorated trunks for the trunk or treat portion of the night to hopefully encourage people to decorate their trunks and make it a little more fun for the kids.

It was a group effort and took most of the day to set it up but it was all worth it when you saw people's faces and reactions to it all. It was like being in Candy Land. We started off with our potluck and I had to be careful with Covid. So thank you to all those that helped serve food to prevent too many people from touching the same utensils. Paige was even my little side kick and helped make sure everyone got some hand sanitizer and handed out forks while I handed out plates. 

After we ate then the kids got to go play all the games and thank you to our amazing youth that stepped in to help run the games. 

Then it was time for trunk or treat. Anna and Scott did this amazing Jurassic Park themed trunk. Since I was busy with decorating the church, I told Paige that she was in charge of decorating our trunk and she did a great job. She created teeth to go at the top of our trunk and cut out from a red table cloth a tongue for the bottom and a giant chocolate candy bar to go on the inside so our trunk looked like a giant mouth. I loved handing out candy and seeing all the cute kids and it was such a fun evening and we didn't even have rain which was an extra bonus.

What a wonderful and fun evening! It was worth all the time and effort to see this vision I had come to life. There were so many people that helped and I'm grateful for all those that helped in any way. It was a big group effort and it was such a fun thing to be a part of.

Preschool: Halloween

It was another fun and simple week all focused on Halloween fun.

This week for our first activity I decided that each day we would play a game and so on Tuesday we played Snail Pace Race.

Then for art she created a ghost using white paint and cotton balls.

Then for music we learned a Halloween song which Baylor loved and sang it throughout the week. It goes to the tune of Skip to my Lou- Jack-O-Lantern turn around, Jack-O-Lantern turn around, Jack-O-Lantern turn around, Halloween is coming. Other verses: Black cat run away; little witch fly, fly, fly; and scary ghost hide from me.

For learning time we talked about trick-or-treating and then she did a little costume parade and practiced trick-or-treating. She picked out these three costumes all on her own and then came up to me with her little bucket and said trick or treat and then practice saying thank you after I gave her a piece of candy.

Then to end our day we read one of our favorites, Berenstain Bears.

Wednesday we started off by playing Minnie Mouse Go Fish.

Then for art she created the cutest handprint witch.

We sang a song about witches but it was a little hard for Baylor. Then for learning time we started off by playing I Spy How Many in the witch's cauldron. I had different small items and then she counted each different item.

Then we did a science experiment and she created her own witches potions. I put some baking soda into some small bowls and then she added a few drops of food coloring to each one and then she got to pour in the vinegar to create her "potions".

Thursday we started off by playing Spot It.

Then she for art she created a jack-o-lantern by tearing up small pieces of orange paper and gluing them into a circle and then she added the face once it dried.

We reviewed the songs from the last two days for music.

Then for learning time first we did a pumpkin experiment. She told me whether her pumpkin was small or big. I asked her if she thought her pumpkin would float or sink and she thought it would float and we tested it our and she was right. Then she guessed how many seeds were in her small pumpkin and she guessed 5 and so we cut it open and counted them and there was over 30. We talked about the color of her pumpkin and if it was smooth or rough. 

Then she did a pumpkin letter matching activity.

She then did some pumpkin bowling and then we ended with reading some Halloween books we got from the library yesterday.

Preschool: In the Country & Thomasson Family Farm

I had a pretty busy week so our preschool lessons were condensed and pretty short but Baylor always enjoys them and I love watching her learn.

This week we learned about In The Country and we started our first day off with playing Spot It.

Then for art she created a cow paper bag puppet. She cut out the brown spots and helped glue on everything and drew the cute nostrils and mouth.

We sang some songs that had animals in them like Baa Baa Black Sheep and 5 Little Ducks. Then for learning time we first watched a YouTube video about how milk comes from cows and the process it goes from the cow to the store. After the video I had different sequence pictures that we talked about and I put in order. Then I mixed them up and had her put them in the right order. Then we talked about from milk all the different foods we get like butter, cheese, and ice cream and played a match game with those things.

Then to end our day we read this book which has animals and counting.

Then for one of our preschool days I incorporated our annual trip to Thomasson Family Farm and made it a field trip for preschool. It was such a fun afternoon!

The girls started off with the hay maze.

They added a few more things this year next to the hay maze and Paige really liked the maze game where you had to pull two strings to take a ball through the maze. They had about 4 different ones she got to try.

Then a stop at the corn box and they both loved it. In years past, Baylor has not been a fan but this year Baylor loved it and it was her favorite part of the whole place.

Then we saw some of their animals and of course the girls loved the kittens.

Then we went to the play yard where it was from one thing to the next.

Baylor's favorite thing in the play yard was sitting in the saddle and "roping". She even tried to rope Paige a few times. :)

The little tractor ride- Paige went on it a few times. Baylor was so happy and cute the first time but then the next time she tried going by herself and started crying before they took off so it was just the one time but I'm glad she got that one ride in.

They are getting so big!

Then we accomplished the corn maze! I took a picture of the maze on my phone and then Paige led the way by looking at the picture and trying to figure out the best way for us to go. We only got turned around a few times and by the end Baylor was ready to go play some more.

Then we headed over to the pumpkin patch area.

The cutest pumpkins in the patch!

And then a very bumpy ride around the pumpkins.

Then we went back to a few things that they wanted to do again.

And we ended on their favorite- some more time jumping and playing in the corn. When we were driving home and for a few days after Baylor would ask me everyday if we could go back to the corn box. :)

Then for our last day of preschool this week, we started with playing with some play dough.

For art she created her own chicken nest. She cut out the strips for the nest and glued them on all by herself. I cut out the eggs and helped her glue those and then she wrote her name on the eggs.

For singing we used her animal finger puppets to sing Old McDonald Had a Farm.

Then we did the same idea for learning time that we did with the cows and milk but this time it was with chickens and eggs. We watched a YouTube video about the eggs from the chicken and how they get gathered and go to a factory before getting loaded up onto a truck and delivered to the store. I showed her the pictures and put them in the right order and then mixed them up and had her put them in the right order.

Then I let her play in the corn again since she liked it so much last time.