A Bat Pumpkin and a Story

C had to make a pumpkin pal to bring into school. He, of course, decided to turn his pumpkin into a vampire bat. We cut the wings out of craft foam and hot glued them onto the back of the pumpkin after the black paint dried. Then we hot glued the googly eyes and candy corn fangs. The fangs were 100% his idea, and I think they really make the pumpkin perfect!


C also dictated a story about his bat pumpkin. Here it is, unedited:
"Once upon a time there was a haunted house and in there was a bat. It could turn into a vampire. There was a witch with a broomstick and the witch had a magic cauldron. Sometimes the bat went over to it and drank some. The haunted house could turn into a monster. The End."

Eric Carle and Mermaid Theatre

We love Eric Carle books. He is an amazing writer and illustrator. This past weekend, we enjoyed watching The Very Hungry Caterpillar,
Little Cloud, and The Mixed-up Chameleon retold on stage in black light. The show we saw was put together by Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia. C and R LOVED every minute of the show, and I was pretty impressed with it myself. They retold the stories exactly, the show was the perfect length (about one hour) for my children, and they held a brief Q&A after the show to let the kids see how things were done.

Visit their website and look around. They retell some of our favorite books on stage, and I hope we have the opportunity to see more of their work. I am especially excited about the Leo Lionni productions, even though there is no touring schedule for that production right now.

The good news is that the Eric Carle production is touring the United States right now, and you really want to see this show. Click here for a link to the touring schedule. If you go, please let me know what you think.

By the way, no one is paying me (and I did not get free tickets) for this review. (Sigh...) We just loved this show. It was by far the best stage show (outside of Disney World) that my children have seen. I know you will love it too!

Haunted House

I LOVE this haunted house. It took over an hour, but the final product is spooktacular!

A little bit of paint (notice Kelly trying to help with the painting; she loves art (remember when she helped with that tissue paper collage on the door in this photo?), or maybe it is the bowl of candy corn she wants),

a lot of drawing, and

lots of help from R (she always helps with glue because C prefers to outsource that task - too sticky for him).

C is very happy with the final product!

For complete directions on how to make one of these Spooktacular Haunted Houses for yourself, click here!


One of our favorite haunted house books is Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O'Connell. Ten ghosts are frightened out of the haunted house by a witch, but the ghosts have a surprise for that witch. You will have to read this fun counting book to find out what happens! We had fun reading this after we finished making our haunted house.

Dr. Frankenstein's Monster

C, R, and I worked together to make this very cool Halloween craft after dinner one night.


I first saw this cereal box monster on my friend Susana's blog. Thank you Susana! We had a lot of fun making this together.


We used an empty Lipton tea box instead of a cereal box; any box will work as long as it is rectangular. For complete directions to make Dr. Frankenstein's monster, click here. You will also find directions for a cereal box mummy; we plan on making that one next!

Child's Play

Recently, someone asked me if my children are always engaged in active learning.


I definitely understand how someone might read a blog and think that the activities on a person's blog go on all day, every day.


Well, the structured activities that I do with my children probably only last for a few minutes each day.

Most of their day (outside of school) consists of play, and this is the way it should be, of course.

Top Five Friday #3 - Toys

Last week I received a comment on one of my posts asking me for toy recommendations. After reading it, I thought the best way to respond would be with a top five toys post. We have a lot of beloved toys in our house so it is hard to narrow it down to our top five but I think the following toys are played with most often in our house.

1. Imaginext toys - C has the Imaginext castle, jungle, pirate ship, and Bat Cave as well as some of the accessories. They come mostly (if not completely) assembled and they are extremely durable. He plays with these all the time and I highly recommend them.
2. Building toys - We love legos, wooden blocks (especially Haba), Magneatos, and straws and connectors. Building toys are open ended and encourage creativity. They can become anything you want. C and R both love building cities and castles and including other toys in their play.
   
3. Melissa and Doug puzzles - the quality of the M & D puzzles is fantastic and they have great puzzles for every age group. We started with the chunky puzzles and have progressed to the 48 piece puzzles in a tray (C loves this pirate puzzle) and 100 piece floor puzzles.
4. Play food - We have a variety of play food but I have noticed that the cheap plastic food is played with a lot less than the felt or wooden food. The Melissa and Doug wooden food sets are played with often, and the food that can be "cut" is a lot of fun.
   
5. Dress up clothes - C and R both love playing dress up. We have a lot of princess clothes, as well as police officer, Native American, cowboy, superheroes, and pirate costumes. They are used almost every day.

I tried to keep the list gender neutral but our favorite boy toys are action figures and our favorite girl toys are dolls and My Little Ponies. I could not put this item in our top five list, but C and R will both agree that our favorite computer related toy is the Fisher Price Digital Arts & Crafts Studio. They both LOVE the Digital Arts and Crafts Studio and will make creations on the computer for hours. I definitely recommend it.

Here is our top five wish list for this Christmas:

1. art supplies - we use a ridiculous amount of construction paper, paint, glue, and markers
2. R is in love with the American Girl catalog, specifically the Bitty Twins; she wants the girl/boy twins so that one can be her and one can be C. Isn't that cute?
3. C saw the Playmobil pyramid in the store and he has his heart set on this toy. It was ranked #2 in the Family Fun magazine list of top ten toys. The set has hidden passages, trick staircases, scorpions, and a skeleton that fits in a sarcophagus. C has always loved playsets and plays with them often so I am not troubled by the hefty price tag ($105) on this item.
4. Board games - We love to play games. Our favorites are Hi Ho Cherry O, Candy Land, Don't Wake the Hulk, Hullabaloo, and Zimbbos. If you have a game recommendation, please let me know!
   
5. Books - Yes, I know that books are not toys (actually, art supplies aren't toys either so this list is lean on toys, sorry), but if you read my blog then you know that books rank high among our favorite things. All three of my children love to read and I think a book is one of the best presents you can give or receive.

You may notice that our list does not really include any of the hot new toys. Over the years, I have found that the hot new toys are often the toys that are played with least. I know there are exceptions to that rule, but it seems that the most basic, simple toys are the best in our house.

Adriana at My Bilingual Boys is hosting a MckLinky titled Toys My Children Actually Play With every Thursday through Christmas. Check it out for more ideas!

So, if you are interested in sharing your top five of the week or your top five toys, please link up here! I would love to know what you love!

Open ended art - Orange and Black

My sister's husband had a birthday last week and we are very late sending him a present, so we had to make the cards extra special. I figured we could use some of our blank cards and decorate them with orange and black paint to join in the open ended art fun. The open ended art theme this week is orange and black.


R and C finger painted with black and orange paint. I am so happy that C is enjoying painting again!
When they were done painting, I helped them use a toothpick to scratch Uncle Mark's name on the cards. They thought this was very cool.


This is C's card for Uncle Mark:
This is R's card for Uncle Mark:

To see more open ended art, visit Mommies Wise Little Bookworms.