Tween Halloween Reading List

Now that I have a Tween on my hands, 

I thought I would update our reading lists, first one being Halloween. 

There are a few yearly favourites but a few new ones this year.

For Reference/Non Fiction reading, we love and I recommend:

• Witches and Wizards by Paul Dowswell.

• Horrible Histories: Witches, by Terry Deary 

• The Wizards Handbook by Dr Robert Curran

For Fiction and Fun Reading we have used these this year:

• Late For Halloween by Camilla Fegan

• The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

• The 'You Choose...' series titles:  

         Night of the Creepy Carnival 

         The Haunting of Spook House 

         Mayhem at Magic School 

         (these are all 'Choose you own adventure' style books) 

Favourites we re read include:

The Familiars Series 

The Harry Potter Series

So that's our little update. It's often tricky finding books on Halloween that aren't picture books aimed at the younger kids and aren't too scary (and are aimed at older teens and adults) so hope this might have given you a few ideas if you are after something for that in between age range. 

For previous blog posts on Halloween Reading Lists, just click on this link: 

10 Halloween Books to Read

Happy Halloween and a Blessed Samhain to you all!

The History of Easter

For many the "Easter" holidays are about chocolate, bunnies, religion and spring.

 Most have no idea of the origins of the name Easter, the symbols (eggs, bunnies, chicks etc) or the pre-Christianity traditions. For us, researching the origins of holidays has become a bit of a tradition in itself. My son's quest for knowledge has taught us so much. Easter's Pagan origin is recognised by most religions although not widely broadcast. 

For us, we have come to learn of this season as the celebration of the

Spring Equinox / Ostara. 

For anyone wanting to learn more, I found a great site combining all the explanations of many others, and while long, is a great read. Easter History and Traditions is very informative, not judgemental towards any faith and covers more than most sites which tend to be either pro pagan or pro religion (neither of which is helpful as you don't want bias when looking for information). 

Symbols of Ostara and the Spring Equinox are eggs, rabbits, chicks, flowers and seeds. These symbols became the modern "Easter Bunny" and Easter Eggs (see above link at Easter History and Traditions). Many do not realise that these things symbolising fertility, new life and springtime are of pagan origin. So many don't realise why at Easter time, it was traditional to eat eggs (real ones) in cooking. Eggs were always on the menu for us at this time of year. Boiled eggs with runny, bright yellow/gold yolks, with toast (cut into strips for dipping into the yolk and called Soldiers when we were children) were always a favourite and are still my favourite thing to have Easter morning. Other mornings were scrambled eggs and omelettes. But the tradition of boiled eggs is my childhood memory that I've passed on and we look forward to choosing which cute egg cups to use.

It was also traditional to eat the last of the cured meats that they had stored for use over the winter. This time of year was also seen as a time to cut out some of the heavier foods eaten over winter and was a pre Christian version of the Lenten period. So lighter meals were eaten at this time, with lots of spring vegetables, eggs, lighter meats like chicken and fish, plenty of seeds etc.  

Celebrating Easter when you are not a Christian means you just don't recognise the aspects relating to Christianity.  However all the fun parts of the season are actually of pagan origin so you still get to take part and recognise all the good things.  Without the non Christians throughout many cultures in history, you wouldn't have Easter eggs, or the Easter Bunny. You wouldn't call it Easter either. 

So to all my friends, wishing you a Happy Easter season, whether you are Pagan, Christian or of other religions.  Happy Ostara, Happy Spring Equinox, and to my son a Happy Birthday!  He was born on Easter Sunday 11 years ago and this year his birthday falls on Easter Sunday again.  It will be a busy few days in this house with lots of gifts, chocolate, bunnies, eggs and traditions. 

Jack-O-Lantern Fun

Our very 1st attempt at carving a Jack-O-Lantern into a pumpkin went well.

Apart from stabbing myself - but the child went unharmed, so we will call that a success! 

Step 1.

Being 'Newbies' to this activity, we prepared with drawing ideas for faces and then sketched the face onto the pumpkin with a pencil.

Step 2.

Cut the top off.  This isn't easy to actually get the starting point to line with the end LOL.  We were a little wonky but it all worked in the end.

Step 3.

Scoop the Goop!

This is really grose. Well it is when you have sensory issues! We were prepared with a goop bag & bucket and a goop scooper.  

The words that came out of my son's mouth when the top was lifted off was

"oooooooo brains!!!!"

Step 4.

Carving the face.

Sounds really easy. A little tricky trying to follow the pre drawn pencil markings but for a first try it worked well.  Considering I have arthritic hands I think I did ok - till I stabbed myself.  I'm ok though, child is ok so its a WIN!

Once we had the initial shapes cut out, we decided to add teeth.  This involved slicing up the pieces we'd previously cut out and then pushing the sharp end of a toothpick into it.  Obviously the toothpicks were too long so just cut them up. The size that worked best for us was about 1/3 of a toothpick.  Then just push the 'blunt' end of the pick into the flesh of the pumpkin.  This gave us creepy teeth.  We then decided to add eyeballs. Same process as the teeth (cut a shape and attach with a toothpick).

Step 5.

Add the candle to the inside, making sure it's sitting in a flat spot. Light the candle and take a photo because it looks great! 

So that's it!  Our very first Jack-O-Lantern!

I think he looks pretty good if I do say so myself and can only type this with 9 healthy fingers LOL. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

AND A 

* BLESSED SAMHAIN *

Halloween Link Up Party!

Let's have a Halloween Party! 

Link up your Halloween Themed Blog Posts here to share.

Get great ideas, make 'new' connections and have a festive Halloween! 

This is my first time hosting a Blog Hop so apologise in advance if there are teething problems.  

We love Halloween and I have recently put together a few blog posts on the topic so thought it was a good idea to start this off and put them all in one place.  You will find the links in the Linky section below. 

5 Fun Halloween Activities

Here are 5 fun Halloween activities to do with your kids.

1. Make a Halloween Wreath. 

Honestly you can do so many different types! We found a pre-made Styrofoam base that was covered with black feathers at the local craft store. At just $6 it was not worth the hassle of starting from scratch LOL.  So we bought a felt Jack-O-Lantern face and some orange ribbons and added them to the feather wreath. Jack-O-Lanterns traditionally were used to ward off evil spirits (to allow the good spirits to come and visit us) so having one on a wreath at the front door is a good thing.  The black feathers remind me of crow feathers. 

2. Turn little mini pumpkins into baby Jack-O-Lanterns without any carving. 

Simply grab a black marker pen, some strong glue and a few googly eyes to add to your mini pumpkins. We ended up with a baby Vampire and a very minion looking Cyclops.  No gooey pumpkin mess and at the end of Halloween simply separate the googly eyes from the pumpkin to re use on next years pumpkins. 

3. Make an Ancestor Tree.  

This is a lovely way to celebrate the day without it needing to be 'commercial'. Historically All Hallows Eve was the night when the veil between the living world and the next was at it's thinnest and our ancestors spirits could come and visit us. It was a night to honour your loved ones who had passed from this life. Tokens (ornaments) were hung from trees to represent them and call them home.

In our house we have used a Jewellery Tree (we are light on sticks in our garden LOL) and it's a perfect size, being about 30cm tall. We then make little paper discs and wrote the names or nicknames of our passed loved ones.  Then we hung them on the tree with little ornament hooks.  You can use lockets,ribbons or crystals (or anything else you come up with).  It's a simple way for children to pay their respects to their ancestors and remember them.

If your children are worried about bad spirits coming to your home by making this tree, simply place a Jack-O-Lantern (see above) at the base of the 'tree' as traditionally they were used to scare away the bad spirits, allowing only the friendly to visit.

4. Make Halloween Treats to Eat.
Have some fun in the kitchen.  Using a basic cookie recipe and some Halloween cookie cutters you will have Halloween Cookies that you may also decide to decorate with icing.
You can melt some chocolate and using a Halloween Silicone mould (we used one designed for ice but it worked great) you have some great little chocolate treats. If you have a Skeleton mould then white chocolate looks more realistic. Then there is the good old cupcake. Easy enough and any recipe will do. You can decorate with some white fondant as a background then add either store bought icing decorations or get creative with a gel icing tube. All are easy and don't require too much effort.

5. Carve a Jack-O-Lantern.  

Ok I have to admit - I have never done this before.  I also have arthritic hands.  The combination has me daunted from the outset.  However we will be giving it a go.  We live in Australia and I fear carving too early - in our hot climate at this time of year will mean a rather smelly, yukky outcome.  So I am waiting till the day to make ours, so I am cheating in this post and adding photos of someone elses efforts!  I will let you all know how we went though, it could be a good laugh. 

There is an excellent "How to" guide that I will be using, on WikiHow.  Click here to view the link.

Or watch this You Tube clip which is very cool: 

Hope you all have a festive Halloween! 

Using Melbourne Cup Day as a Learning Opportunity

Regardless of your views on Australia's 

Melbourne Cup Day,

 'The Race that Stops the Nation'

can prove to be a great learning opportunity.

How? 

Here are a list of topics that can be covered (whether they be positive or negative, there are many avenues for discussion): 

• Horses 
• Horse Racing
• Occupations (Jockey, Trainer, Vet etc)
• Money and Gambling
• The History of the Race and by extension Australian History
• 'Legend' stories like Phar Lap (you can even read about this on Skwirk, click here to follow the link)
• The change in our country and our attitudes over the years
• Animal Rights, animal cruelty 
• The Science behind everything from track preparation to the anatomy of a horse
• The Mathematics involved (Race times and speeds, Odds and Probability, etc) *check out this link to Passy's World of Mathematics for a great unit on Melbourne Cup Mathematics!*
• Geography of where the Horses come from in the World 

Do we really need to be talking to our kids about this?

Well yes, I think we do.

If our children are not taught about the past, how can they make informed choices about the future?  

My son loves riding horses. He has been riding for 3 years now. He loves the horses and cares about them. He wanted to know all about the Horses that race, what racing entailed, etc.  It was a great opportunity to explain a huge range of topics (both good and not so pleasant). 

As he has gotten older and has developed an interest in History, this year we are taking a Historical look at 'The Race'. We have books to read and we are going back over our Australian History timelines to remember what Australia was like as a country and a colony back when it all started.

Two books that we are reading are:

The Phar Lap Mystery

Archer's Melbourne Cup

We have books like the

Allen Book of Riding 

to read as well which explains all about Horses, how to Ride a Horse etc.  

Along with the books above, we have the following DVD to watch:
Phar Lap - Hero to a Nation

You could use it as a stepping stone for Literature Unit Studies for books like Black Beauty. You will find a great Literature Unit over at
Confessions of a Homeschooler, see this link. 

Whether you love the Melbourne Cup or hate it, it is a race that takes place in our country for millions to watch. Why not take advantage of that to engage your child in discussion about all the topics I mentioned above and many others.  

If you love it you could incorporate arts and craft activities as well.  Make a 'Fascinator', learn to draw horses, make hobby horses, bake horse shoe shaped biscuits, there is plenty to engage your child. 

If you disagree with the day and Horse Racing, then why not delve into Animal care and protection?  You could take the children and volunteer at a Horse Rescue centre.

The Day is what you make of it, and it really is a good opportunity to teach your child.

10 Halloween Books to Read

Halloween books can be hard to find.  Well they are where I live!

There are not as many flooding the market like there are with Christmas books. 

 However we have found some that we like and they always get put in the weekly reading basket this time of year. 

Here are ten books (ok more than 10), in no particular order, that you might like for reading this time of year: 

#1 - The Cemetary Dance 

A phonics reader but a good story.

#2 - Bet on It & A Hero's Journey

(Both books are from 'The Book of Life' story)

#3 - Too Ghoul for School Series
School kids and scary things - winning combo.  10 Books in the series.

#4 - Witches and Wizards

This is not a story book, more a reference book with information pages on everything from Magic, Witches, Halloween etc and activity pages. 

#5 - The Familiars Series

These are good sized novels and are about Magic & Animals.

#6 - Frankenstein
We have the Classic Starts series version (pictured here) which is abridged. You can get picture book versions for younger children too.

#7 The Buried Moon
A collection of magical stories including 'The Buried Moon', 'The Council with the Munchkins', 'Do You Believe in Fairies?', 'Shipwreck on Lilliput'.  Not Halloween themed but the stories contain witches and fairies, etc.

#8 - The Witches (by Roald Dahl)

#9 - The Worst Witch Series
Currently a 7 book series about a witch at boarding school.

#10 - The Harry Potter Series

These are a favourite in our house at any time of the year!

and the books that go with the Harry Potter series like: 
The Tales of Beedle the Baird 

There are plenty of others if you use the help of Professor Google, but these are ones we like.  A lot of children like the Goosebumps books and Skulduggery series but my son isn't into those.  There are also a lot more in stores in countries like the USA than there are here in Australia! 

Hope these have given you a few ideas if you are looking for Halloween books.