Bats, Ghosts & Halloween

PUMPKIN SONG (tune: Have you ever seen a lassie?)
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin,
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?
A round one, a tall one, a fat one, a small one.
Have you ever seen a pumpkin, that grows on a vine?

Pumpkin painting fun! Here's Princess, she painted 2 faces, one rainbow, and one face with permanent marker to carve.

Honey takes her painting very seriously, she had purple & green squiggles on her pumpkin.
We tried a Halloween scene resist with our leftover tempera paint mixed together, but I should have followed my instinct and watered it down. We couldn't see our drawings. :)

Handprint bats! These were fun and easy, I was going to leave Honey out (black paint on a 20month old's hands??) But, I was helping an older kid wash up and turned to see Honey up on Speedy's chair, using the foam brush to paint her own hand. She was NOT going to be left out!
I let Speedy leave his bat head the way he had cut it. Princess cut out her own and Honey's. DEEP IN THE BAT CAVE (Tune: “Down by the Station”)Liz Ryerson
Deep in the bat cave

Early in the evening,

See the little black bats

Hanging in a row.

Now it’s growing darker,

Time to leave the bat cave.

Zip! Zip! Zip! Zip!

Out they go.

One little bat was trying to behave.
He hung upside down from his feet in a cave.
Another bat flew in, and said, "How do you do?"
The second joined the first, and then there were 2!
2 little bats were trying to behave.
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave.
To help pass the time, they sang "Do re me"
Another bat joined the song, and then there were 3.
3 little bats were trying to behave
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave
From their cave perch, they looked down at the floor,
A new bat joined the game, and then there were 4.
4 little bats were trying to behave.
They hung upside down from their feet in a cave.
One little bat zoomed inside and did a dive.
He stayed to take a rest, and with him there were 5.

Happy Heart H's!
Honey and Princess showing off their hand-ghosties (I saw this idea on a blog somewhere). I draped a paper towel (one select-a-size sheet) over their middle 3 fingers, wrapped a rubber band around, and colored eyes.

They didn't really like them on their fingers, so we modified by crumpling up some paper for the head, wrapping the rubber band around, and sticking a pencil through the rubber band for a handle.
FIVE LITTLE GHOSTS (by Jean Warren)

5 little ghosts knocked at the door, Then one flew away and that left 4.

4 little ghosts up in a tree, Then one flew away and that left 3.

3 little ghosts drinking witches brew, Then one flew away and that left 2.

2 little ghosts having lots of fun, Then one flew away and that left 1.

1 little ghost now all alone, He got bored so he flew back home.

Books: Bats by Bibi Boynton; What is a Bat? by Bobbie Kalman; BATS by Amy-Jane Beer

These non-fiction books are not recommended before bedtime! All the bats (except fruit bats) are pretty scary looking. I didn't know that there are fishing bats (they catch them with their feet!) and that vampire bats really suck blood from animals. Eww.

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon is a good one about a lost bat taken in by a family of birds, that eventually gets reunited with her mother. Baby Bat's Lullaby by Jacquelyn Mitchard had pretty pictures, but was kind of lame reading. It's a rhyming song a momma bat is singing to her baby. For what it's worth. :)