Day of the Dead Facts, Costumes, and Activities

Looking for Activities for Day of the Dead?

What is Day of the Dead? When is Day of the Dead? Day of the Dead or  Día de los Muertos is November 1 in America. In Mexico, the holiday takes place over the first two days of November. It is a celebration to honor the dead. Today, we often associate the activities with Halloween, but the two holidays are not related except that they both derived from All Saints Day and All Souls Day. We've got some fun activities and costumes to help celebrate Day of the Dead. Enjoy!

Day of the Dead Facts

Oriental Trading Company donated items for this post. We got to choose items from their website. So, we picked out skeletons, costumes, and craft activities for the Day of the Dead.

Day of the Dead Mask for Halloween.

                     Free Printable Day of the Dead Mask

We  chose cool items for a Sugar Skull Costume for Halloween.

Day of the Dead Costume for Halloween.

We chose foam Skeleton Craft Kits which come in a pack of 12, and used markers to color them like Sugar Skulls.

Day of the Dead Facts, Costumes, and Activities.

Sugar Skull Recipe

Skeleton Craft Kit colored with markers to look like a Sugar Skull.

Recommended:

Spooky S'mores Recipe

Day of the Dead Book*

Have a Spooky Sleepover and Pajama Reading Party with Halloween Books from Scholastics

Have a Spooky Sleepover: Pajama Reading Party with Candy Corn S'mores Recipe

It's easy to plan a spooky sleepover with a Scholastics story and EVEREADY® Gold batteries in your flashlights! We decided to plan our spooky pajama party around fun Halloween books for kids! "We picked some fun spooky books and decided on a Candy Corn S'more Recipe as the perfect companion snack! There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Bat" by Jared Lee, "Splat the Cat" by Rob Scotton, and "Ten Timid Ghosts" by Jennifer O'Connell. Read on to learn more about the best sleepover ever!

*This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of EVEREADY®. The opinions and text are all mine. It contains affiliate links.

Have a pajama sleepover with spooky Scholastic Books and EVEREADY® Gold.

Spooky Book for early readers, Scholastics, Ten Timid Ghosts.

Before the party, we gathered supplies for our craft, snack, and pajama party tent. The kitchen nook worked best, because it has room for a large, family-size tent. We used the walls and bench to construct a tent from one of our favorite blankets. Mommy filled a basket with books, juice packs, popcorn, and flashlights. Then, we created some, super cute edible crafts- with a ghost theme of course. Candy Corn S'mores!

Candy Corn Smores Recipe: Make S'mores with candy corn and candy corn marshmallows.

For our Candy Corn S'mores recipe, we used graham crackers, candy corn marshmallows, candy corn, and chocolate chips to make our S'mores. They were the best S'mores we ever had! Messy, but delicious.

While our sleepover snacks were baking in the toaster oven, we started the spooky ghost craft. We used cheesecloth, Styrofoam cups, and buttons to make a Halloween Ghost craft.

Spooky ghosts from Styrofoam cups.

After reading the story, Mayhem wanted to make a bat too. So, we cut out a pattern that looks like the bat on the cover of the book. To make our bat you only need scissors, construction paper, and glue. If you want to make an outdoor Halloween decoration, before cutting, cover your paper with Duct Tape in coordinating colors. The duct tape will make a durable Halloween decoration for your door.

While we enjoyed reading stories to each other and making shadow puppets on the walls, we had some surprise guests! They wanted to hear about Splat the Cat, and they wanted to chase the lights from our EVEREADY® Flashlights!

Curious cats crash our pajama party!

Educational Element for Homeschooling

We wanted to count this experience as school, so we found a free printable story starter and Lesson Plans for, There Was an Old Lady, on Scholastic's website. From the list of lesson plans, we also chose to try the edible estimations. This is a fun math lesson for kids where you compare the things the old lady ate with similar weighing objects around the house or classroom and then calculate the grand total of everything she ate. The EVEREADY® website has free printables to help plan for a disaster.

Grab your favorite Scholastic books, and EVEREADY® flashlights and get reading! When you purchase 2 special marked packs of EVEREADY® Gold Batteries or EVEREADY® flashlights, you can redeem them for a free book. How fun is that?

It must be time to go to sleep, our guests are yawning!

Hey lady, don't shine that light in my eyes!
Where are my pajamas? Those stories made me sleepy!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of EVEREADY®. The opinions and text are all mine.


Recommended Reading:



There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat!


Splat the Cat Storybook Collection

Is there a Doctor in the House? Make a Doctor Costume for Halloween

DIY: Make a Doctor Costume for Halloween

Kids love to play dress up, here's a fun idea for a doctor Halloween costume. Or make it a nurse, a prince, a vampire, or a kitty...

Every free Friday in the summertime, you'll find me at yard sales on a quest for the perfect costumes. My mouth waters when I see outgrown, handmade Halloween costumes. I love it when I stumble upon an old football jersey or prom dress.

On the first week of November, I'm hitting clearance sales at Wal-mart and the party stores, looking for a great deal on a shiny, new costume to fill my trunk.

Kids love to dig through the trunk and try-on the clothes, transporting themselves into a fairy-tale world full of fun. I lug the trunk to drama clubs, preschool classes, and summer camps.

Anything can be a costume. A fuzzy, red towel hemmed at the end with a shiny, gold ribbon makes a robe fit for a King. An old, prom dress is the prefect princess dress.

I scour thrift stores for fun new finds. My kids love to dress like Daddy.  He wears navy pants and a periwinkle shirt as a mechanic. Occasionally he throws on a pair of overalls. Once, at a Salvation Army, I found a denim, Sean John jumpsuit. SCORE. My son was thrilled!  He tossed it over his navy dress pants and blue shirt and we headed to the shop to help Daddy at work.

Dress up is a fantastic activity to teach creativity and learn through role playing.  We've got some scrubs that make a great role-playing costume but they aren't so good for playing a doctor or surgeon in a production for the local retirement home.  It's cute watching the little one with their pants pulled up to their eyeballs and trying not to trip over the dress length shirt, but can we take him seriously as an actor?

A kid-size pair of soft, cotton scrubs makes the perfect costume for your little up and coming Oscar winner or the perfect gift for kiddos whose parents have careers in medicine.

Costumes: Kids Scrubs for Pretend Play and Dress Up.

Recommended Reading:

Face Painting Ideas Book

The Costume Book

Best Parks in Indiana for Kids and Families

What is the Best Park in Indianapolis Area?

If you're like us, you probably go park hopping and hop from park to park, trying to find the best park in Indiana for kids. We've been all around the state, but we stick mostly to the greater Indianapolis Area. So, what is the best park in the Indianapolis area to have the best summer ever? You decide, we've shared our favorite Indiana park experiences!

Best Park in Indiana for Kids.

Finding your way to the best park takes planning. Before we make the trek, we consult Google and add the address to maps. After a visit to Walmart, we pack a bag with sunscreen, bug spray, water, bread, peanut butter, jelly, and grapes! Notice, I don't mention sandwiches. We are always in a hurry to get started, so I just grab the basics and we make the sandwiches at the park!

The Indianapolis Zoo is always a fun option. For hot summer days, be sure to bring a towel,  plenty of sunscreen, and a change of clothes, so you can enjoy the splash pad. Also, check the zoo's website for daily deals. They offer lower ticket prices on slow days.

If you prefer free options, we've got 'em. Keep reading for the best parks in Indiana. 

Have the best summer ever at one of these great Indiana parks!

Plainfield, Indiana: Hummel Park

There are many little parks tucked away in Plainfield, but several of the city parks are all in one place! From Main Street (State Road 40) to Hadley Road, you'll find a skate park, an older park with a merry-go-round, baseball diamonds, an old-fashioned curly slide, and even a little gazebo for weddings. Coming from State Rd. 40, Hummel Park is on the right just before Hadley Road.

Plainfield, Indiana: Hummel Park.

Hummel Park in Plainfield is full of surprises. White Lick Creek runs through it, there are hiking and biking trails, a play area, a splash pad, and so many things to do. When you cross the bridge over the creek, you'll find an amazing wedding pavilion and additional play spaces.

Walk or bike the path around East Co. Rd. 600 S, and you'll discover a lake perfect for fishing.

Indianapolis, Indiana: Garfield Park

Garfield Park is one of the most beautiful city parks. There are many free things to do scheduled year around. They also offer activities that only cost a few dollars per person.

Indianapolis, Indiana: Garfield Park

They have an awesome pool at the Burrello Family Center. It also has gyms, food, and seasonal special events. The Garfield Park Arts Center offers many classes for children and adults. In the past we even taught a few drama classes here. Don't miss their Halloween and Christmas events.

Things to do at Garfield Park: Halloween.

Indianapolis, Indiana: Eagle Creek Park

Is as big as state park! Eagle Creek Park offers a beach, many playgrounds, shelters, wedding pavilions, an ornithology center, a yoga retreat, canoeing, a zip line, and an earth science center... all for the price to park your car. Read more about it: Things to do at Eagle Creek Park.

Indianapolis, Indiana: 100 Acre Woods

Indianapolis, Indiana: 100 Acre Woods.

Avon, Indiana: Washington Township Park

Offers a fishing lake, beautiful trails with bridges, a splash pad, wedding area, playground, sledding hill, and seasonal events.

Danville, Indiana: Ellis Park

Offers a nearby public pool, playground, baseball diamonds, wading creek, and seasonal events including a holiday light display.

Mooresville, Indiana: Pioneer Park

Offers a seated zip line, a pool, many playgrounds, camps, hiking and bike trails, baseball diamonds, and seasonal events. This is our pick for the best city park in Indiana.

Mooresville Park Pool.


Halloween Trail Activities at Pioneer Park in Mooresville.

Speedway Indiana: Park

Offers a nearby soccer field (at the school), a unique playground, a gazebo, and seasonal events.

Meadowood Park in Speedway. Photo from Speedway Daily Photo.

New Castle, Indiana: Memorial Park

This is a huge county park. It offers a sledding hill, fishing lakes, more adorable ducks and geese than you can imagine, many shelters for events, 4-H events, several playground areas, a beautiful golf course, an amphitheater, and so much more.

Memorial Park New Castle Indiana.

Noblesville, Indiana: Forest Park

Offers a pool, a train museum and train rides, camps, hiking and bike trails, sand volleyball fields, baseball diamonds, a carousel, mini golf, and seasonal events.

Noblesville Forest Park Carousel. Photo by Erinne Sikcih.

Spring Mill, Indiana: Spring Mill State Park

This historical park is 90 minutes from Indianapolis, but worth the drive. Beautiful historic buildings include the old mill and a blacksmith shop. The park also has picnic shelters, hiking trails, and playgrounds.

Spring Mill State Park.

Recommended:

Things to do in Indiana

Great Times Theme Park Indianapolis

How to make a Counting Sheep costume for Halloween

How to make a sheep costume for Halloween

Guest post written by Liz Hughes

It's always a struggle to come up with a good group Halloween costume theme for me and my roommates. In the years past we went as the three blind mice and then the Spice Girls. But this year I decided that I just wanted to go as something that would include an outfit that is comfortable and warm.

I started looking online for some ideas about what I could convince my friends to dress up as and I came up with the idea to dress up as counting sheep.

Making a sheep costume has been pretty easy. I bought some sweatpants and a sweatshirt. I can't decided if I want to bother putting cotton batting or balls on it to make it look better. But I might just stick a number on the costume. I think my roommates are glad that I chose something that's so comfortable and easy to pull off, especially in comparison to the Spice Girls! I think that they'll never forgive me for that idea after they had to walk around in platform shoes and short skirts on a cold Halloween night.

October Calendar of Special Days and Unique Holidays for Kids 2020

Printable Unique Holidays and Special Days October Calendar 2020

The FREE Printable October calendar 2020 is full of fun autumn activities. It's fall in the states! Time for carving pumpkins, hiking, and enjoying friends and family around a campfire. It is also full of fun, unique and special days and holidays for kids. What will you celebrate? Enjoy!

This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

This Free Printable October Calendar of Special Days and Holidays can be edited to your liking. Just save a copy and rename it. Click the link to download and save yours!

October 2 - World Farm Animals Day

Farm Animal wall art available at Tinytotties.com

Read the Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown and make a paper barn and silo from an envelope and cardboard tube.

Pretending with Farm Animals
Trader's Point Creamery near Indianapolis offers Farm Tours.

October 4 - National Taco Day

Taco Appetizer Recipe

October 6 - World Habitat Day

Habitat for Humanity joins with partners around the world to rededicate to a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Show your support by attending a local World Habitat Day event or organizing one in your own community!

World Habitat Day - Get involved!

Community Service Project Ideas for Kids

October 10 - Angel Food Cake Day

Spooky Angel food cake by Matthew Mead. See the link below to get his book.

We found this spooky angel food cake from the book Cakes for Kids: 35 Colorful Recipes by Matthew Mead. The best part is, you start with a store bought cake. Easy and fast! We once make a pumpkin from a store bought cake. Hmm... I wonder if I have any pictures.

October 14  - National Dessert Day
This is my kind of day! Yum!  Want to learn how to make doughnuts at home? Just click the link for a fun recipe to make with kids on National Dessert Day!

October 15 - Global Handwashing Day
I like this day too! I like to wash my hands, even better I like other people to wash their hands! I know my germs; I don't know theirs!

October 25 - World Pasta Day

You should make some Harvest Skillet Pasta with the kids.

October 30 - National Candy Corn Day
Make Candy Corn S'mores!

Make candy corn s'mores with candy corn marshmallows.

October 31 - Carve a Pumpkin Day and Halloween, of course.
Halloween, is our favorite holiday! You'll find lots of diy costume ideas and Halloween treats for kids- just do a search in the sidebar for more fun ideas! Get started with, Things to do with Pumpkins.

Recommended Reading:

Halloween Is... by Gail Gibbons

The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons

The Pumpkin Book

Chicken Nugget Ghosts Recipe

How to Make Chicken Nugget Ghosts

We've discovered lots of fun things to do with chicken nuggets for Halloween and beyond. When Tyson® and Sam's Club asked us to share a Chicken Nugget Recipe, we we're happy to oblige. These Chicken Nugget Ghosts are easy to make, and they taste delicous. Enjoy!

Aren't these little chicken nugget ghosts bootiful?

When I was a kid, the classic Peanuts cartoons meant family time. My mom would make cinnamon rolls, and we'd gather around the television. I wanted to have a similar tradition with my kids- something simple and delicious that the whole family loves. So, we decide on Tyson® Nuggets and Crispy Strips as we anxiously await the new Peanuts Movie!
 

What better way to watch your favorite Halloween special than with some cute, trick or treating chicken nuggets.

Tyson® Chicken is made with 100% all natural ingredients and fully cooked with 12-15 grams of protein. They make a great snack, finger food for kids, or even a go to meal for the whole family

First, you will need to stock up on supplies from Sam's Club. The kids love shopping there! They like all of the taste testing stations and being able to get their favorite foods in bulk.

Bake the nuggets in the oven according to package directions.Baked Nuggets are better than microwaved ones, though, they all taste good.

How to Make Chicken Nugget Ghosts Recipe

Now, dress your chicken nuggets up for Halloween! These cute, chicken nugget ghosts are easy to make too. Just cover your nugget with a slice of White American Cheese, using a straw- poke two holes for eyes and pop them in the Microwave oven for 15 seconds or less. When done, they look like the Peanuts in the classic holiday cartoon. The kids don't like Provolone Cheese, but it works too.

How to Make Chicken Nugget Ghosts Recipe.

So, who is your favorite Peanuts character? Share with us in the comment section. You might say I am a bird lady- okay, a crazy bird lady. I currently have 6 chickens, 1 rooster, 1 drake, 1 duck, and a Cockatiel. Yep, Woodstock has always been my favorite! 

You can also make a Chicken Nugget Pumpkin Patch Bento for lunch.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Tyson®. The opinions and text are all mine.


Recommended:

Bunless Chicken Nugget Sliders Appetizers

Skeleton Companion Book* 

Mini Chicken Sandwiches

Holiday Receipes and Activities* from Kids Creative Chaos Cooks

Why do we Carve Pumpkins on Halloween?

These are a few of MY favorite things: cute pictures for Pinterest

My Favorite things include adorable baby bunny picture and Christmas tree in snow

Not necessarily in any order, (I've been suffering from writer's and crafter's block lately, so if I have to organize them it will turn into the post that wasn't). My favorite things include baby bunnies, a spider, and Christmas Trees. Enjoy!

Christmas tree in snow with colored lights.

1. Snow covered Christmas Lights on Evergreen Trees. I LOVE how the light glows under the snow.

Can you smell the puppy breath?

2. Puppy Breath. 'Nuf said.

Book by Robert Kraus, How Spider Saved Halloween.

3.  Halloween! Inspired by my favorite book ever. I LOVE the illustrations. I love the story about bullying. Kraus writes several books in the Spider series. Check my pages above for more info.

Jake's journey in art started here.

4.  Inspired Art. My son comes from a line of artists, but art isn't his thing. He is a straight A+ student- except for an A- in art. When my daughter and I paint and craft, he plays computer games. The other day, he sat down and painted this portrait of Santa!  

He used the entire page. It is truly amazing - "A Kid's Perspective of Santa". His Uncle designed the characters and worked on 'Call of Duty' Black Ops for Activision (among other things).  

If the Presidency thing falls thru, I think he might just have a back-up plan. I  LOVE that it isn't just a picture of Santa in the middle of the paper.

Kitty paws.

5. Kitty Paws. Especially, touching my chin.

Hot Air Balloons.

6. Hot Air Balloons. Here is a local Balloon Voyage anyone can experience.

Bunny ears, I adore this picture! :)

7. Toddlers. I think we are 3 and 5 here. Wow, 4 and 6 is so different. See that Balloon in the background? It's the Energizer Bunny which brings me to...

Cute Baby Bunny.

8. Bunnies. I just LOVE them. I miss my sweet fuzzy, cuddle bunny. Kids, cats, turtle, bird = no time for baby bunnies.  Maybe when the kids leave the nest. Wait, I'll be how old? 

Reminiscing is good too.


*This is one of my very first POSTS. If any of these images are yours, please let me know so I can give proper credit. 


Recommended Reading:


Birthday Party Game for Kids

Leo the Late Bloomer*

A Wish to Be A Christmas Tree*







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