The Rhyme and Rhythm of October
by Pat Lansmann

“When The Hurley-Burley’s Done,
When The Battle’s Lost And Won…*”

The hamster wheel of life is now rotating predictably from school/work week to weekends and around again with a comforting, familiar rhythm.  The air becomes cooler and the days shorten.  The ensuing darkness reminds every youngster of what lurks at night, and delightful shivers run up their backs as they think of creepy and crawly things.  October has arrived and it’s not the thought of their annual candy harvest that really stirs their blood.  The real fun is in the, “Oh!  What was that?”  Or the “Yuk!” factor.   Frighten your kids and make them quiver by mentioning that you are going to read poetry to them.  Or don’t tell them, and try these activities and see if instead of raising their hair, you raise their appreciation of poetry.  Now there’s a scary thought!
 
The Eyes Have It
Kids love to dress up, and with a cardboard egg carton and a pack of chenille stems purchased from a discount store, you can help you kids create a pair of “bug glasses.”

Cut out a section of the egg carton so it has two of the egg cups attached.  Cut out the ends of the egg cups to make eyeholes.  Punch one small hole on each far end and two at the very top, close to where the egg cups attach.  Slip the chenille stems through the end holes, twisting to secure near the cardboard and curl the other to fit behind the child’s ear.  Insert the stems in top holes twisting near the cardboard to secure, then curl or twirl to create a unique set of antennae.  Your child can use markers, foil or paint to color the eggcups any way they wish.  While the kids color, read Emily Dickinson’s “The Butterfly’s Days,” Carolyn Hall’s “Fireflies” or Wordsworth’s “To A Butterfly.”  All these poems, and the ones noted below, are in Read-Aloud Poems for Young People, edited by Glorya Hale.  Look for it at your local library or order one on-line as a terrific addition to your family library. 
 
Crawling With Spiders
Create a special snack time with spider sandwiches and cookies. Use dark colored bread cut into circles and fill with any soft filling like cream cheese or nut butter.  Count out eight cheese curls, pretzels, or thin carrot sticks and have your child create the legs. Press two raisins or black olives in for eyes.  On a paper plate, draw a web with a marker from the middle to one edge.  Let your child place the spider sandwich on the web, scream, then eat.  Prepare the cookies by using any plain cookie and a contrasting color icing.  Draw circles with the icing from small to large, and then drag a toothpick or point of a knife from the center to the edge.  Do this all around the cookie.  Perhaps you could read “The Spider and the Fly” by Mary Howitt while your kids snack.  
 
Bones and Brew
Take a slow afternoon, hunt a few good size rocks, fist size or larger, preserve a spider web, take a quick trip to your local grocery store, and you’re ready to create a wonderfully spooky evening snack.  With a marker, draw eye and nose cavities on the rock and add in grizzled teeth.  Spray a black piece of paper with hair spray and slowly walk up to and “capture” an unoccupied web.  Work fast as hair spray dries quickly, then sprinkle with powder to make it stand out.  Use the rocks and webs to decorate a reading nook, make some of the snacks above and finish with monster “brew” by adding 1⁄2 of baking soda to a glass of lemonade.  Go to your nook and read “The Raven” by Poe, “The Witches Song” by Shakespeare or “The Witch of Willowby Wood” by Rowena Bennett.  Make sure the kids drink the brew before the bubbles disappear.
 
“ O, Well Done! I Commend Your Pains,
And Every One Shall Share i’ Th’ Gains.”
                                     Shakespeare’s Macbeth*
 
Poetry can come alive when paired food and fun.  We sometimes think we have to do something HUGE to motivate, teach or guide our children.  It really isn’t as hard as that.  Little things; a cool looking sandwich, a few moments helping make a craft,  or the sound of a parent’s voice changing to fit the character’s actions while cuddled together for an evening, these are the things that move and shake our kids.  And when we’ve connected with them, we are more able to motivate them and they are more likely to invest their trust in us, the needed ingredient to navigate childhood, which is synonymous with education in all it‘s forms.  Our children deserve this at the very least, anything less is a truly scary thought.

Pat Lansmann, Writer & SuperMom
Pat graduated from college with a B.A. in English and a restless creative spirit. She left the workforce after fourteen years to raise her first of three children. She and her husband educate their children at home, through activities such as gardening, arts and crafts, woodworking, cooking and pet care to personalize, enhance and extend the children’s academic experiences.