Archive for October 2009
Now that October has arrived, thoughts of pumpkins and candy and spooky things are swirling around in my kids’ heads. And let’s not forget monsters. Monsters have always fascinated kids. They’re both exciting and scary. Here are a few not-so scary monster stories to share with your little monsters:
Rosie Monster looked like the perfect little monster. Her only problem? She had terrible manners, terrible monster manners. She was too friendly, too polite, too nice. Rosie asked her friend Prunella to teach her how to be a better monster. Prunella shoes Rosie how to make monster faces, how to order in a restaurant, even how to behave when visiting friends, but Rosie’s manners don’t improve. Then something occurs that only Rosie’s not so monster manners can solve and her parents realize they’re lucky to have her, just the way she is. Children will enjoy this mixed-up manners tale and the delightfully rude lessons taught by Prunella. There’s a page of fluency words at the end of the book for young readers.
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Carrie Anne is a contributing writer to No Time For Flash Cards , mom of 3 , and writer. You can find her at Another day. Another thought…or two
Super Easy Stencil !
This craft doesn’t take long to do but if your child is like mine you’ll make multiple ones. My son loves using this roller brush I picked up for under a dollar, so I thought it would be fun to make some Halloween stencils and roll away! Also we had no black paint so we mixed all the colors we did have and made our own “almost black” paint. Don’t miss the reader submitted book reviews after the craft!
- Gather your materials. You will need some orange paper, black paint ( or the colors needed to mix some), a roller brush, container for paint, scissor, marker and paper for the stencils.
- If you need to mix the paint go for it, my son loves mixing paint so I am glad we were out of black paint , this was a highlight for him.
- Sit down and together with your child decide on some designs for your pumpkins. If your child is able have them draw the pumpkins.
- Cut them out.
- Carefully place them on the orange paper.
- Paint over them, cover the whole paper with the paint.
- Peel the stencils off and marvel and the magic !
- Let dry.
Reader Suggested Books!
“Franklin’s Halloween” by Paulette Bourgeois sent in by Trisha who says : We read it all year round. The story has a nice arc, from getting reading for Halloween to the big night itself. We especially like how worn out Franklin is by the end of the night and has to be carried home.
“Behind the Mask “by Yangsook Choi sent in by Anya who says: This is a story about a little Korean boy who is trying to figure out what to be on Halloween, and discovers he wants to be his grandfather!
“Goodnight Goon” by Michael Rex sent in also by Anya Becker who says : This book is a parody on Goodnight moon! It is really cute and my son’s all time fave right now… he makes up read it about 20 times a day!
Thank you Trisha and Anya for the book suggestions!
Do you have a Halloween book you love and would like to suggest to other readers? Send them in with a short description and I will happily add them to an upcoming post.
Wrapping Paper Match
Matching games not only exercise your child’s memory they teach color recognition, patience and taking turns. It’s birthday party season around here and this paper was bought for a friend’s party last week, and this week the extra gets turned into fun. I started out playing it with the cupcakes facing us simply looking for matches, it was way too easy so I flipped them over and we played the game properly, and my son beat me fair and square!
- Gather your materials. You will need some patterned wrapping paper, some construction paper, scissors and a glue stick
- Cut your construction paper into 12 or more squares.
- Cut 2 of each picture out- we did 6 individual picture for 12 cards total.
- Using the glue stick glue the wrapping paper down.
- Let dry
- Play- either face up searching for matches, with young toddlers.
- Or traditionally face down taking turns .
Book!
“If You Give A Cat A Cupcake!” by Laura Numeroff is the newest installment of her ever popular “If You Give…” series. I like this one , I mean any book with a cat in a bathing suit is worth a look. I am a big fan of these stories not only because they have just the right amount of text for young preschoolers, but also because the illustrations by Felicia Bond are so detailed you can spend ages talking about what your child sees in the book after the words are read. I love the cause and effect , and after a few readings your child will have fun telling you what’s next.
