TOP LIST OF CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOKS FOR HALLOWEEN

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
With Halloween upon us, how could we not get eager to think of some great children's picture books for this fun time of year, which let's face it... even the most cynical of us cannot help but release a half smile when walking into the local Co-Op or Budgens.

Now as I always say to parents, it doesn't matter if you are not a die hard Pagan and do not celebrate Halloween, almost no one is. But it's just a pretext to get some themed books out and get kids excited, after all, the routine of life is so repetitive! Even if you have older kids, there are plenty scary reading books out there too. The only difference is, with picture books you can read them with your kids all in the space of a few days while Halloween is still around.

These top 5 I have chosen for you are books that I have used in Siggistardust storytimes in libraries on Halloween this year and in previous years and received a fantastic response from audiences from the age of 4 till 7. 

WINNIE THE WITCH: WINNIE'S HAUNTED HOUSE
By Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul

Halloween wouldn't be Halloween in most children's homes, without Winnie the Witch and her clumsy and amusing adventures.
In Winnie’s haunted mansion, a mysterious spook seems to be loose in the house. It’s smashed the vase and tore down the chandelier.  Winnie needs a plan to get rid of it, immediately!!
With a wave of her wand, and a big (Let's - say - together - moment) Abracadabra!! Winnie banishes the ghost… But oh goodness, instead she has filled the house with skeletons, spiders, bats and owls. It’s a total disastrously spooky mayhem! Turns out Winnie made a bit of a mistake..and not only that, why is Wilbur the cat looking so proud?

SPLAT THE CAT: WHAT WAS THAT
By Rob Scotton

Splat the Cat is notorious for his endless adventures, but this time round Splat and his friends have a Halloween adventure!
Halloween should be a black cat's favorite holiday, but Spat the Cat is nervous about visiting a creepy haunted house. He's worried it will be too scary. Splat's friend Spike tells Splat not to be a scaredy-cat--the haunted house is just for fun!
Splat and Spike’s visit to the haunted house turns into a rescue mission when Splat’s pet mouse, Seymour, gets lost inside.

TEN TIMID GHOSTS
Jennifer O'Connell

A witch decides to move into the happy haunted house but she starts to scare each ghost away one-by-one, using a different disguise or prop each time such as a skeleton, bat, ghoul, cat, owl, vampire, monster, spider, rat, and mummy!
The last clever ghost the witch frightens away, figures out that it was her the whole time and tells the other ghost friends who are now homeless in the woods. Now we've got ten Angry ghosts...

THE SPOOKY WHEELS ON THE BUS
By J Elizabeth Mills

This book is based on the famous "Wheels on the Bus" song. This book encourages active participation and also has a counting concept built into it for numbers 1-10.
It's great for getting kids to shout out characters, numbers and using instruments.
Some of the lyrics are : "One spooky bus goes rattle and shake, rattle and shake, rattle and shake.
One spooky bus goes rattle and shake all through the town." "Three noisy cats go meow, hiss, hiss, meow, hiss, hiss, meow, hiss, hiss. Think you get the idea...

FRAGOLINE AND THE MIDNIGHT DREAM
By Clemeney Pearse

During the day, Fragoline's a perfect angel. But in the shadows of night, when all good children are sleeping tight, this little imp dons her jet-black cape and makes a midnight hour escape! But when Fragoline's antics wake the dead who chase her to the tippy-top of the steeple, how can she escape? And will she learn her lesson? A picture book in the dark but sweet style of Tim Burton.




OTHER THEMED BOOKS
Room on The Broom:  For all the Julia Donaldson and witch lovers!
Peppa Pig: Peppa's Pumpkin Party: Well let's face it, any young kid who loves Peppa will love this

Mr. Tickle and the Scary Halloween: Any lovers of Little Men and Little Miss series 
Winnie The Witch: The first in the series for themes all surrounding the colour black!
Winnie's Amazing Pumpkin: A witch and pumpkins.... Halloween in a nutshell.
Winnie's Halloween: Specially Halloween themed Winnie the Witch 
Spooky Winnie: Ok going a bit mad with Winnie the Witch now...

Happy trick or treating and pumpkin carving!

A Top 5 Voted Children's Reading Books

Well, with the wonders of Children's Book Week just gone, I spent the week catching up with kids from different libraries and getting their views on the top 5 reading books out there right now, and here are the results. And by the way, if you are a grown up with a vast collection of 'serious' books, do your spirit a favour and pick up few of these for your own secret personal enjoyment!

Don't worry, I won't tell anyone...

1. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: Jeff Kinney
Basically if you haven't heard of the madness that is 'Diary Of A Wimpy Kid', either you don't have children aged between 8-13 or you seem to have no reason to be reading children's books for fun...uhem..like I do.

These books are all about a kid called Greg who fills in his journal (not a diary!!) of all the misadventures in his life, and boy oh boy, there are many!

In this story, it's the summer vacation and even though it is nice and hot, Greg insists on staying inside, glued to his video games with the blinds drawn!
 His mother however, has had enough of Greg being lazy and decides that this summer should be fun and packed with family activities... you can only imagine.

 2. DEMON DENTIST: David Walliams
Ok you know it's a David Walliams book when you just get to the first 'Thank you's' page, and you are already chucking to yourself! David' style of writing is reminiscent of Roald Dahl, not to mention the illustrations by Tony Ross, however the modern refereences and the familiar Walliams humour puts it into a category and respect of it's own. All of his books are winners in my eyes but this one got second position with the kids, and here's why...

Demon Dentist tells the story of 12 year-old Alfie whose teeth are completely rotten. When a very odd new dentist comes to town, Alfie is suspicious and thinks something doesn't feel right.
With his new friend called Gabz, he starts to investigate why Miss Root, the dentist, is giving out free sweets and acidic toothpaste which can burn holes through stone! He realizes he is in big trouble when she straps him into the dentist's chair and starts pulling out all of his teeth...

3. BILLIONAIRE BOY: David Walliams
This book is one of my favourites of David Walliams' books, I could read it over and over again as a grown up. No wonder the kids go mad for it.

Billionaire Boy is a warm, witty and touching tale about a boy called Joe Spud, who arguably has a lot of reasons to be happy, at least a few billion of them!
Joe's not only rich, he's really, really rich. Joe's got his own bowling alley, his own Farrari, his own cinema, even his own butler who is also an
orangutan and for his birthday his dad gives him a million pound cheques. He's the wealthiest twelve-year-old ever and there is nothing that Joe doesn't have... other than a friend.

4. THE WITCHES: Roald Dahl
We all know this one, not to mention every single other Roald Dahl book that ever existed. Somehow this one, seemed to prove most popular last week!
If you haven't seen The Witches movie, starring Anjelica Huston and Rowan Atkinson, you will never have to worry about getting the disturbing image of beautiful women turning horrifyingly ugly and shrinking kids into mice, out of your heads!

Witches really are a nightmare breed of beings. They disguise themselves as lovely delightful ladies, when all they really want to do is squish and squelch all the wretched children they despise and turn them into mice.
But unlucky for them, one brave little boy turned mouse and his grandmother know all too well, how to recognize these vile creatures, but the big question is, can they get rid of them for good?

 5. TOM GATES IS ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC: Liz Pichon
This series of books is up there with Diary of A Wimpy Kid, and is written in similar format in many ways, making this one a definite hit for this age group!

This particular book in the series, takes the form of Tom's battered homework diary - crammed with his doodles and stories. "Exciting News! Mr Fullerman announces that class 5F are going on an 'Activity Break'! Which should be fun. As long as I don't get stuck in a group with anyone who snores or worse still with . . . . . . Marcus Meldrew. Delia is already threatening to paint my room funny colours while I'm away. Which is annoying. I just hope the only surprise I have when I get home is the new pet that I hear Mum and Dad talking about. Because I've always wanted a pet!"
The rest I will leave to your imagination...

Changing The World From The Children Up

Very recently I was lucky enough to be invited to be one of 12 faces of a new fascinating project called #BehindTheFace Future Cities. An augmented reality platform that brings influential thinkers to talk about how they are contributing to a better future of London across their sector of society.
In my work now to try to support more child literacy in the UK, I have had to do some extensive research and in particular for a new groundbreaking platform I am developing to support the way children view and appreciate reading, the findings have been enlightening.

It proved to me just how much work indeed we have to do to truly make a difference in influencing young minds, in a generation so influenced by the media, social media and technology. Peer pressures have changed from even as little as 10 years ago, affecting children as young as 6 and the surrounding influences are driving children to move further and further away from developing their real selves.
So many young children are now growing up with false beliefs over the correct body image, what is REAL happiness, who are positive role models, how to treat each other, terms of speech, expectations in a emotional or physical relationships and what's generally regarded as cool.

Often times, the harsh reality of this is that parents will have minimal control over where these ideologies and beliefs are coming from and how they ingrain themselves in the child's mind.  This is so, in particular as children pass 8 years old! I have found from my own experience, that many parent are oblivious of their 'little babies' development and understanding of life and in what they are hearing or being told in the playground.
And unfortunately it isn't anymore just a psychological or mental issue, with processed foods, GMO and a generally polluted life, we can see for ourselves that children's bodies are developing differently than as little as 30 years ago. Teenagers are developing much younger and hormones are being altered even by the water they drink. All this ensures that from an even younger age, their minds are developing a lot quicker. Nowdays you will see 10 year olds looking and behaving like 14 year olds. This is a drastic shift parents are going to have to adjust to as it's not just physical but emotional and mental.

We are entering a new reality. That's a fact, you just need to take a good look around and you can see this. Are there any solutions? I have recently come to ponder on this very question myself and I guess these are my conclusions:

• Give children more natural, uncontaminated unprocessed foods from a young age. Making effort to research ways that children will find enjoyable eating more natural. Healthy is as cheap as rubbish foods, no one is saying to stock up on Whole Foods Spirulina or expensive superfoods like that. Fresh fruit and especially vegetables are very cheap from market stalls and big supermarkets such as Asda or Lidl. Put some effort to research simple nutritious recipe ideas on the train from work. Remember, killing with kindness is still killing. And it's only the kids that will suffer down the line, be it with getting bullied or teased at school for being fat, oily skin, spots, side effects of unbalanced hormones etc. Often these are things highly connected to diet.

• Encourage from a young age kids to develop a physical hobby and encourage through incentives, a way for them to stick to it! Remember kids won't always gravitate towards anything by themselves. It is good to push them into things against their comfort zone, especially if it's for their health and wellbeing! They will learn to get into a routine out of no choice and later as they grow, be excited about experimenting with different activities as movement is now part of life. 

•  Show them the value of voluntary work. The idea of giving without looking for physical or monetary rewards. This is a precious skill to learn in today's society, where everything is so much about quick fix and self gratification. This is a quality that will develop their awareness about society outside of their clique of friends and family and give them a feeling a responsibility to make a difference in the world,  be it through through voluntary initiatives or through their career path. 

• Invest more time in developing their minds outside of school. Reading is such a gift you can give your child that opens their minds and has life long positive effects.  
  
  UNESCO states that:
  
  “Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their Knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society. 

• Help kids from a young age develop a routine with a creative hobby such as art, building, designing. I will write a blog soon on some great ideas for every type of child. This helps them develop a connection to themselves.

• Limit your own internet or phone time in front of children. Often the problem lies with the parents being addicted too.  I often see parents complaining about their kids always wanting the phone, but on other occasions always see the parent on their phone too or the nanny glued to her screen. So the children see it is normal to want to watch lots of TV, browse Instagram and play Candy Crush Saga. Lead by example. If you can't help yourself, do it away from sight! Use 'leading by example' as away to improve your life too. Investing more time in reading, painting, cooking or baking, writing journals, fixing together puzzles, building things. Your life will feel less routine and boring as well.

• Talk to your children about the dangers out there by browsing online. Use shock tactics and share scary examples to make them very cautious. Communication about everything from sex, internet, body changes there are all things many parents confess to avoid discussing. The trick with kids is to keep it light, humorous and not directed personally. Don't leave it till they are teenagers or pre-teen when even the mention of this subject is horrifying. Parents are overprotecting sometimes and don't want to expose their kids to subjects too young, but trust me, you wont be there the first time they hear or see things beyond their years. You probably will never find out either. So best to prepare them for that moment, as it WILL come much sooner that you wish to believe.

• Spirituality. Many parents don't even know how to go down this route, some call it religion even. Spirituality for children is about teaching them about their inner gifts, qualities, teaching them they always have a choice to connect with the right choices, to think about others, to think that their words have a responsibility, to appreciate what they have, to believe they can achieve anything if they work for it and so on. My example on this is Spirituality For Kids Foundation which I volunteered many years with in schools across London. Seeing how children from difficult backgrounds gained inner strength and confidence in who they were, no matter their circumstances, has forever imprinted itself in me.  After all you can become a millionaire business woman or man, but be truly unhappy because you don't know what real happiness means, and that is sad.  So many adults walk around hopeless or trapped because they lost touch with who they really are.  Educations must start at from childhood.

We have a lot to do as community members, teachers, families, government and society as a whole if we are to protect and support the future generation in their unfortunate task of fixing our planet.

There are many changes that can be implemented and fought for, however the main message for now is that change and charity starts from home and community. Each one of us can do more, help more, support more one other person or a bigger cause you believe in. But the change will really come from the kids.... so let's make it count!

Easter Holiday Activities for Kids

Well, Finally the exciting Easter holidays have arrived and no matter whether you have the kids at home for a few long weeks or only one, here are a few of the best and most clever ideas I found online to keep you and your kids entertained together.

I have also posted online a week ago a great recommendation that I found many parents haven't discovered - Hobbycraft! It has saved me on many occasions when giving themed arts and crafts sessions, but if you are in need of some major inspiration for cheap, brilliant and easy crafts materials this is your haven: www.hobbycraft.com/easter There are stores all around the country which you will probably find yourself not wanting to leave once you go in, however for orders online over £10 they give you free delivery. Stock up!

Ok here we go, and remember, Hobbycraft will inspire you for about 20 further ideas at least!

1.  I found this and thought, what fun! It didn't come with instructions, however very simply I can guess that first you buy a few little chocolate eggs, strong PVA glue, yarn of various Easter colours such as light yellow, pinks, greens and lastly a few good quality balloons.
Next you push into the balloon one or two of the little eggs. You don't want them to weigh the balloon down or the yarn once it's hardened.
Blow up the balloon to medium size and then tie the end.
Make sure the balloon is nice and firm and then make up your bowl with the PVA. Take a tread of yarn and dip into the glue and then you can start wrapping it around the balloon. Try to ensure you cover it well, so that once dry it will hold well. Also you can mix yarn colours.
Next leave it to dry very very well, perhaps near a heater.  Once you are sure it has hardened enough, take a pin or nail scissors and through a gap in the yarn, pop the balloon and with tweezers or a cocktail stick, pull the popped balloon out. Lastly you can tie a ribbon on the top of your crafty Easter egg and hang it anywhere you like.

2.  Sweet no bake bird's nest. Just simply cute!
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
4 Tablespoon cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3 cups oatmeal
bag peanut M&Ms or mini chocolate eggs.

In a saucepan bring to boil sugar, cocoa, butter and milk. Let boil for a couple minutes and add peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. In order to have cookies keep shape when scooping out with cookie scoop or spoon let mix sit in the pan for 20-30 minutes (or longer if need be) stirring occasionally.

Drop mix by the spoonful onto a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. Place three M&Ms or chocolate eggs in the middle of cookie. Let set and enjoy!

3. Finished with your egg boxes? How about cutting each into 6 individual 'cups'.
All you will need after that, are some coloured little feathers from an arts and crafts store, paints and some spare eggs.
Firstly lay out your  6 individual cups and paint them each a different colour.
Let dry and then curve back the 4 edges as shown in the photo.
Meanwhile match each cup colour with a corresponding egg that you paint.
Once dry, stick or glue the coloured feather at the back of the egg and place inside each cup.
Lastly take a bit of orange paint and paint the tip of one of the folds making it look like a beak and to finish, two black dots for eyes above!
Once done, you can display them around or put them in a basket padded out with straw or yarn.

4. Now, I am not an advocate for unhealthy eating as I mentioned, however on very special occasions kids should be allowed fun treats, especially if they earn it by making it themselves.
This idea below, I thought was so cool and something I would have gone crazy creatively over as a kid.

All you need to buy is a few little gardening compost pots, now in Easter you can find them anywhere just in the form or arts and crafts supplies, be it made from cardboard or plastic. 
You will need some homemade or shop bought chocolate chip muffin, worm sweets (Marks and Spencers do 'healthy' versions),
Some bunny shaped Easter sweets of chocolates, small chocolate eggs, Twiglets or chocolate covered mint sticks and  for the grass you can go for parsley, mint or strawberries buried in the 'soil' with their tops popping out. Get creative, ask the kids while in the supermarket to think of what could make any of the items needed.

5. I love these so much. Adorable and a perfect accompaniment to a lovely dinner.

Ingredients:
2-1/2 to 3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg

Directions:
1. Put the butter, the sour cream and water in a small saucepan and heat, but do not cook. Cool to tepid then add the remaining ingredients.
2. Put in a kneader. If thick add more water.
3. Let it rise double and cut into 16 equal parts.
4. Use baking tray lined with baking paper and cut the ears with scissors. Make sure you smooth the edges around, so you do not end up with devil horns. The eyes can be poked in or use pepper grains.
5. Bake at 375° for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.





Enjoy!