Halloween (not so) Spooky Stories for Kids

Halloween (not so) Spooky Stories for Kids
Options for Different Ages

            Between carving pumpkins, running around in their costumes, and eating all. the. candy. our kids start going crazy on Halloween!  And, admittedly, it is a very exciting time. 

Let ‘em go for it!  Go crazy! 

But when you need a break, a book is a great option.  Sit them down and read it to them.  Let your toddler peruse it themselves lifting all the Halloween flaps (it can distract them for a while!).  Give your third grader a hilarious picture book to laugh over.

And give yourself a tiny break.  Sip a late.

Here are just a few of my favorite Halloween books for kids.  I’ve separated them by ages, but you can read the higher-level books to your younger kids.  Honestly, my toddler loves them all even if he doesn’t quite understand everything.

Babies, Toddlers, Pre-K

Halloween Is Here! A Fisher Price Little People book

Learn about fall and Halloween from little preschoolers with engaging flaps. Your little ones will love lifting up part of the book to reveal a different picture underneath!  Join the preschoolers at a pumpkin patch, while they carve pumpkins, have Halloween party, and go trick-or-treating.

Pre-K, Kinder, 1^st grade

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid ofAnything by Linda Williams

You might remember this classic when you were in elementary school.

A little old lady goes for a walk in the woods and various articles of clothing follow her down the dark path.  But she isn’t afraid!  And she finds a great use for the creepy clothes at the end of the book.

This book is great for pre-reading strategies.  It has repetitive lines that build on each other.  Your child will jump in and say the lines with you!

Little Boo by Stephen Wunderli

A tiny seed wants to scare everyone in the garden, but he has to wait until he grows into a pumpkin.  Then he turns in to a jack-o-lantern and gets to “boo!”

Cute illustrations teach kids about patience and about the life cycle of a pumpkin. 

2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th grades

Creepy Carrots! by Aaron Reynolds

If you haven’t heard of Creepy Carrots! go buy it right now!  It does have a scarier look to it with black and white illustrations except for the orange carrots, but it is funny and cute.  Your elementary age kiddos will love it!

Jasper Rabbit loved eating carrots from Crackenhopper Field… except when they started following him.  He starts seeing carrots everywhere!  He eventually builds a fence (complete with a moat and alligators) around Crackenhopper Field to keep the carrots away.  But there is a twist right at the end!

The Monstore by Tara Lazar

Zack buys a monster to keep his sister Gracie out of his room, but his monster doesn’t work.  When the store clerk refuses a refund, Zack keeps buying monsters to solve the problem, but they just keep creating more!  Eventually, Zach and Gracie work together to figure out what to do with all the monsters that are now crowding their house.

Written partly in a normal picture book format and partly in a comic-style, your kids will love it!  And they won’t realize that it is teaching them some great lessons about economics: buying, selling, refunds, and exchanges.

And for you!

And of course, after you send your sugared-up child to bed on Halloween night, curl up with a good (slightly spookier) adult read.  This year I’m looking forward to TheWitch Elm by Tana French.

Look here my favorite fall reads for adults.

And check out some fall releases I’m excited to read soon!

Happy Halloween!

Hannah

How to Read to Your Toddler

How to Read to your Toddler

            You love to read.  You stay up late to finish that novel.  You devour that new biography.  And, of course, you want to pass on that love of reading to your kids.

            But how do you get sticky, squirmy toddlers to sit still long enough to read them anything?  How can you convince them to look away from Sesame Street and look at something that is not dancing across the screen? That a book can be exciting, entertaining and fun?

            After teaching first grade and then being a mom to a toddler, I have found a several tips and tricks to getting your toddler to read with you!

First: this is not a post to teach your toddler to decode words on a page.  This list is for reading together, for instilling the love of reading, and for teaching pre-reading strategies like looking at the pictures and turning the pages.   

1.    Choose a book about something they are interested in

Why would they want to stop playing with their dinosaurs to read about butterflies if they have zero interest in them?  Get a book about dinosaurs!  Let them hold their favorite dinosaur while you reading them the dinosaur book! 

Do you remember having to read a textbook that you were just. not. into? (Geology in college for me).  I would almost always fall asleep.  You don’t want reading to feel like that for your kid.

2.    Choose a book that is more or less about their attention span 

Don’t choose Diary of a Worm for your two-year-old with a one minute attention span.

But also, don’t choose a baby picture book for your four-year-old who has moved beyond that.

3.    Read often

The more they do it, the more they will like it.  The more they will see it as a part of life.  The more they will choose to do it on their own.

4.    Make time for it in their daily routine

Before nap time, before bedtime, in the morning, etc

I let my toddler choose between two books before he takes a nap.  We read his choice and then it is his cue that it is nap time.  This is a great procedure to use to help him sleep well, but I also do it so I am sure that no matter how busy the day gets, we at least read one book a day.

5.    Sit comfortably

This might mean something different to each child. My son loves to sit in my lap, but my daughter gets all squirmy and fussy if I put her in my lap. I have found that she pays attention better if she sits next to me, or if we lay on the floor side by side.

6.    Let them be in control of timing

Often we want to just get to the end of the book to say we accomplished something. But let them be in control of the pace of reading (this also helps with their attention span)

Let them turn the pages when they are ready.  Let them point out all of the animals they recognize on the page. When they are interacting with the book they are reading it before they are able to read words. 

7.    Be okay with reading again and again and again

This is how kids learn!

You know when you love a book so much you want to read it over? (like Harry Potter!) Well, it’s the same for toddlers.  I know it gets annoying (and honestly, I do skip pages sometimes) but think of it as a teaching experience.  Reach down in the depths of your grown-up maturity and read that book again with an energetic voice!

Happy Reading!

Hannah