Halloween boosts excitement in childcare! A collection of ideas to liven things up with fingerplay activities
Halloween season is something both kids and adults look forward to! Why not enjoy Halloween together with the children at nursery school or kindergarten? If you give your usual fingerplay and rock-paper-scissors a slightly spooky, fun Halloween twist, you can create special memories.
With fingerplay themed around ghosts, pumpkins, and witches, let the children’s imaginations flourish while you enjoy the seasonal festivities.
Here, we introduce recommended fingerplay activities perfect for celebrating Halloween.
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Halloween gets childcare buzzing! A collection of hand-play activity ideas (11–20)
Pumpkin chacha
The hand play song “Kabocha Cha-Cha” features lots of pumpkin-based dishes.
It mentions various cooking methods—chilling, cutting, heating—and expresses them with sound effects, which makes you excited to hear what’s coming next.
Since you use your hands to mimic a cutting board and knife, you can get into the cooking mood.
You see pumpkins a lot at Halloween, so it’s the perfect hand play for the season.
You might even try making something with the pumpkins you used for decorations!
Wobbly Frankenstein♪
Frankenstein, the monster that appears in the novel by British author Mary Shelley.
In this hand play, you become Frankenstein yourself.
When you think of Frankenstein, you picture bolts embedded in his body, right? In this activity, you sing while holding both hands out in front to show that bolts are being screwed in.
Then you stagger around to fully become Frankenstein.
It’s a very easy way to turn into a monster, so try it out for Halloween!
Laughing Ghost
Ghosts are scary to children, aren’t they? If they ever met one, they’d probably run away as fast as they could, right? This hand play is a game where you sing about questions you have about ghosts and the idea of “It’d be nice if the ghost were like this.” Do ghosts have feet? Do ghosts laugh? The lyrics are very unique, so kids will memorize them quickly.
You can not only do the hand motions, but also play tickle games, so try making teams of two or three and have fun together.
Halloween is a big commotion
A hand-play song and dance tune called “Halloween Is a Big Hullabaloo,” with lyrics that include the meaning of the event and classic Halloween phrases.
It’s the perfect song for costumed kids to enjoy at a Halloween party! They can stomp to the rhythm and move their bodies big and bold.
There are ghost and prank poses kids will love, too.
It’s easy to imitate, so the teacher can dance along while teaching on the day and everyone will still have lots of fun.
The melody itself is a bit spooky, so this one song will really boost the Halloween atmosphere!
A ghost appeared.
This is a hand-play song with a ghost theme.
While many Halloween ghosts are portrayed with a lively atmosphere, this song seems to depict them as terrifying, unknowable beings.
The motions alternate between hiding the face and revealing it, and in the end the ghost shows its true identity with a loud shout.
Although the actions are simple enough to perform while seated, carrying them out with crisp, sharp movements may further emphasize the eerie quality of the ghost conveyed in this song.
Ton-Ton Hige Jiisan (Halloween Ver.)
This is a Halloween hand-play song that uses the original “Ton ton ton ton Hige Jiisan.” “Ton ton ton ton Hige Jiisan” is a very popular hand-play song among young children, and there’s also the classic parody version “Ton ton ton ton Anpanman,” right? Many kids probably know it.
In this Halloween version, characters and creatures perfect for the holiday make an appearance.
Try using your hands as you sing and have fun pretending to become all sorts of things.
Halloween makes childcare lively! A collection of hand-play activity ideas (21–30)
Go Away!
Let me introduce a Halloween-themed fingerplay song called “Go Away!” Since it mixes English and Japanese, it seems like a great way to spark children’s interest in Halloween culture.
In addition to cute gestures that match the lyrics, there’s also a call-and-response part where you shout “Go Away!” Sing it together with teachers or parents, and use your lively voices to chase away monsters and ghosts with this fun song! It’s scary, so don’t come out anymore.
Go away, little ghost! Go Away!