Happy Halloween!

Put away your books &

have a MONSTROUS night!

and away we go!

happy halloween!

If there had been a moment yesterday, this is what I would
have enjoyed sending to you all!

Linus's costume was inspired by one of his very first friends (see how he inspired another firetruck enthusiast here).  It seemed especially fitting now, as his big-boy friend decided not to wear a costume this year for the first time.  Passing the torch, I suppose.

As for Sela's costume, we -- she -- found in Family Fun magazine.  She pours over
our Halloween issues for months looking for inspiration!  It was easy to make & consists mostly of items we had around the house.

Here are the simple directions we crafted:

• Using a wide-brimmed hat from the dress-up basket as a base, we wrapped and piled plastic bags on top to form a dome for the bell of the jellyfish.  We used packing tape to secure it occasionally.
• Once the bell was formed, we covered it with bubble wrap.  More tape.
• We layed a piece of irridescent fabric over this.  I did a simple basting stitch underneath, gathering the fabric at the crown of the head and tucking it up inside the hat.  I was concerned that tape wouldn't stand up to wear & tear.
• We cut lengths of curling & silk ribbon and used packing tape to secure those as well.  (The hair tentacles we've been working on for quite a few years!)
• It was a happy accident that this hat had a chin strap -- that turned out to be a must!

heh heh heh!

...and WHOOSH! 

We're off!

Happy Halloween to all!

Felt Jacks

Have I ever told you that we keep oodles of felt on hand here?  Does everyone, maybe?  It's, well, a jack-of-all-trades (sorry).  It's versatile and easy to work with at all ages.  Sela and I whipped this up in a jiffy (really!!) last year when both kids were sick one day & we needed something fun to do. 

Sometimes we just put together fun faces, other times we play a game with it.  We created a die out of a block by cutting construction paper pieces to represent each of the four categories.  On your turn, you roll the die and put up the piece you rolled.  The first to complete her pumpkin "wins."

The feltboard is a homemade job, too.  Felt by the yard hotglued to a canvas from the craft store.  I've seen felt glued to an old cookie sheet, too.

A Bat, a Spider & a Cat Walked into a...

I saw these as pencil toppers last year, but I thought they'd make great finger puppets.  They're fun for playing around with, and also for playwriting!  Sharpen your pencils, hand out parts & GO!

We used pipe cleaners, googly eyes & glue, and for the black heads we made little black yarn balls.  Pom-poms would have worked, but we didn't have any.

Say it with Bones

Need a spooky art activity?

Knee Bone's Connected to the...

Halloween skeletons got us started on a really fun study of the body.  We started with bones.
Here's a little trivia to get you started -
1. How many bones do you have?
2. How many bones make up the skull?
3. Where is the smallest bone in your body?

We printed the template for the paper plate skeleton and used some really great books to discover the names of things.  We had a good time experimenting with the different kinds of joints we have -- sometimes it was downright humerous (hee hee)!

• The Search for the Missing Bones (Magic School Bus)
• The Human Body from Teacher Created Materials

From here, we've got big plans for experimenting, game playing, and art project making about all-things-body.  Well, maybe not all things.  But, you get my point.  Here are the books on deck for that:

• Adorable Wearables that Teach About the Human Body from Scholastic
• Arty Facts: Our Bodies & Art Activities (Linking Art to the World Around Us) from Crabtree Publishing
• My Body from Teacher Created Resources

How well did you do?

1. There are about 206 bones in an adult body.

2. There are 22 bones in the skull.

3. The smallest bone in the body is in the cranium.  The "stirrup" is smaller than a grain of rice and is found deep inside the ear.

Source: The Search for the Missing Bones (The Magic School Bus)



Greetings!

Let Them Make Cake!

Paper Toys

Hmmmm.  What is this Mysterious Box?  Where did this come from? 

What is inside??

Aaaaaaah. 

It looks like a ...skeleton?

How do these fit together?

Now that we've got it, let's cut some rubber bands for joints.

And tape the joints between the bones.

Ah yes.  Our creation is now ready...

to DANCE!

You can make one, too - by checking out The Toy Maker.

 

Halloween Cuties

The great thing about a holiday is that it inspires us to be spontaneous & silly!

After all, it's such a small window where you can draw jack-o-lantern faces on your tiny clementines at breakfast while truly appreciating the spoooookiness of listening to Geronimo Stilton: Cat and Mouse in a Haunted House.

Linus told me to draw a "furious" jack-o-lantern,
which really sounds very cute & not-at-all furious -- furry-us : )

Set the Halloween mood with these books:

The Witch Family by Eleanor Estes

Magic Tree House: Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve by Mary Pope Osborne

The Boxcar Children Halloween Special by Gertrude Chandler Warner
A to Z Mysteries: Sleepy Hollow Sleepover by Ron Roy

Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt by Marjorie Weinmen Sharmat

Cam Jansen and the Mystery at the Haunted House by David Adler

Or these picture books:

Room On a Broom by Julia Donaldson

The Little Old Woman Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams

Pumpkin Heads by Wendell Minor

Five Little Pumpkins by Harper Growing Tree

Ha-Ha-lloween

Sela and Linus love to tell jokes.  And I love to hear them tell jokes.  It's the perfect arrangement.  Sela told these in the car today.

What did the mama ghost say to the little ghost before they drove off?
"Fasten your sheet belt."

What kind of monster can dance the best?
The Boogie Man

Why do spiders make such great baseball players?
Because they catch so many flies

Why didn't the skeleton dance at the party?
Because he had no body to dance with

What does a mummy mom say to her naughty mummy child?
"Go to your tomb!"

What do witches wear to bed?
Frightgowns

What kind of fruit does a ghost love?
Boo berries

What did King Tut say when he was scared?
"I want my mummy!"

Why is it so easy to fool vampires?
Because they're suckers

Why don't skeletons go to scary movies?
They don't have the guts

From American Girl magazine, October 2006

Setting the Mood

We made Spooooooky Eyes votives a few years ago.  Since

ours are already made, I thought I'd try an "almost-tutorial."

Cut (left) or tear (right) rectangles from black paper.

Punch two "eyes" in each.

Using Mod Podge and a large paintbrush, stick all of your

rectangles onto your votive. 

Be careful not to cover the punched holes while overlapping the pieces. 

(We put an extra coat of Mod Podge on top, too.)

Allow to dry.

Use a Sharpie to dot a pupil in each eye.

Ooooooooo.

Spooky.

Forgot these...

No, this time I really packed up the fall decor... really. I even remembered there was a fall

wreath on the front door!

I considered not putting up these pictures, but decided they just brought me so much

happiness this fall that they had to be included, too!

Did you make these when you were a kid?

Turkey 2009 & 2010

Well, these are tiny & feel wintery. They can stay : )

Out with the old (holiday)

Finally putting away the Halloween decorations.
Sad to see these guys go...



and these guys...

and I'll miss her encouraging words every morning when I brush my teeth!

But we'll leave as much fall as we can --

... until it's engulfed by Christmas decorations!

Now these fall cuties -- they're keepers!

Happy Fall!