STORYTIME & SIMPLE ACTIVITIES
A Gentle Halloween Activity Table with Coloring, Reading and Bookmarks
A small Halloween activity table can be as simple as a few coloring pages, familiar crayons and a story to share. Give children a choice of what to try, leave space for their ideas, and keep the setup easy to clear away.
Start with three small areas
Use a table or comfortable space you already have. Set out a place to color, a spot for finished pages and a few books within reach. You do not need a themed party package or elaborate decorations to make the afternoon feel special.
- Color: a small choice of printed designs and age-appropriate coloring supplies.
- Read: a shared story on a device or a personal use printed copy.
- Save your place: a bookmark to keep with the book when reading is finished.
Protect the surface as needed and keep cutting, stapling or other adult finishing tasks separate from the coloring area. Choose materials appropriate to the children taking part.
Offer a choice without printing everything
The Hattie Hops coloring pack includes Hattie, Percy, Sunny, Oliver, Mallow, and Blink with Mama Dragon together. There are six unique designs total. Each paper-size PDF includes a cover, a guide and those six coloring pages; Letter and A4 are versions of the same set.
Choose the file that matches your paper and print only the pages you want to use. Try one page first to check that the design fits within your printer's printable area. Unlike the bookmark's fixed finished size, the main goal here is a complete, comfortably placed coloring design.
Let a child choose a character or decide that a dragon should be an unexpected color. The page can be a starting point for imagination without needing to match the storybook artwork.
Add a short shared reading moment
Hattie Hops and the Halloween Dragon is a 27-page, full-color PDF about a Fernwood adventure with kindness at its heart. Read at a pace that suits your household. Pause, skip the activity, or return to the story later if that works better.
You might ask, “Who could use a helping hand?” or “What would you say to a new friend?” These are conversation ideas rather than a lesson plan or a promise of a particular learning outcome. A drawing, a spoken answer or simply listening can all be part of the moment.
Finish with a bookmark and a name for the picture
Offer a Hattie Hops bookmark to mark the next reading place. An adult can print and trim it ahead of time. The download provides one design, three per sheet, in Letter and A4 sizes. See the printing and cutting guide for its 100% scale setting.
Invite children to give their coloring page a title, such as “Sunny's Lantern Walk” or a name of their own. Display the finished paper if they want to share it, then put the remaining supplies away together.
For more reading prompts, visit A Gentle Halloween Storytime at Home.
Created by Marchelle Cook for Hattie Hops Studio. Meet the creator and the storybook world.