Halloween Children's Book Round-Up For the Easily Frightened Child with Crafts & More

 

October always has me thinking. When Hazel was young, we would avoid Halloween displays in stores. They scared her too much. It was hard to go anywhere, and the displays got put up earlier and earlier every year. She was easily frightened, and I had to be careful what I exposed her to. However, she loved dressing up for Halloween. (Perhaps this is why she wants to go into theater.) I have been thinking back to some of our favorite Halloween books and I thought I would share some of them and more with you! This round-up includes our favorite books and books we enjoyed when she was young and more recent ones as well as DVDs, costumes and some crafts and activities to go with the books. 

Resources to help love nature

Disclosure: I was sent these products in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Have you been watching Shark Week? It ends tomorrow. Now I will admit to not watching it because I see enough about sharks in the news (just saw this on the news as I write this post) with all the sightings around Cape Cod and off the shore of Boston. However I love how this week gets people thinking about these amazing creatures and nature in general. To keep this going I am sharing some great resources about nature and helping you get your kids loving it. To begin we will start with a DVD for younger kids that includes a bit about sharks. It is Thomas Edison's Secret Lab: It Always Sharkest. 

DVDs for Easter and Spring

Disclosure: NCircle Entertainment sent me these DVDs in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

It is hard to believe Easter is next weekend!! If you are looking for something special for a preschooler's basket, check out these two DVDs. Both have a bit of Easter in them but are also good for spring or any time. See my reviews below to understand that more. Be sure to check out NCircle Entertainment's Activities & Games page for printables to go with these DVDs. The first DVD is with the characters from the children's classic book, Guess How Much I Love You. It is Guess How Much I Love You: An Enchanting Easter. 

Mily Miss Questions DVD Review

Disclosure: NCircle Entertainment sent this DVD free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

Hazel recently said to me that we had not reviewed any DVDs in awhile. I didn't tell her that was because she was getting too old for most of them (and I had to watch some on my own because she was no longer interested). However I saw that NCircle Entertainment was releasing one with the star being an 8-year-old girl. Hazel is 8 so I figured we would check it out. Hazel enjoyed watching this DVD. The DVD is Mily Miss Questions: Season One. 

Irish Tea Party with Book Review

Disclosure: Candlewick Press gave me a copy of this book free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

For March we thought we would explore Ireland as St. Patrick's Day is in March (this Friday). We also received a book to go along with our exploration of Ireland that I will share here. Yesterday New England was hit with Winter Storm Stella, so it was the perfect day to have a tea party. Hazel and I both had a snow day while poor Steve got the overnight shift and went in early so he would not have to drive during the worse of it.

A Doggone Christmas -- a New Christmas Movie Review

Disclosure: I was sent this product to review free of charge by Vision Films, Inc. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review.  The links are affiliate links where I will receive a small percentage of any purchases made through them at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crafty Moms Share!

So many new movies come out each Christmas and some are worth seeing, but many are not. Today I am going to share one that we love. In fact Hazel wanted to watch it again right after watching it, but waited a couple of days and brought it to my mother-in-law's house today and my mother-in-law kept telling her to be quiet because she wanted to watch the movie. She loved it!! The movie is A Doggone Christmas starring Just Jesse the Jack. 

Exploring Pakistan -- Global Learning for Kids

This month we have been exploring Pakistan as part of Global Learning for Kids. I have to have a proud mommy moment and tell you that our exploration of all these countries helped Hazel tie for third in her school Geography Bee and it was first through six grade!! I was so proud of her! Now onto our exploration of Pakistan. 

Pakistan By TUBS [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

Isabella of Castile and our Exploration of Spain -- Global Learning for Kids

Disclosure: I was sent these books to review free of charge from Goosebottom Books. All opinions in this post are my own. I did not receive any other compensation for this review. I am including links to each item for your convenience but do not receive anything if you purchase them.

This month the Global Learning for Kids group focused on Spain. We have already looked at Spain with Around the World in 12 Dishes: flan and gazpacho. That exploration included stories, crafts and cooking. We have also spent some time exploring Pablo Picasso since Hazel loves his work. Even more exciting was that her art was hanging at a local museum this month and her class's art was their Picasso-inspired self portraits. Here is Hazel's.

Word World: Be My Valentine DVD Review

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copies of these DVDs free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.

Are you ready for Valentine's Day? We have several ideas but have not begun to make them. However we have taken some time out to put us in the mood and watch Word Wolrd: Be My Valentine on DVD. 

The Snowman and The Snowman and the Snow Dog & Naya's Arctic Adventures: Meet Naya -- DVD Reviews and Giveaway!!

Disclosure: NCircle Entertainment gave me a copy of the DVDs free of charge and is supplying the ones for the giveaway free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the DVD on NCircle Entertainment's site for your convenience. You can also find their DVDs at local retailers!

Today I am sharing with you two fun DVDs that are perfect for winter and Christmas. Both are really wordless!! The first is a combination of two favorite ones one of which we have reviewed in the past The Snowman and The Snowman and the Snowdog. They are based on the books of the same titles by Raymond Briggs. Now both stories are available on one DVD!! 

Odd Squad, Peg + Cat, and Word World Christmas DVDs from PBS Kids

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copies of these DVDs free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.

Looking for something to entertain the kids this long weekend? Here are three fun and educational DVDs to pick up while doing your shopping. The first we will share is Word World: Merry Christmas! This is a fun filled Word World DVD. Word World is perfect for the younger viewers who are beginning to read or learn letters. As with all Word World the objects are formed by the letters of their words.

20 Furry Tales -- A PBS Kids DVD

I am hosting a giveaway to win ABC Monsters & Houdini DVDs ! Have you entered yet?

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copies of these DVDs free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation.

Today I get to share with you a new PBS Kids DVD that is available only at Walmart. The DVD is 20 Furry Tales. It came out last week. It is not available on-line (or at least I could not find it at Walmart's website), so you have to go into a store to buy this one. 

This DVD has almost four hours of shows on it! It includes Wild Kratts, Peg + Cat, Word World, Caillou, Arthur, Super Why, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Reading Rainbow and Word Girl. All of the stories feature a furry friend!! Hazel loves this DVD because it has many of her favorites as well as some of her previous favorites that she likes to watch every once in awhile all in place. It is great for multiple ages due to the shows on it and can span preschool to early elementary. All of the shows are educational and teach about life, math, reading and animals. The DVD menus are set up so that you can look at the episodes of a particular show and do not have to watch all the shows if a child is too young or too old for the show. I hope you will take the time to check it out.

ABC Monsters & Houdini DVD Reviews and Giveaway!!

Disclosure: NCircle Entertainment gave me a copy of the DVDs free of charge and is supplying the ones for the giveaway free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the DVD on NCircle Entertainment's site for your convenience. You can also find their DVDs at local retailers!

Today we are sharing two DVDs from NCircle Entertainment and NCircle is offering a copy of each of them to one of my lucky readers. The giveaway is below. The first DVD is ABC Monsters Starring ABCD. 

Exploring Argentina with the Tango

This month Global Learning for Kids has been exploring Argentina. In the beginning of the month we shared some of the resources we have looked at and ideas to explore. We decided to look at the National Dance of Argentina, the tango. Tango is a partner dance that started in the 1890's along the River Plate, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. It originated with lower classes in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. (Source) From the DVDs Hazel and I watched claimed it originated in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.

It is a very seductive dance and has become popular throughout the world. To explore the tango, Hazel and I checked some DVDs and a book out of the library. We began to watch one of the DVDs during breakfast. Hazel enjoyed seeing the couple dance in the beginning and then it gave lessons to dance the tango. I got to be the male in our couple and lead, but we didn't really have enough room in the kitchen and never got back to it with the busy September we have had.

PBS Kids Halloween DVDs Review

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copies of these DVDs free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Are you ready for Halloween? We are not. Nor are we excited for it. I really do not like the holiday and all the Halloween items seemed to be out extra early this year and they seem extremely gruesome. Has anyone else felt this way? Hazel has had bad dreams since seeing some of those bigger than life size lawn decorations at a store. I have realized it is better to not take her to most stores at this point or to avoid the ones with so many Halloween decorations. Hazel has not decided what she even wants to be yet, but she knows she has to choose from costumes she has or the Princess in Black. 

This year we are focusing on calmer and not so frightening parts of Halloween. PBS Kids has helped by sending us three DVDs to review from some of Hazel's favorite shows. 

Exploring Argentina - Global Learning for Kids

This month Global Learning for Kids is exploring Argentina. We always start our exploration with a search at the library network. We started learning about Argentina with two DVDs we found at the library.

DVDs are my favorite way to introduce a country to Hazel. They give a feeling of the culture and views of the country. In these DVDs we learned about La Recoleta Cemetery and all the cats that live there. I thought that would be something fun to investigate, but could not find any resources on it besides on line. La Recoleta is a large and beautiful cemetary and it has a large number of stray cats living in it. Workers and volunteers feed the cats and give them healthcare. We also learned about how tango started in Argentina. We are going to explore tango dancing this month! We found DVDs to teach the tango as well as some music. Stay tuned!!

Kid Friendly Look at the Stories of The Arabian Nights

Only 2 more days to enter to win the 2 Doozers Pod Squad DVDS. Take your preschoolers on STEM Adventures with these DVDS.

 For our last exploration this year of the Middle East, we decided to look at some of the stories of The Arabian Nights. While reading about Middle Eastern mathematicians and scientists I found a comment about how the Iraqi scholar Abu 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abdus al-Jashyari translated Persian, Indian, Iranian, Turkish and Chinese stories into Arabic. He changed the names to the exotic Arabic names we know today like Aladdin, Ali Baba, Scheherazade and Sinbad. He also changed the locations of some of the adventures. After al-Jashyari's death other Muslim scholars added to his collection until it contained the full 1001 stories that the title suggests. (Source: Steffens, Bradley, Ibn al-Haytham, Morgan Reynolds Publishing, Greensboro, NC 2007, page 17) This fascinated me. 

Doozers Pod Squad DVDs Review and Giveaway!

Disclosure: NCircle Entertainment gave me a copy of the DVDs free of charge and is supplying the ones for the giveaway free of charge. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As always I am providing links to the DVD on NCircle Entertainment's site for your convenience. You can also find their DVDs at local retailers!

Have you met the Doozers? They are created by the Jim Hensen Company for preschoolers. The Pod Squad are a group of friends who live in Doozer Creek. They work together to solve problems and to learn. The show focuses on teaching preschoolers about teamwork, eco-friendly behavior, STEM-based adventures and more! We got the opportunity to review the first two DVDs which are on sale now at Target and will be available everywhere in September.

Super Why: Cinderella and Other Fairytale Adventures

Disclosure: PBS Kids gave me a copy of this DVDs free of charge to review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

Today we are excited to share this new Super Why DVD with you. It is being released next week and you can pre-order it now.

Super Why: Cinderella and other fairytale adventures has five fun fairytale adventures on  it. The first and last are both from Cinderella. In the first the Super Readers use their special powers to help Prince Charming find Cinderella and in the last they help Cinderella stay after midnight and dance more comfortably. They also help Snow White, the Prince and the Pauper, and the Boy who Cried Wolf. For those that have not watched Super Why, their special powers are Alphabet Power, Spelling Power and Word Power. In each story one of the Super Readers has a problem and they are brought into a story where a character has a similar problem. They help the characters by finding letters, spelling words and changing words in their stories.

Exploring Lebanon -- Global Learning for Kids

This month we have joined the Global Learning for Kids in exploring Lebanon. I have to admit that I do not know much about Lebanon so this really was an exploration for me as well as for Hazel. Unfortunately I did not find many resources that are age appropriate for Hazel. Although the Middle East is part of Asia, we are separating it with North Africa into its own cultural month. Multicultural Kid Blogs has decided August will be Middle East and North Africa Heritage Month. I hope you will join us for it. Our exploration of Lebanon is a preview.