Thirteen Days of Halloween Day 11: Frankenstein Friday

Happy Frankenstein Friday! This holiday hoopla is celebrated the last Friday of October and pays homage to one of my favorite Halloween icons - Frankenstein's Monster (I was an English major - getting the name right is kind of a big deal to me).

What can you do to celebrate Frankenstein Friday? I'm so glad you asked!

First of all, watching the original 1931 film (featuring Boris Karloff as the monster) might be a bit over the top for some (most) kids, but luckily there's a great kid friendly adaptation by one of my very favorite freaky-family-friendly film creators - Tim Burton: Frankenweenie. I love the complete black-and-white filming of this movie and it easily lends itself to encouraging kids to explore their own mad scientist tendencies (STEM anyone?).

Of course, any good movie needs a good snack to accompany it, and there are a few fun options that tie into the Frankenstein theme. First, you can go the healthy route - here is a super simple Frankenstein apple idea from NonToy Gifts and a more complicated Frankenstein Kiwi idea from Two Healthy Kitchens.

Looking for some more crowd friendly, but still healthy, ideas that you can whip up and snap but will definitely be show stoppers? Here's a super cute (and super easy) idea from Blue Skies Ahead to make a Frankenstein veggie platter and a Bride of Frankenstein (he can't have all the fun, can he?) dip platter that looks amazing from Fork and Beans.

Now, with the snack options covered (not that there aren't a million more, remember, Pintrest is your friend). We can take a look at some fun craft ideas to keep hands busy. Our kids LOVE legos and I found this cool diagram (sorry, no instructions) for making a Frankenstein's monster out of legos that was part of the build together network (not absorbed by lego.com).We're going to expand the idea and have the kid create mad scientist labs to house their Frankenstein's monsters. I also found a fun game from House a Forest called Roll a Frankenstein. I personally love dice games because I happen to have quite a collection in various colors and shapes (I might be a self-proclaimed nerd).

Want something a little more crafty for your little hands to do? Here's a really cute Frankenstein sun catcher idea found at From ABCs to ACTs and and Frankenstein Foldable Craft from Artists Helping Children.

I love themed days like this because it lets me pull out all the stops for a special Thirteen Days of Halloween. Do you have any fun Frankenstein's Monster themed ideas? Are you celebrating Frankenstein Friday? Let me know!

Thirteen Days of Halloween Day 10 - Pumpkin Day

I love, love, love pumpkins. I don't think it's healthy, actually. I go crazy for pumpkin spice anything, I can't get a cactus to live yet I muddle through an attempt at a pumpkin patch at least every five years (just long enough to forget just how bad I am at growing things), a visit to my favorite local pumpkin patch (shout out to Fredrickson Farms in Carl Junction, MO) is a necessity, and I have pumpkins everywhere! Imagine my delight when I discovered that there is actually a National Pumpkin Day!

So what does a devoted pumpkin-lover do to celebrate National Pumpkin Day? Um, can you say ALL THE THINGS?!? Okay, so I understand that the kids might not share my extreme love of all things pumpkin and so I turn down my pumpkin-meter just a smidge when I'm preparing activities for the club. First, we need a pumpkin themed snack. The kids are always excited when we have food, and even the big kids get happy with themed food (even if they are too cool to admit it most of the time). For our super cute snack we're having Tangerine Pumpkins found over at Bren Did. 

After we enjoy a healthy and super cute snack it's time for daily programs! First program is triple play where we often do games in the gym. For National Pumpkin Day, we are playing a pumpkin broom race that is super simple from One Charming Party. If your group doesn't have real pumpkins, some other options are to use orange balloons or foam pumpkins (I was able to find very inexpensive ones at Dollar Tree this year).

After our game in the gym, we move to Power Hour and Project Learn. Power Hour is pretty basic - it's homework time, but for Project Learn we do a fun learning activity each day. For National Pumpkin Day, it's a great opportunity to incorporate some pumpkin science. I found a fun idea over at Little Bins for Little Hands I was surprised to find how many of our kids don't get the opportunity to actually experience "pumpkin guts" because so many families no longer carve pumpkins. Well, I felt like that was a kid experience that everyone should have, so the first step of pumpkin science is actually a bit of pumpkin dissection. I cut the top off our pumpkin and let the kid take the opportunity to feel the pumpkin guts and pull some out. Don't throw those guts away - clean the seeds off and roast them for kids to try. After the pumpkin is cleaned out, it's time to carve a simple face. As this uses sharp objects, it's an adult demonstration activity. If you want, you can do this in a two pumpkin-process so that you have one already carved and ready for the volcanic effect. Make sure if you're using a carved pumpkin, make sure you've got it placed on a large sheet pan or a hotel pan so that you don't have such a mess to clean up at the end.

Do you have favorite pumpkin themed activities? What does your club to do incorporate pumpkin science? Do you share my ultimate love of pumpkins? Let me know!

Thirteen Days of Halloween Day 9: Artist Spotlight: Pablo Picasso Witches

What to do when a perfect Artists Spotlight opportunity presents itself (it's Pablo Picasso's birthday!) in the middle of a Thirteen Days of Halloween roll? Combine the two of course! I must not have been the only person who had this game plan (thankfully) because I found a wonderful article from Arts and Activities October 2005 (so we're going back to the archives for this project) called If Picasso Made Witches by Cynthia H. Sheeler. Now, I couldn't find this project on their website (other than in their article list of purchase archives), but I found a full image of the article on Pintrest (I love that place!).

I highly recommend reading the article, it's a super quick read and has lots of good information on how to get kids invested in art. In our club, I try to do a different focus art project each month, something that will engage the kids and teach them about an important figure in art history. This project is perfect for that and because it uses limited supplies, it's also very budget friendly.

Supplies Needed: 

Construction Paper

 - lots of scraps

 - two full sized sheets (any color)

 - 1-2 full sized sheets of black for the witch's hat

 - 12x18-ish (we use what we have so ours isn't quite 12x18)

Examples of Picasso's works (we used those listed in the article and I just found pictures through google)

 - Girl Before a Mirror

 - Woman with Book

 - The Dream

 - Dora Maar

Black Markers (permanent if you're a brave soul)

Glue or glue sticks

Simple Breakdown of the Project:

Take the two full sized sheets of paper together and cut matching ovals from them. These will be your face. Glue the first oval (blue in the example above) to your background paper and use the second to cut the profile image (orange in the example above). Use the black piece(s) of paper to create a wonderfully wonky witch hat and all of the scraps to make the rest of the facial features. Use the black marker to create hair and add any finishing touch details.

Does your club have an artists spotlight or a special arts program? Have you created a great project to share influential artists with your kids? Let me know!

Thirteen Days of Halloween - Day 1: Friday the 13th

Halloween is my absolute FAVORITE holiday ever! When I was younger my family had an annual Halloween party the Saturday before Halloween where I was allowed to invite my entire class for a wonderful costume party. We would have wonderfully creepy food, my parents would play the best Halloween themed music from across the generations (Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell could have been followed by Micheal Jackson's Thriller).

As a child our house was considered the "go to" house when Trick or Treating as well because my dad (a bread route delivery man) would bring home racks and racks of snack cakes to pass out for treats. When my own kids were younger we always celebrated Halloween BIG in our house with lots of decor, and a wide range of treats (though never anything as awesome as what my dad did when I was a kid) and making sure to help host awesome classroom parties. Now that my own kids are way too old for classroom parties (colleges tend to frown on such things as room moms) I celebrate big with my club kids.

This year I made the wonderful discovery that if you count back thirteen weekdays from Halloween it just so happens that you land on Friday the Thirteenth. I can't tell you how happy this made my dark Halloween loving heart. 

So, to kick off the Thirteen Days of Halloween we're watching on of my most beloved childhood Halloween memories - Disney's Halloween Treat (you can follow the link <--- to watch this most glorious show in its entirety on youtube).

We're also decorating our club with a wonderful Halloweeny atmosphere and I'm taking inspiration from the intro music for the Disney Halloween treat:

Calling one and all tonight It's hopping at the ball tonight Drop in at the ball tonight Disney's Halloween Treat Creatures on the prowl tonight Creatures fair and foul tonight They'll meet you at the ball tonight At Disney's Halloween Treat Black cats and bats and ghosts Make most attractive hosts They're dieing for a dance with you So play that haunting refrain Tricks and treats to try tonight You'll be riding high tonight Your spirits gonna fly tonight Disney's Halloween Treat Disney's Halloween Treat It's a scream!

So, we're decorating with black cats and bats and ghosts (and pumpkins and spiders too!) We have created a Bat Cave in our art studio with lots of bats and ghosts and our library is a pumpkin patch with a few black cats scattered about. Decorating photos will come with more Thirteen Days of Halloween posts!

What are your favorite Halloween memories? How do you celebrate with kids now? Let me know!

World Rainforest Week: Day 1 Games in the Gym

October 12-18 is World Rainforest Week and a great opportunity to incorporate one of my favorite theme units into daily programming. In our facility we offer a daily physical activity segment that gives our kids a chance to get up and get moving while having fun. 

Monkey Tag

This game is played much like the classic backyard game of freeze tag, but the player who is “it” must act like a monkey. When a player is tagged, rather than freezing in place, she jumps around and acts like a monkey. Once a player is turned into a monkey, she should continue to imitate a monkey as she helps the original monkey tag the remaining players. Every time a player is tagged, another monkey is created. The final player who is not a monkey gets to start the next round.

Catch the Snake's Tail

Gather the players and have them line up, each player holding the waist of the player in front of them.

The line they form is a snake. The object of the game is for the snake to catch its own tail. The first player in line will lead the rest of the snake around the jungle as he tries to catch up to and touch the last player in line. The snake chain must not be broken or the snake will have to return to the starting line and start over.

Sleeping Lions

Forget freeze dance, the lazy lions are too tired for that kind of action. Instead, play some music and have your kids prowl around the dance floor, roaring like lions. When the music stops, instead of freezing, the kids will fall to the floor and lie still like sleeping lions. The last child to become a sleepy lion is out of the game. Start the music again and play for as many rounds as it takes until only one player remains.

Jungle Animal Charades

Like the classic game of charades, this activity requires players to act something out without using any words. Write the names of various jungle animals on note cards, fold them up and place them in a safari hat. Players will pull an animal name out of the hat and try and get the others to guess the name of the jungle animal using only gestures and motions.

Have you taken traditional games and given them a new spin so that they fit into a theme or celebration? Let me know!

International Day of the Girl - October 11

Today is International Day of the Girl and our club is celebrating in some wonderful ways. First, we have a phenomenal staff member who is going to share his views on respect and courtesy for all genders and basically encouraging gentlemanly behavior. 

Then we're showing a video from the Day of the Girl website discussing girls in STEM careers, and exploring some ways we can encourage girls to feel more accepted in the world of STEM.

Finally (my favorite part) we're announcing a new partnership. For several years we've had a partnership with Boy Scouts; each month they prepare for us a kit of supplies and bring it out to our site and a few times a year the Boy Scout council representative will come out and do projects with our kids (all of our kids - not just the boys). Things like the pinewood derby and rain gutter regatta have been favorites. They also invite us out to a day of camp each summer and all of our kids go have a great time. BUT, it's still Boy Scouts. Our girls know that they don't have their own program and it's been something I've wanted to remedy since I started working at the club. I'm so excited to announce that we have a pilot partnership with Girl Scouts. We will have our own troop here at the club and while the council representative will come out and visit from time to time, the council staffers won't be the ones responsible for weekly programming. I'll be facilitating a multi-level troop within our club and we are the very first club in our council to have this program available for our girls. To day I'm excited is an understatement. 

How have you celebrated the International Day of the Girl? Does your organization have a partnership with other groups? Has it worked well for you or have you learned something valuable from the experience? Let me know!