Mom Monday-Halloween Fun with the Old Lady!

What do I love more than Halloween?  Kids' Halloween books!!!  They combine my love of Halloween with my love for children's literature and my passion for bringing literature to kids.  As you may know I am a pediatric speech pathologist by day.  I love using books in my therapy sessions.  Today's blog is brought to you by the mom and speech therapist sides of me.:)

                           

Who doesn't love the old lady books?! I have one for just about every season or holiday.   If it was written and published, I have it! These books are greatness and the kids love them!!  Over the years, I have come up with some fun activities to do with this book. All have been kid tested!

1. Bat Puppet:  You could always make an old lady and "feed" her all the characters.  But sometimes that is more labor intensive than just getting out glue, wiggle eyes, construction paper and a paper bag.  Plus kids love puppets!! I like simple easy crafts!!  This puppet can be made with toddlers all the way up.  To start you need: brown construction paper, white construction paper, 2 wiggle eyes, a lunch sack and glue.  I use "tacky" glue for the eyes but all the other pieces get regular glue.  Cut 2 wings and two triangles (ears) from the brown paper.  Cut two small triangles (teeth) from the white paper.  Glue the wings and ears to the back making sure they are visible from the front.  Glue the teeth under the flap and the eyes go on the flap.  There you have it!  It's done!

      (I made mine a little different.}

       

2.  Bat Hunt:  This actvity is perfect for rainy or cold days.  You can do it with just about anything!  I picked up some plastic bats at the Dollar Tree.  Last year, I found at package of 10 glow in the dark bats at Walmart.  You can set this up a few different ways. One way is like a scavenger hunt.  Give clues to find the bats.  The other way is just hide the bats in the living room or kitchen (or the WHOLE HOUSE) and let the kids find them!  Be sure to count how many you hid.  Otherwise you will be finding bats while you're hiding Easter eggs!

3.  Bat Count:  This one is for the little ones.  Use bat erasers and work on counting.  You can make it a little harder and hide some in a big bowl of uncooked pinto beans.  Kids love to dig with their hands!  For early elementary kids, you can use the erasers to solve hands on math problems.  "I have 3 bats.  I gave you two. Now how many do I have?" is just one example.

4.  B for Bat:  Cut a large bat from a piece of black construction paper.  Then cut out pictures from magazines that start with the letter "B." 

5.  Night or Day? Talk about bats!  Kids are never too early to learn!  Talk about animals that sleep at night like us and ones that sleep during the day.

  

I am sure there are a ton more ideas but this is a good start!  Enjoy being a mom and have a little fun with the kids.  The laundry will be there tomorrow!

Hugs y'all!

LSG