Book Inspired Halloween Pumpkins: Cat in the Hat

If you love children’s books characters, why not turn your pumpkin into one?
I’ve heard of classes doing this at school but you can try this at home too. Ask your child who their favorite character is and find a way to decorate a pumpkin that way. You can carve, paint, add accessories and more.
Of course, being obSEUSSed, I had to make a Cat in the Hat pumpkin.
First I free hand drew this with a pen, after looking at the Dr. Seuss book. Then I traced it with black marker once I knew which areas were okay to cut and which ones I should leave so it wouldn’t fall apart.    I created a template you can print and create your own.  Click here for the Dr. Seuss jack-o-lantern template. I used a small pumpkin carving knife, then lit it up with fake tea candles.
 
We grew nine pumpkins in our garden this year. I helped my daughter carve this Minnie Mouse pumpkin using the Disney carving template found here.  My husband turned the half green pumpkin into a dinosaur. My son turned his into a Frankenstein, skeleton eating pumpkin. I also turned another pumpkin into a haunted house where you paint the house on with acrylic craft paint then cut out the windows to show candle light through. I found this and many other great Halloween ideas on Pinterest. Originally found on Parents.com.
I found more book character pumpkins and pinned them to my Book Character board on Pinterest. If you aren’t on Pinterest, you can do a Google search for “Book Character Pumpkins” to find more great ideas.  I love the David Shannon “Stripes” and “No David" pumpkins below. As well as the Arthur and Junie B. Jones pumpkins.

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We turned the Nightmare Before Christmas character, Jack Skellington, into a life size figure. Click here to see more.
 
If you’ve made a book character pumpkin I’d love to see it. You can leave a link to your blog in the comments below or upload your picture to the ObSEUSSed Facebook page to share with others.
Thanks,



I linked this project to:
The Play Academy at the Nurture Store - visit for more great ideas
Tatertots & Jello Weekend Wrap Up Craft Party

Glowing Halloween Crafts – What Was I Scared Of?

Our favorite book by Dr. Seuss this month is  “What Was I Scared Of? ” A perfect spooky story for Halloween. Originally published as a short story in “The Sneetches” book back in 1961, this year we got to try out 2 new versions of the book.

I picked up a copy of the Glow-in-the Dark Encounter version at Sam’s Club for $7. My kids loved it! They sat by their reading lamp in their bed and would read a page then turn off their light to see the pants glow on every page. They’ve requested it several nights in a row now. I love the moral to the story: the pants are just as afraid of him, but he doesn’t know this until he confronts the pants. This is a great book to have a discussion about fear.

 What Was I Scared Of? App Review:
We tried the Dr. Seuss app by Oceanhouse Media. What Was I Scared Of? is only 99 cents right now. I love how the kids can touch the pictures and the app tells you the words. I also love the inflection the narrator uses to keep the kids’ attention. It was a little fast paced for my 5-year-old to keep up with watching the highlighted words as it read to you but you can use the ‘Read it Yourself’ mode to go at your own pace and work on the words with your child.

Glowing Halloween Crafts:
Make your own glow-in-the-dark pants to go with this story.

I found a small scarecrow for $1.00 at Wal-mart. It is hooked to a stick but the body is about 7 inches tall.  I grabbed a round box of 15 glow bracelets for $1.00 at Target. I used 2 glow sticks for this project.

ADULTS ONLY: Do this in the bathroom. I double checked to make sure the glow fluid inside was not toxic, but I also tried not to touch it at all.
I had Clorox wipes handy and cracked the bracelets. Then I cut off the end of one and dripped the fluid onto the scarecrow pants.
I needed more so I cut the other end, then I got some splatter on my counter. I wiped it up quickly with the wipes. It came off easily. I ended up using 2 sticks. The glow lasted several hours so we could enjoy it with our book experience.

If you are using Pinterest, here are a few other fun glowing crafts to try:
Try making Glow-in-the-dark play-dough. Or put glow sticks in balloons or in the bathtub or make an outdoor sign with them.

Disclosure: I received a free version of the OMbook “What Was I Scared Of?” from Oceanhouse Media for review. We love all their apps we’ve tried so far. I have several others I’ve purchased. I purchased the glow-in-the-dark encounter book version at Sam’s Club. Check this book out at your library then decide if you’d like a version to keep.
Hope you have a spooky, GLOWing Halloween!



Linking this project at:

Halloween BOOks and Printable Label

We pulled out our Halloween BOOks this past week.  I decided to put them in my 12 inch plastic cauldron. They fit perfectly.  Then I made this spooky Ghost sign to tape to the bin as a BOOk label.

FREE PRINTABLE BOOK LABEL – For personal, non-commercial use only.
Right click, copy and paste into your ‘Word’ processing program then adjust the size and print. I made my ghost about 9 inches high. If you’d like a PDF I can email you one. Just leave me a comment or email me by clicking the button in my right side bar.



Here are a few of my kids’ favorite Halloween Books:


Halloween BOOks: Click on book picture for more info.
Dem Bones (Bob Barner), Skeleton Hiccups (Margery Cuyler), The Hallo-wiener (Dav Pilkey), Go Away, Big Green Monster! (Ed Emberley), Popcorn (Frank Asch), Groggy’s Halloween (Jonathan London), The NIghtmare Before Christmas (Tim Burton), There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly (Simms Taback)

We’re planning to add this new release: Pinkalicious and the Pink Pumpkin (Victoria Kann)


See my Life Size Jack Skellington from the Nightmare Before Christmas.

Also visit the Old Lady puppet I made to go with the book.

Go read some Halloween BOOks with your kids!




I've linked this project at the following blogs with more great ideas: