"I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves

Halloween Wreath

You've bought candy. You've bought a costume. You've even bought a blow-up Frankenstein to stick in the front yard. But wait... what about the front door!? 
No worries! You can make this adorable Halloween wreath with your little one so your Halloween decorations will be complete.

Supplies:

• Black, white, orange construction paper
• Halloween stickers
• Googly eyes
• Glue
• 1 pipe cleaner or ribbon
• Popsicle stick
• Green marker
• Puff balls

Directions:

1. Cut a large circle out of the orange construction paper. 
2. Fold circle in half and cut a smaller circle in the middle of it. (The smaller circle can be used for your pumpkin.)
3. Cut out a black cat head and white ghost.
   Glue on eyes and puff balls and attach stickers. 
4. Glue on popsicle stick for pumpkin stalk. 
5. Poke holes on top of wreath with pipe cleaner and thread pipe cleaner through. 
6. Hang from your door!

Finger Paint a Fall Tree!

This time of year I try to soak up every bit of fall beauty I can get my hands on! To bring the colors of the autumn leaves inside (and for a token of fall you can enjoy all through the impending Chicago winter) I suggest making a fun and easy finger-painted fall tree. This is an easy project to do at home with very little supplies involved. The sensory experience of fingers in paint is one your child will surely enjoy! For this one, change out of good clothes... and don't be afraid to get a little messy!

Supplies:

• Orange, red, and yellow paint
• Brown crayons
• 1 white sheet of paper
• Messy mat

Directions: 

1. Lay messy mat on table. 
2. Draw tree trunk and branches with brown crayon on paper. (Grown-ups, you might need to help your little one during this part of the project.) 
3. Start finger painting the leaves onto the tree! 
4. HAVE FUN!

Week EIGHT: Recap!

Happy Halloween! Today in Taste Buddies we celebrated a little early with some Pizza Mummies, Spider Cupcakes, Halloween Fruit Kabobs, and Swamp Juice! It was spooky and delicious!

PIZZA MUMMIES:
English muffins make the yummiest pizzas. Using English muffins instead of pizza dough is a great way to portion out the size of the pizza for your little one, plus it's quicker! We used string cheese to give the pizza a mummified look. For the eyes, we used olives. Surprisingly, quite a few Taste Buddies thought the olives were very tasty!

SPIDER CUPCAKES:
We had the Taste Buddies use a plastic bag filled with chocolate frosting with a hole cut in the corner to frost the spiders. The chocolate frosting was most people's favorite part of class... I can't imagine why!

HALLOWEEN FRUIT KABOBS:
These are a great party food. You can use any black or orange fruit to make it festive for Halloween!
 
SWAMP JUICE:
I think anytime a juice is green it's bound to be hit with kids! Green smoothies also make a great Halloween treat.

Special thanks to Laken today, for being such a great helper!!!

Week EIGHT: Pizza Mummies, Swamp Juice and Spider Cupcakes!

PIZZA MUMMIES
from Family Fun Magazine
Ingredients:

• English muffins
• Pizza sauce
• Black olives
• Scallions
• Red or green pepper
• Cheese sticks or slices

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350ºF. For each mummy, spread a tablespoon of pizza sauce onto half of an English muffin (toast it first, if you like).
2. Set olive slices in place for eyes and add round slices of green onion or bits of red or green pepper for pupils.
3. Lay strips of cheese (we used a pulled-apart string cheese stick) across the muffin for the mummy's wrappings.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the muffin is toasty.

SWAMP JUICE
from Family Fun Magazine
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup small tapioca pearls (found in the baking aisle of most grocery stores)
• Food coloring
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 8 gummy fish
• Seltzer water
• Lemonade
• 8 gummy worms

Directions:

1. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil and add the tapioca pearls. Reduce the heat slightly and boil the pearls, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes. 
2. Divide the pearls, with the remaining water, between two bowls. Add 4 drops of food coloring (we used 3 drops of yellow and 1 drop of green in one bowl, and 4 drops of blue in the other) and 2 tablespoons of sugar to each bowl. 
3. Stir the mixtures, then allow them to sit uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes. 
4. Drain and rinse the pearls with cold water.
   Spoon 2 tablespoons of pearls into each glass and drop in a gummy fish. 
5. Fill the glasses with seltzer water, then add a splash of lemonade. 
6. Place a gummy worm around a spoon.

SPIDER CUPCAKES
from Family Fun Magazine
Ingredients:

• Chocolate cupcake (body)
• Canned chocolate icing
• Chocolate sprinkles (hair)
• 2 pieces of eye-type candy (we used Bassett's Liquorice Allsorts)
• Clean scissors
• Ruler
• 1 package of black string lace licorice (legs)

Directions:

1. Frost the cupcake with chocolate icing and cover with sprinkles.
2. Press the eyes into place.
3. Use scissors to cut eight 4-inch pieces of licorice for the legs.
4. Holding all of the legs together in a bunch, bend them in half and crease. 
5. Push the end of each leg into the cupcake, four on each side, to assemble the spider.

Halloween Must-Read Books!

Hooray, it's Halloween! Last week, I shared my favorite seasonal book. This week, I'm sharing a whole list of other GREAT Halloween stories, so that you can find a favorite too! Check out my list below of must-read books for the Halloween season:

• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak: Wolf costumes & wild things, it's a classic!
• There was an Old Witch by Howard W. Reeves &  David Catrow: Based on the well-known story of "There was an Old Lady..." only this time, she catches a bat instead of swallowing that icky fly.
• A Very Brave Witch by Alison McGhee: An adorable young witch's view on Halloween!
• Black Cat Creeping by Teddy Slater: Great for little ones, this follows some kids and a lonely cat to a Halloween party.
• Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper: This beautifully illustrated book stars a cat, duck, and squirrel as they prepare pumpkin soup, yum!

Join Miss Becca on Thursday at 4 p.m. for our Open Play Story Time. She'll be reading these and other howl-iday tales!

"Gonna Be Happy" by Cathy Heller