Reading picture books to my kids is one of my favorite things to do. This bonding time with them will also help increase their love for reading. My kids and I get extra excited when special seasons comes up and we can go to the library to pick out books. These are the books we love to read all year round but especially at Halloween times. We’ve included some books that are perfect for Halloween but may not exactly be Halloween books.
Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins By James Dean – Every Halloween book list needs to have the five little pumpkins story and who better to retell than one of our favorite characters Pete the Cat. The eye catching illustrations are great for keeping my kids entertained. Pete ends up dressing up like a robot and my kids love robots right now.
The Lima Bean Monster by Dan Yaccarino – Monsters and Halloween to pretty much go hand in hand. This story is funny story of a little boy who doesn’t like Lima Beans so he decides to bury them in his back yard. Well that worked so well that all the kids in the neighborhood started to fill the hole with vegetables and other unwanted items. So naturally the pile gets struck by lightening and grows into a Lima Bean Monster!!!! You will have to read how the kids are able to stop this Lima Bean Monster from destroying their neighborhood.
The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin By Joe Troiano – My boys love this book and CD. It can be read as a simple halloween adventure story, but I think that is selling this book short. There are several big themes that are important lessons to learn without being preachy. This story illustrates selfishness, intolerance of differences, and bullying. This book also promotes believing in yourself, unselfishness and valuing diversity.
Frank the Seven-Legged Spider By Michaele Razi – What a fun story! The pictures are silly and wonderfully drawn. There are so many fun details in the illustrations for the kids to enjoy and explore. This book is certainly a hit in my house with numerous of rereadings.
Corduroy’s Best Halloween Ever! By Don Freeman – My kids love the Corduroy books and we were excited to see a Halloween themed book. It is fun to see a Halloween book that includes some of the annual activities such as going to the pumpkin patch, raking leaves, decorating, and of course Trick or Treating. This book is great for younger readers because it doesn’t include the scarier aspects of Halloween like zombies and skeletons.
Give Me Back My Bones! By Kim Norman – This book is a truly amazing! This is a fun story that doesn’t let kids know that they are learning. This story teaches kids the names of all the different bones while telling a fun story of a poor dead pirate whose bones have been scattered by a storm. This book is filled with alliteration, super-creative word combinations, and a vastly-fun-to-read rhythm and rhyme-scheme!
We’re Going on a Goon Hunt By Michael Rex – The illustrations in this book are amazing and fun. Right away we find a friendly-looking green monster following the kids and their dad as they go on an adventure: a goon hunt! Even though the family is looking for the Goon, they don’t notice that he is actually watching them throughout the whole story. My son’s favorite part is finding the goon on each page. The family wander into a forest, a swamp, a graveyard and a haunted house only to find what they came looking for: a goon! Your kids will excitedly laugh as monsters are revealed lurking on each page. of corse they are afraid and have to run! This Halloween parody of Going on a Bear Hunt is pure joy!
Creepy Carrots! By Aaron Reynolds – My boys are obsessed with this book! We even decorate our house with creepy carrots at halloween every year. One of my friends told me about this book a couple years ago and since then it feels like I have read this book a million times. It never gets old for them. Some books are meant to be owned and not just borrowed from the library – this book is obviously one of those!
Creepy Pair of Underwear! By Aaron Reynolds – I am always on the lookout for children’s books that have a combination of great artwork and great stories. Most of the time you seem to get one or the other, but not both. After reading Creepy Carrots, we were so excited to find out that there was a second book! This is a great book for facing fears and growing up.
Hidden Pumpkins By Anne Margaret Lewis – This is a fun interactive search and find story that is similar to a Where’s Waldo Book or I Spy. This tale leads the kids through scary woods, busy pumpkin patches, Haunted Houses, and Halloween parties. The illustrations are fun and the searching does stop after you find the 100 Mr. Pumpkins because at the end is a list of Halloween items to find on each page. These search and find books are great for beginning readers. It teaches kids to pay close attention, identifying, differentiating items which is a great pre-reading skill the will help in decoding letters and words in the future.
When a Monster Is Born By Sean Taylor – My kids and I love this very imaginative book! The story follows a very simple pattern. There are always two possibilities in every scenarios and each will change the story. This is a great story that teaches about considering possibilities and their consequences. Lots of giggles are guaranteed and, at least with my kids, the story is not over when you close the book.
Craft
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Materials
Black Card Stock
Wite-Out Shake ‘n Squeeze Correction Pen
Cardboard for base
Scissor
Glue
Hot Glue
Craft Tubes (optional)
Air Dry Clay or Model Magic (optional)
Battery Tea Lights (optional)
Directions
- You can do this with by painting TP tubes black but I just used card stock rolled into tubes. If you want to use card stock, cut 5 – 7 tubes for your castle. I cut seven 4.5″ x6″ rectangle, roll, then Glue into cylinders. Then I used one paper towel cardboard tube and covered it with black paper. The number of tubes depends on what size house you want to make. If you wan a small one you can do this with 3 or make it as huge as you like with more.
2. Then you can cut windows into some of your tubes. (I did 5 out of my 8 tubes) Then decorate with BIC wite-out pen or white paint pens. You can outline windows, add doors, vines, bricks, and spiders.
3. On a few that you would like to add Flameless Battery Tea lights to the window cut a door on the back so you can easily insert lights. I did two on the both levels but feel free to do as many as you like.
4. Hot glue how many tubes you’s like for the bottom layer. I I used 5. These tubes need to be the same height so your next layer will be sturdy. (I’ll show you how to do the spider web at the end.)
5. Cut a base out of card board for the second level. Cover with black paper or paint black. Then hot glue your next layer of tubes. I used two short ones and the paper towel tube in the middle.
6. Use your hot glue gun to connect the two levers. If you would like to add a spider web for a ghost or spider web. You can “Draw” with your hot glue gun onto a plastic storage lid. When is mostly dry it will peel off easily.
7. You can add a roof by cutting out a circle then cutting the radius. Simply rotate into a cone.
8. You can decorate your castle with battery lights and some air dry clay creations. My kids love this part!! They look forward to it every year.
Other Halloween Fun!
