Celebrate Halloween with free themed coloring pages, and help communicate with Trick or Treaters or party guests about important allergen information with easy to read alert cards.
If you love these, be sure to check out my subscriber's library for tons of other great (and free) printables!
Coloring Pages
Food Allergy Alert Cards
Let Trick or Treaters or guests know what goodie bags are safe for those with food allergies by pairing these cards with clear bags. Or, use them to display in front of trick or treat bowls.
Disclaimer: Always read individual labels before ingesting if you have a food allergy, or are giving food to someone with a food allergy.
And check out even more Halloween themed printables in the exclusive and completely free subscribers only resource library.
Just some of what you will find there! Teal Pumpkin Project inspired printables, 10 Little Pumpkins printables, more coloring pages, Halloween worksheets for elementary aged kids, binder book activities, and more!
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The winter holidays will be here before you know it, and if you are like me, you sometimes need a bit of inspiration to come up with great stocking stuffers for children who are a bit young for small trinkets (many small toys contain choking hazards for toddlers!). I remember googling, trying to find great lists of creative gift ideas for my toddler. This year, I am sharing my little one's favorite small toys, perfect for stocking stuffers or Hanukkah presents (if you do smaller gifts each evening), as well as ideas from friends, family, and based on high ratings!
You'll surely be able to find something your toddler will love on this list! The Roundup
Disclaimer: This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn on qualifying purchases. My participation in this program comes at no added cost to you, and helps support this blog. You can read more about my participation in this program here.
From Our Home   
We have another Eric Carle puzzle set by this same brand, and my little one loves it! I wasn't able to find the version we have, but these are quite similar!
 
These bath toys make tubby time fun and educational! My child absolutely loves the letters and numbers, and I found that Munchkin makes an animal shape version, too!
This puzzle has been a staple in my home for months. It is a great educational toy, and like all Melissa and Doug products, is of great quality.
 
This monkey is soft and adorable! One of my toddler's favorite stuffed toys, I'm sure your little one will love it as much as mine does!
 
Daniel Tiger is a TV favorite in our home, and this trolley keeps my child busy long after the TV is off. It has a pull back and go feature that your toddler is sure to love.
 
Want even more awesome Daniel Tiger characters? We also have O the Owl, though not any of the other friends. Here are some other sets:
Some Favorite Toddler Board Books from Our Home
My little one is a bookworm, so I'd have to do multiple posts to share his entire library. But here are a few great options my little one loves, and yours will, too!
Loved by Friends, Family, and My Classroom
These are toys and books I love, but that we don't have at our home. My friends' children and my students have loved them, and your children are sure to love them, too!
Highly Rated Toys on Amazon
The options above just not quite right? Here are some other great stocking stuffers that come from great brands and are highly rated on Amazon. I've found that bath toys are one of the best stocking stuffer options, and most are water play safe!
          Highly Rated Holiday Board Books* on Amazon
*Mostly! There are a few that aren't board books, but looked too good not to share.
Daddy Christmas and Hanukkah Mama by Selina Alko
Okay, so this one isn't a board book, but it looked too good not to share!
 
Be sure to share this with anyone shopping for a toddler this holiday season!
Many readers will already recognize the Teal Pumpkin for food allergies, but have you heard about the blue bucket for autism? If you have, there are a few things you should know to help you understand why requiring a blue bucket to have a child participate in Halloween is in bad taste, and why disclosing your child's diagnosis with a blue bucket is problematic.
If you are new to my blog and social media feeds, be sure to first take a look at the following resources to help you understand the issues associated with the blue bucket for autism initiative:
Learn about why the Blue Bucket for Autism is a Problematic Initiative:
There are many, many reasons that Trick or Treaters may behave differently than your expectations. Obviously food allergies are one I discuss a lot, and autism is another. But there are even more reasons Trick or Treaters need and deserve kindness, and why you should be inclusive on Halloween; no matter who comes to your door. And ultimately, it is absolutely none of your business what those reasons are.
About "This Home is Inclusive"
Not all kids talk. It isn't your business.
Not all kids like costumes. It isn't your business. Not all kids can eat, or even like candy. It isn't your business. Kids may take a long time to make a choice for any number of reasons. It isn't your business. Someone's diagnosis is none of your business. Parents/Trick or Treaters shouldn't have to disclose a diagnosis to have their child participate in Trick or Treat. Not all disabilities are visible. Someone's neurotype definitely isn't. Please be inclusive on Halloween, and everyday. No child should feel left out because of adults' expectations. Don't make children put on a show for free candy. It is just plain mean.
Now that you have some background on why inclusivity matters, perhaps consider putting up a sign saying your home is inclusive to everyone on Halloween (food allergy patients, autistics, etc.). The idea for blue pumpkins to show a Trick or Treater is autistic was developed for a reason. Parents of autistics felt that there was a need to disclose a diagnosis for their child to be accepted. How awful is that?! You don't want to be one of those people, right? Of course not.
You can use the sign below to share that your home is inclusive for everyone. Also feel free to share the poem below (with appropriate crediting, of course!).
Free Printables Available for Immediate Download
You can find free Teal Pumpkin Project printables, subscription free, from FARE here.There are even more food allergy awareness signs in the subscriber's resource library!"This Home is Inclusive" (Poem Text)By the Mindfully Scientific Mama
We won't make you ask for a trick or a treat.
No blue buckets required to get a sweet. No one is too old or too young to join in. And you don't need a costume to give us a grin. It isn't our business if you can talk or cannot. Or why you want a trinket put into your pot. Halloween is for everyone, No if, ands, or buts. Our home is inclusive, we won't keep our door shut! Love this? Be sure to share!!
Did you catch my recent collaboration with YumEarth and FARE on Instagram? If you are like me and love candy, but need something allergy friendly, check out these amazing YumEarth Goodies available for purchase online!
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn on qualifying purchases. My participation in this program comes at no added cost to you, and helps support this blog. You can learn more about my participation in this program here. Additionally, I have previously collaborated with FARE for a YumEarth campaign. This post is not affiliated nor endorsed by either FARE or YumEarth, and all opinions are my own. I simply love YumEarth products and am happy to endorse them as a consumer!
YumEarth everyday goodies are Top 8 free, and their facilities are currently sesame free. Their candy corn is not Top 8 free (it contains egg). If you are managing allergies, always remember to read labels every time, and be sure to check the allergy policy to confirm specific items are safe for your family. Luckily, YumEarth's website is quite comprehensive and user friendly.
Here are some of my favorite YumEarth products!!!
Looking for the YumEarth allergy policy? You can find that here!
You can find even more YumEarth products here, or directly on their website.
Or, check out these other delicious options (I love these, too!!)
The Teal Pumpkin Project initiative by FARE is literally a lifesaver for food allergy families like mine. With so many ways for Halloween to go from scary fun to plain scary, seeing more and more homes giving out trinkets instead of treats makes this mama feel safer letting my child Trick or Treat. While Trick or Treat may look different this year, for those still participating in a modified version, nonfood treats are just as important as any other year (or perhaps more, since an emergency room visit could now result in exposure to the very virus that is forcing these changes in the first place!).
If you've yet to buy your Teal Pumpkin worthy goodies, fear not! The Mindfully Scientific Mama has you covered with a list of excellent options, plus a list of other stores you can check if you don't like the ones on this roundup!
The Teal Pumpkin Trinket Roundup
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn on qualifying purchases. My participation in this program comes at no additional cost to you, and helps support this blog. You can learn more here. The Mindfully Scientific Mama has not tested the products being recommended, but has researched them and only provided recommendations for highly rated products.
I scoured Amazon so you don't have to! Check out these highly rated options! I've also included some Prime Day Deals for Prime Members looking to save extra.
PRIME DAY DEAL! Glow Sticks - 20% Off On Prime Day
15pcs Halloween Felt Masks - 17% Off on Prime Day
Halloween Crafts - 24PCS Magic Rainbow Scratch Art Masks Kits Bulk - Prime Day Deal
Squishy Super Soft Squeeze Squishes - 23% Off on Prime Day
These are a bit pricier, and therefore may be better for switch witch gifts. But, they are absolutely adorable, and a great sensory toy for kids who need to destress or fidget!
Other Great Stops for Nonfood Goodies for Halloween
If you prefer brick and mortar shopping, here are some stores that often have goodies that would be perfect for trick or treat candy alternatives!
And don't forget to put a Teal Pumpkin on your doorstep to show you are a safer stop for kids with food allergies! You can paint a real pumpkin, or buy a reusable teal pumpkin from many of the stores listed above!
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Over the next month I will be sharing variety of resources, tips, and tricks to help make Halloween 2020 safer for you and your children, while still being tons of fun. This will include Teal Pumpkin Project resources, as well as information about making a socially distant Halloween happen, whether you choose to trick or treat or seek alternatives.
The links below will get you started, and stay tuned to the blog and mysocial media feeds for more! I've also included a list with a few more ideas at the bottom of the page. Resources to Get You Started
More Halloween Ideas
Is your family skipping trick or treating? Aside from the ideas listed in my Westchester County Mom article, here are some other options to celebrate Halloween at home. You can do these with your family, or include your social/learning pod with precautions!
And be sure to check out my Pinterest account for Halloween themed boards, and ideas from tons of other amazing bloggers! 
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn on qualifying purchases. My participation in this program comes at no added cost to you, and helps support this blog. You can learn more here.
Who doesn't love a seasonally decorated mantle? I'm making it easy to replicate the look I put together in my home with low cost products you can order online!
Adorable Wall Hanging Bats
While many of the products I'm recommending in this post are look alike for the ones we have in our home, these are the bats that we've been using the last couple of years. They are sturdy and make for a bold accent. We've used them on our fireplace and our walls, and have received tons of compliments the last couple of years. Once Halloween is over, we take down the bats and leave up the rest of the decorations until it is time to decorate for Christmas!
Farmhouse Style Clock
We love our farmhouse style clock; it is one of our favorite pieces! For your home (since we got our clock from a friend's small, local business), I've found a great look alike that has similar roman numerals and a weathered wooden base.
Fun Fabric Pumpkins
So many look-a-likes, so little space! Here are just some of the great fabric pumpkin options I was able to track down. These will keep your home looking seasonal and stylish from September to Thanksgiving!
Fall Sign
We've had our 'Fall' sign for about 7 years now, but lucky for you, there is no shortage of look-a-likes! This one is the closest I was able to find, though you'll have no problem finding a different one should you not love this recommendation.
Orange Taper Candles and Candle Sticks
Who doesn't love candles? We have made them a staple of our decor for years. Check out these orange taper candles as one option. You can display them in whatever candle sticks you have, or get ones that look like ours (which were originally purchased at a small shop in the Berkshires for our wedding). The look-a-likes are shorter than ours, but will still work (and are much less expensive!). We rotate the candles we place in them based on the season; fall is red, orange, purple, or black, winter is red, green, or white, and so on.
Orange String Lights
We love our battery operated orange string lights. With no plug to worry about, they are portable, and perfect for the mantle because they don't have a wire running to the nearest outlet. These look-a-likes come in a pack of two, and cost a good bit less per piece than the ones we found in a local store!
What does your autumn mantle look like this year? Comment below to share some of your tips and tricks!
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Disclaimer: This article may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn on qualifying purchases. My participation in this program comes at no added cost to you, and helps support this blog. You can learn more here.
Pumpkins might be one of my favorite parts of fall. So I've had a lot of fun designing pumpkin activities for my little one!
Since I've been doing an alphabet themed month this September, I fit the pumpkin activities shared here in with the letters C (counting), F (fall), J (jack o lantern), P (pumpkin), O (orange), S (shapes) and T (teal.... we are a food allergy family, after all!). 10 Little Pumpkins
Counting/One to One Correspondence Activity
For our 10 Little Pumpkins activity we read 10 Little Pumpkins, and each time a new pumpkin was discussed in the story, added a pumpkin to our velcro board. At the end, when the "10 little pumpkins [roll] out of sight" we removed them all. You can find the printable for the velcro activity in the Resource Library, and the book (plus supplies to make the velcro activity) using the links below.
Older children can also use the velcro activity for counting; just ask them to place a specific number of pumpkins on the velcro board. Jack O Lantern Faces
Shape Activity and Craft
What you need:
Before doing this activity, we watched a great musical video from Sesame Street about all the shapes you can use to make a jack o lantern face. You can find that here.
Start the craft by painting the paper plate orange. Once dry, your child can glue shapes of their choice onto their 'pumpkin'. To make this a shape recognition activity, you can do the following:
Letter P for Pumpkin
Letter Recognition Activity and Coloring Pages
You can find these activities in the Resource Library! To create the velcro activities seen above, be sure to check out the supplies recommended for the 10 Little Pumpkins activity above.
Teal Pumpkin Paper Plate Project
Craft
What you need:
Cut out a stem from one paper plate. Paint brown. Paint the remaining two plates teal. Allow all pieces to dry. Then staple or glue two paper plates together, and then add the stem to the top.
Add a Teal Pumpkin Project message if desired (you can even have your children write why the Teal Pumpkin Project matters to them and glue it to the center). Baking Pumpkin Muffins
What toddler doesn't love helping with baking! To celebrate the first day of fall, we baked pumpkin muffins using one of my favorite recipes (you can find that here). Baking helps children develop motor skills (pouring, mixing), teach about measuring and following directions, and helps teach cause and effect.
We also used it as a sensory activity by taste testing some of the ingredients (specifically the pumpkin puree, a tiny bit of sugar, and the orange juice, since my child doesn't drink juice yet). Pumpkin Activities We Have Planned For Later This Fall:
Pumpkin season has just barely begun! We have tons more pumpkin activities planned for this fall. Here are a few:
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And be sure to check out other great activities here!
What you will need:
Instructions:
Pour water into ice cube trays. Add food dye of your choice and mix. Freeze until solid. Remove the colors you want from the trays, place on paper or other painting surface, and let the fun begin!
Looking to make the activity educational, too?
Have your child use the color mixing log and/or guide (see resource library) to predict what colors mixing will result in, add up how many drops of each color it takes to make a new color (and how many drops each cube has total), and ask them to label (and, if capable, write) the color words they are discussing. You can also have your child describe (verbally or in writing) the sensory experience of painting with the ice cubes.
Want access to the color mixing guide and log? Be sure to subscribe to my free resource library to get this, and many other great printables for you and your children.
There is nothing quite like crafting for autumn, am I right? For some reason I feel so much more motivated to craft this time of year. I can't be the only one, right?!
This year my first craft of the season were decorated wooden squares.
Much like the craft I shared from last fall, this project is super flexible and can be modified easily to the supplies you have and the season you want to craft for.
What you will need:
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn on qualifying purchases made through these links. My participation in this program comes at no added cost to you, and helps support this blog. Learn more here.
Basic Supplies:
Other supplies that may be helpful:
Looking for craft supply recommendations? Check out my growing list of favorite and recommended products for crafting here.
How to make these decorative wood canvas crafts:
1. Start with your raw wooden block. Paint or stain desired color.
2. Apply any paper/photographs. For larger pieces, you can apply Mod Podge first. For smaller pieces, you will want to apply first, then add coat of Mod Podge. Check out the exclusive resource library to get some of the graphics and photos I used for this project! For some graphics, this may mean using an X-acto knife or scissors to extract graphics or text.
You may opt to add additional color or sparkle using colored pencils or pens prior to cutting them out.
3. Apply coat of Mod Podge with a paint brush. If you are using glitter, promptly apply once the coat ofMod Podge is on.
4. Heat up hot glue gun. Apply any bulky items (ribbon, fabric, sequins, etc.).
5. [OPTIONAL] Apply additionalMod Podge if desired.
6. If using acrylic paint accents (including acrylic paint pens), add these last.
And you're done!
Love these graphics? They are coming to the resource library in the coming days! You can sign up here.Love this? Be sure to share!
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