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Edutaining Kids
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Parents' Guide to Children's Products for Fun & Learning
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October 2010
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Edutaining Kids
.COM
Parents' Guide to Children's Products for Fun & Learning
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October 2010
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We've found a
very kid-friendly book that compiles activities for all of these
preparations and more. Halloween baking, instructions for homemade
costumes, crafts that kids will enjoy making and that
can serve as wonderful decorations for the house, and so forth.
There's even instructions for a very artistic "spooky
sky" painting. What follows is a sample activity from the
book in which kids use sponges to sponge-print ghosts. (Click on
the images to enlarge instructions).
at Amazon.com]
When
you have a killer hat, you've almost got your whole costume. We've
stumbled upon some truly exciting additions to any family's
costume box -- costume/novelty hats from elope Inc. They are
gorgeous, well-made, and useful for imaginative play around the
year as well as for Halloween. Hats like the Robotman are part of the
company's Little Daydreamers series (they also produce a wide
range of costume and novelty hats for adults). Because of its
"boxy" shape, it is made for kids ages 3-10, while many of the
hats in the same series are adjustable to fit children older than
10, like the Kitty Pirate hat that's just perfect for little and
big girls on Halloween. These are exceptionally well-made costume
hats that will be show-stoppers, hands down.
.
Hats and accessories for King Tut, Dr. Seuss, kings, princesses,
pirates and more, in a variety of sizes from toddlers up.
Jerry
Seinfeld's first children's book is an absolute scream. Halloween
is based on a comedy routine of Seinfeld's nostalgic, jaded
look at the "holiday". The illustrations by James
Bennett (who has drawn for Mad Magazine) depict Jerry as a kid,
and perfectly capture Jerry's "look" as he begins his
Halloween career enthusiastically ("I'll do anything I have
to do to get the candy from those fools who are so stupidly giving
it away."), to his eventual need to be more than just
a ghost or hobo ("I knew my destiny was to one day get a real
Superman Halloween costume from the store"), to his sarcastic
let's-just-get-on-with-it Halloween escapades as a perhaps
too-old-for-Halloween kid. Since the story is written from the
perspective of an adult looking back on Halloween, much of
its humor will go over the heads of kids who are still very much
in the middle of Halloween fever. Parents will laugh out loud, and
older kids will "get" some of it too (having to wear a
coat over your costume, the flimsy rubber bands on the masks).
Younger kids will find the illustrations amusing, but the
more sophisticated elements of the humor in the book are lost on
them. Seinfeld fans will thoroughly enjoy the addition of a
hilarious visual to his comedy routine--it adds layers of fun. 
Here
at Edutaining Kids, we're big fans of Ed Emberley's art books for
children. They're kooky, fun, and practical all at once. For children
who love to draw, and who don't mind some art instruction, Ed
Emberley's latest book, Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Weirdos
is filled with step-by-step illustrated instructions for drawing
skeletons, skulls, witches, bats, and all sorts of other spooky
and creepy creatures. Another excellent book by Ed
Emberley is Ed Emberley's Halloween Drawing Book.
at Amazon.com]
If your kids
love Spongebob SquarePants, they are likely to enjoy this
Halloween edition video that compiles 5 episodes with
"spooky" themes. Even better, the DVD edition features 5
bonus (not Halloween-themed) episodes in addition to the main
feature. In Spongebob SquarePants Halloween, there's a fun spoof on Frankenstein, plenty
of verbal fun and creativity, and the usual silliness that makes
the show so popular with kids (and even with many adults). 
Parents can
share a Peanuts classic video with their kids with It's The
Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! Linus is obsessed with The Great
Pumpkin, who he believes distributes toys to those children who
have faith in him. The Peanuts go trick-or-treating (and who can
forget poor Charlie Brown's rocks in his bag?), while Sally stays
faithfully at Linus' side in the pumpkin patch, waiting for the
Great Pumpkin.
(DVD) at Amazon.com]
square pumpkin who is subject to
ridicule because of his odd shape. The message is a good one, but be
sure your kids are old enough to distinguish between right and
wrong. The poor square pumpkin is made fun of and songs are even
sung about his being a "loser" at the beginning of the
movie. Spookley does prove himself at the Jack-a-lympics
where his square-ness is even more obvious. His emotions are
written all over his face, encouraging children to sympathize with
him. Kids who are old enough to have
sympathy for the pumpkin will benefit from the movie's message.
(DVD) at Amazon.com]
Nancy
Drew: The Legend of the Crystal Skull, is a perfect choice for teen sleuths. Secret passageways,
grave guides, epitaphs, glass eyes, tombs...all Halloween fare
found in a game that is as absorbing as it is satisfying. This
game is appropriate for kids (girls and boys) ages 12 and
up.
at Amazon.com]
at Amazon.com]
at Amazon.com]
Luigi's
Mansion for the Nintendo GameCube is filled with fun and silly
spookiness as Mario's brother, Luigi, searches through a haunted
mansion for Mario. Ghosts galore inhabit this mansion, and Luigi
needs to suck them up with his Poltergust. This game is enjoyable
and comical. See our 
Halloween
Howls is a compilation of songs--some covers, but mostly
originals--that focus on witches, goblins, trick-or-treating, and
more. They're silly, just a little spooky, and fun for the whole
family. This CD features Andrew Gold and guest appearances by
Linda Ronstadt and David Cassidy.