mostly-Green Halloween, part two (updated)

Our scarecrow is in the yard and tin cans are collecting on the counter to make luminaries!  Now it’s time for the second installment of a mostly-Green Halloween.  This time: Activities & Crafts.

If you didn’t know this already, activities and crafts are the part I like the most of any holiday…and any day, really.  So needless to say, it was hard for me to keep this list short!  So without further ado…

• Have a pumpkin strike!  A pumpkin bowling strike, that is!  Spare a pumpkin and go pumpkin bowling in the backyard.  (Nice pun, huh?!)  Create a bowling lane with sticks or pine needles.  For bowling pins, use plastic bottles filled with a little water so they stand up in the grass.  We don’t usually have plastic bottles around the house, so we’ll do what we usually do when we bowl at home, use M’s set of wooden blocks.  She loves building towers using her blocks, loves knocking them down and loves knocking them down by bowling even more!  If you’re a stickler for rules, you’ll need 10 bottles, block towers, or whatever kind of bowling pin you come up with.  One pin in front, then a row of two, three, then four pins.  And don’t forget the pumpkin “ball” for knocking them all down!
• I’ve found that games of chase are hit and miss with parents these days, but they’re still ok in my book.  What Time Is It, Mr. Ghost? (or Miss Ghost) is a fun game of chase that goes like this.  One child plays the Ghost.  The rest line up in a “safe” zone away from the Ghost, next to a tree for example.  The players asks in unison, “What time is it, Mr. Ghost?”  The Ghost shouts a time such as, “Three o’clock,” and everyone takes three steps forward.  This continues until the players are close to the Ghost.  Eventually the Ghost must say, “Boo!” and give chase, trying to tag as many children as possible before they reach the safe zone.  The last player to reach the safe zone (or the first player tagged) is the next Mr. Ghost.

photo by roddy

• This wins my prize for coolest craft this year!  Apple Shrunken Heads are pretty easy to make, but take a little patience.  To make one, begin by peeling a good size apple.  Sketch eyes, a nose and a mouth on your naked apple.  Then, carve a face in the apple, making sure to exaggerate the features with deep, large holes and lines.  Soak carved apple in a mixture of water, salt and lemon juice for about an hour.  Hang apple from a string and let it dry, shrivel and shrink!  This can take up to two weeks, so get started now!  Click here for the more detailed instructions (and the best directions I’ve come across).  Don’t have two weeks to let ‘em dry?  A kidHaven reader has shared this quick-drying method.  Love the idea to float them in apple cider, too!
• A Ghost Print might be a keeper times two.  Paint the bottom of your child’s sockless foot with white, homemade paint.  Have them stand on a piece of black construction paper with their painted foot.  Once the paint is dry, let them draw in ghost eyes and mouth on the heel end of their footprint.  Why is this idea a keeper?  One, you now have a recipe for “green” paint.  Two, make these prints a Halloween tradition and you’ve got a crafty record of your child’s growth!  (Get it?  ”Green” paint.  First a pun and now a double entendre?  This is a record for me!)
• One thing I’m always sure to do when we go to the library is look for a few books related to what’s happening in our lives–like a holiday, a season, or everyday events like making friends, using the potty, etc.  So this idea is simple: read about Halloween together.  Get some really great Halloween book recommendations at Planet Esme’s blog.  Esme Raji Codell is my children’s literature go-to gal.  She’s a pretty hip chick that’s also at the top of her league.  To get you started, here are a few titles from her list:

VUNCE UPON A TIME by J. Otto Seibold and Siobhan Vivian, a tale of a vegetarian vampire

LOS GATOS BLACK ON HALLOWEEN by Marisa Montes and illustrated by Yuyi Morales, a spooky bilingual picture book

THE SKELETON IN THE CLOSET by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Curtis Jobling, an above average Halloween book about a funky skeleton

• Last but not least, recite Halloween rhymes with your child.  Here are two of my favorites:

I’m a Jack-o-Lantern with a great big grin (smile)

I’m a Jack-o-Lantern with a candle in (hold index finger in front of mouth)

Poof! goes the wind and (blow out your finger)

Out goes the light (shut eyes)

Away fly the witches (flap hands away)

On Halloween Night!

-and-

(Use a scary whisper until the word GHOST)

On a dark, dark night

In the dark, dark woods

In a dark, dark house

In a dark, dark room

In a dark, dark cupboard

In a dark, dark box

There’s a GHOST!

Look for a mostly-Green Halloween, part three next Saturday!