The Read Abouts: October

Halloween (of course!)

Read: Who Will I Be? A Halloween Rebus Story by Shirley Neitzel

Craft: Halloween Jar Luminaries

I have done this craft loads of times. Very easy, fun and a great decoration! You can make a ghost or a bat, Frankenstein, Dracula.....the options are endless. I usually adapt it for my Preschool set -- for example, we only make ghosts and everything is cut out and ready for them to glue/decoupage. For this crowd, I am going to let them do all the work!!! Yay!

• Need: Glass jars, tissue paper in various colors, white glue, foam brushes, and scissors.
• Lay out all the tissue paper on the craft table. And have them decide on their design.
• Explain and show them the decoupage technique. Glue the tissue paper, base color etc, less is more.....
• For a ghost: tear or cut strips of white tissue paper, decoupage the strips all over the outside of the jar, cut out eyes and mouth from black tissue paper and adhere on top of the white.
• Give each child some votive candles -- because you know they are going to want to see the result as soon as they get home!

Here are some of our finished products:

OK, can you tell which one I was asked to help with? He wanted a skeleton and instructed me on how the skeleton should be drawn!!! No abstract idea of a skeleton, he wanted the literal translation. I showed them a bunch of diagrams of how to make a Ghost, Vampire, Monster....and then the girls asked for pink tissue paper.....the rest is history...