Halloweensie Stories

I adore Halloween. It's such a fun holiday and I love making a big deal of it for my kids. Though I should probably specify... I love all of the fun and wholesome parts of Halloween... pumpkin patches, carnivals, chili cookoffs, carving pumpkins, hay rides... I do NOT love the scary parts of Halloween. I'm pretty much a baby there. But give me all the candy, caramel apples, and chances to dress up any day.

So when I read about Susanna Leonard Hill's Halloweensie Writing Contest, I knew I needed to write a story. I ended up writing two and really did have so much fun... But let me tell you, writing a full story with a legitimate beginning, middle, and end in only 100 words? It. Is. Hard! But definitely a fun challenge. The requirements this year specifically: write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (children here defined as 12 and under) (title not included in the 100 words), using the words potion, cobweb, and trick.

Now, without further ado, my stories.Happy Halloween, everyone! Be safe and. have fun tonight!

The Monster Bash

By Kailei Pew

97 Words

Wanda grinned.

The music was spooky.

The punchy potion, to die for.

And the decor? Creepy perfection.

This would be the greatest Halloween party ever!

But why wasn’t anyone here??

Ding-dong!

“Finally!”

“Trick-or-treat!”

“Trick-or-treat??!”

Slam!

Where was everyone??

The music was falling flat.

The potions fizzing out.

The cobwebs drooping.

Wanda moped up the stairs, when something caught her eye.

“Oh no! The invitations!”

She flipped her wand—ZAP—and sent them away. ZOOM!

Ding-dong.

“Please oh please…”

“It’s party time!!”

With a flick of her wand...

The music revived.

The potions sizzled.

The decorations dazzled.

A true monster bash!

The Great Candy Caper

By Kailei Pew

97 Words

Rope? Check!

Loot bags? Check!

Mask? Check!

Benny’s eyes narrowed.

He tiptoed past a witch brewing her potion and guarding her loot.

“Made it!”

Benny braved sticky cobwebs to scale the wall. He tied the rope, and lowered himself down.

But as he hovered over the goods, some skeletons arrived.

“Trick-or-treat!”

The witch tossed treasure into each bag.

“What? Aaaaaaaaaaah! Oof.”

“What a cute little thief! Here you go!”

“You’re just giving me candy??!”

“Of course. It’s Halloween!”

“Come on.” said a skeleton. “Next house!”

Benny grinned.

Costume? Check!

Friends? Check!

Free candy? Check!

Best night ever!

Hi! I'm Kailei 

I write picture books and am in the process of seeking representation. Shout out to my friends in the query trenches. It sure isn't for the faint hearted!

I believe in books. I believe in imaginative play. I believe in having fun, getting messy, and being silly with my kids. Thus FOR LITTLE READERS was born, where I share a book and activity each week. I hope you'll jump into the fun with your kids and be inspired by something I share here. 

Why books? I believe that books open up a world of possibilities to young kids. In a book, anything is possible. Kids can find themselves in the pages and get completely lost in the story. The day we brought our first baby home from the hospital, we read her a bedtime story and never looked back. Now we can read for hours every day. I'll never tire of the wonder in her eyes with each new story. 

Why imaginative play? Kids need to be silly. They need to go on adventures. They need to navigate their world in a fun, safe place. I could go on and on about the benefits of imaginative play, but I'll spare you. Just know this: it's SO important in a child's development. 

I believe that when reading and imagination meet, magic happens. I hope to help you make that happen for your child.

Trick Arr Treat

Well, I missed another week on this dear old, shiny new, blog... But I have *good* reason. You see, I was working on Halloween costumes. Not a good reason, you say? Well, just follow me on twitter and tomorrow you will see that it was totally a good reason. haha! But for reals, projects like this always take me way longer than anticipated. Why? Because I don't actually sew well... I get by. And then where I can't figure things out, I've learned that there is seriously nothing that you can't make with a hot glue gun! For reals.

Anyways... this is a book blog, Kailei. I can hear you saying it. So let me share with you a super fast Halloween book and activity before I get back to finalizing the costumes for tomorrow.

Trick Arrr Treat by Leslie Kimmelman with illustrations by Jorge Monlongo was such a fun read. I'm always game for an excuse to talk like a pirate, so it was a must to whip out my pirate voice for this one. I loved the pirate language, and my girls ate it all up. And the illustrations are wonderful. Plus, it gave us a great chance to talk about good/grateful trick or treat habits. (Spoiler Alert: Not like the rude, brash pirates.)

For our activity to go with this one, we simply grabbed some pirate eye patches from Walmart and played pirates literally all. day. long. My girls loved making each other walk the plank and said "arg, matey!" Approximately 201,384 times!

So for a fun Halloween book on this Halloween eve, make sure to grab a copy of Trick Arr Treat! I would gush more but, costumes. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Halloween!

I Am Famous and DIY Microphone

After an awesome October Break with my kiddos, it's nice to be back on the blog. We seriously had so much fun in our week of no routine and I can't wait to share the Halloween books that we read with you in the next two weeks. Since I haven't had time to take pictures of our Halloween activities, we'll have to wait til next week to delve into Halloween fun. But if you are craving some fun Halloween activities, you can check out my post from two weeks ago with my DIY apothecary cabinet and witch's brew activity to go with Bone Soup.

I'm so excited to be talking about I am Famous by Tara Luebbe and Becky Cattie, illustrated by Joanne Lew-Vriethoff. My girls loooooved this book! They love all things fabulous and fancy, so this was right up their alley. I thought it was such a fun and simple book. I love the illustrations that really bring the text to life. Watching Kiely dazzle her fans (family members) and evade the paparazzi (her parents) was beyond adorable. And when Keily's big show goes south, she learns that her fans will love her no matter what. It's a cute and quick book that my kids really enjoyed. I loved the sequel, I Used to Be Famous even more, but more on that in another post.

For our activity, we made rock star microphones. We have used them every single day for sing alongs, dance parties, and even a news cast. They are fast and easy to make and have led to hours of fun play. In the last couple of days, we've been especially excited about singing karaoke Disney songs. Talk about famous! This was the perfect activity to match I Am Famous.

To make your microphones, you'll need:

- Freezable Water Bottle Cooling Rods (you could totally use a paper towel holder, but we found these at the dollar store and they are very durable. My girls have been playing with them for over two weeks. Plus they are really fun colors.)

- Foil

- Hot Glue

- Stickers to decorate (optional, but fun)

These are really easy to make. Just wrap layers of foil around your rod until you have a good sized sphere.

Pull the rod out of the foil, fill center of foil with hot glue, and press rod back into the foil sphere.

Decorate.

Rock out!