October Fun Activities for Kids

Space Mobiles

• Sputnik made its first orbit around the Earth on October 4, 1957. Celebrate by creating a space-themed mobile. Help your child cut a crescent shape from a heavy piece of card stock or poster board to serve as the moon. Use paint and glitter to decorate the moon. Cut star shapes out of aluminum foil and tape a piece of string from each star to the curved edge of the moon. Decorate the ends of the stars with tinsel, yarn or a string of beads. To hang your mobile, run a piece of string across the inner curve of the moon.

No-Carve Pumpkins and Squash

• Pumpkins are harvested in October, and can be used for more than just messy carving. Visit a local pumpkin patch and select a series of small- to medium-size pumpkins or some medium-sized squash. At home, use double-stick tape to attach a color piece of ribbon around each pumpkin. Place the pumpkins in a bowl or basket to use as a centerpiece. Alternatively, have your child paint the entire outer surface of the pumpkins with a black washable paint, or help your child spray paint the pumpkins black. After the paint has dried, use the handle from a spoon or fork to peel away parts of the paint to reveal shapes like moons, stars, faces, or diamonds.

Tribute to Peanuts

• The comic strip Peanuts was first published on October 2, 1957. Since then, many recipes honoring Peanuts characters have been developed. Make Charlie-Brown inspired caramel apples by melting 14 oz. of unwrapped caramels candies and 2 tablespoons of milk in a bowl in the microwave for two to three minutes. Stir the candies until the caramel is smooth. Place six apples onto four-inch wooden dowels, and rolls the apples in the caramel mixture until completely coated. Place the apples stick-side-up on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Once the caramel is cool enough to touch but still stick, make faces on the apples by decorating them with pieces of candy, nuts, or colored sprinkles. Refrigerate the apples for at least thirty minutes before eating. The smooth, round, caramel apples will resemble Charlie Brown's head.

Balloon Bats

• As the spookiness of Halloween approaches, make a friendly-faced vampire bat out of balloons by inflating one black balloon eight inches across to serve as a head and one black balloon twelve inches across to serve as a body. Tape the knots of the balloons together with black duct tape. Cut out two small triangles from black paper for ears and cut out two wings from the black paper as well. Cut two small triangles from white paper for fangs. Tape the wings on the sides of the large balloon. Tape the ears to the top of the small balloon and the fans in the front middle of the small balloon. Glue wiggly eyes to the small balloon between the ears and the fangs. Hang your bat by wrapping black ribbon around the center of the two balloons, or use your bat as a character in a bat-themed puppet show.