The days are flying by and Halloween is right around the corner. The windows are decorated, the treats are in place and all my creepy and spooky props are in place. The last thing on my list of ‘things to do’ is to finish off the non-edible treats for the Halloween party! We’ve sort of created a tradition that the day before Halloween we get together [in full dress nonetheless] and make sure that everything is in place for the spookiest day of the year. This, of course, has turned into a full on “event” which most of the time is just as entertaining as the trick-or-treat festivities. The last item I picked up for the kids to tool around with was a complete impulse purchase – the Dover Books The Little Halloween Activity Book.

If you’ve never had the opportunity to browse through some of the delightful books that Dover offers, you really don’t know what you are missing. Perfect for kids ages three through eight, they provide a fun outlet for excess energy and are available in a bounty of themes. There are several Halloween titles available and I picked up an assortment of them to keep the little monsters, ghosts and goblins busy while the adults make sure everything is picture perfect for Halloween. If you’ve seen the Dover line of books before and weren’t too impressed with them – you might want to check this book out. It’s a few notches most of the other books they publish and contains a wide variety of activities and fun things to do.

The Little Halloween Activity Book

This small but highly entertaining book is one of the better seasonal publications from Dover. I won’t lie, some of the books leave a lot to be desired in the way of activities, graphics and overall aesthetic quality. This book is packed with very cool things to do and providing that kids can handle completing activities on their own – this can easily entertain them for an hour or so of solid spooky fun.

Some of the more interesting activities in the book include haunted mazes, matching pictures to places, fill in the blanks, small easy to solve crossword puzzles, connect the dot pumpkins, complete the haunted house picture, match up the masks and my personal favorite – the Halloween word search game. For the puzzles and mazes there is an answer key provided so you might want to rip that portion out of the book before you hand it over to the little creepy critters. Some of the activities are basic and probably won’t interest the older kids but the younger ones will more than likely love it. You can ask the older kids to help the younger ones with the harder games and puzzles or let them work as a group to solve it as a team. As an adult you might look at the contents of the book and dismiss it as juvenile or “too easy” but the range of activities is pretty broad so even if some of the games seem too simple – there are a few that will challenge your child.

While these are great to have on hand for unexpected guests you might want to sit down and look through the book to get a feel of the different games and activities that are included in this book. I’ve had the best luck finding these at Michaels [the craft store] but not all of them carry the Dover line of books. If you find these at a Michaels in your area you can read through them and see if they would be a good purchase for your kids. There are several Halloween titles available and they are all geared for different age ranges so if this one doesn’t suit your needs, chances are there will be one or two others that will.

Since this book is small it’s perfect for backpacks or gift bags and since they are also inexpensive you can stock up on them to make sure that you have something to entertain the little ones. Stock up on crayons, add a bowl of pretzels or chips and you are good to go! Markers aren’t the best medium for this type of book since the ink will bleed through to the other pages and create a real mess. Colored pencils will work in a pinch but due to the type of paper used, it might end up ripping the pages.

Things To Know

Since this is a small book [about four inches by six inches] it probably won’t stand up to a tremendous amount of use with showing signs of wear. The spine was the first thing to go on the books I purchased a few weeks ago. Since some of the activities spread across two pages you have to press down on the middle of the book to get to the whole puzzle or picture. This means that the spine gets cracked and before you know it – pages start to fall out. The glue binding is strong but once you get a few cracks in the spine it’s pretty much all over with. Again, these are inexpensive books so don’t expect them to hold up to a ton of abuse without falling apart.

If you are going to have kids under the age of four in your house you might want to take some of the pictures that appear in this book and enlarge them so they have something on a larger scale to work with. I took one of the books and ripped out pages and enlarged them about 180% so the mini monsters wouldn’t feel left out. You can also provide some ‘chunky’ style crayons for them to use since regular crayons don’t usually hold up well with the under four crowd. Make it fun too – let them color in one of the enlarged photos of a pumpkin, haunted house, ghost or scarecrow and tell them who ever colors the best picture gets a prize.

The Bottom Line

Even if you don’t plan on having kids at a Halloween gathering, it’s never a bad idea to pick up a few of these books – just incase. These also make a great non-candy item to give out for trick-or-treating and they are perfect for gift bags or baskets. The suggest retail price is $1.25 but most places I’ve seen them have them for $1.00 but after Halloween you can pick these up at 50% – 75% off the normal price. Take advantage of the discount and stock up for next year!

There aren’t many online bookstores that carry the Dover line since the books are inexpensive and they don’t stand to make much of a profit from them. From time to time Amazon.com offers these at half off the suggested retail price but you’ll still get zinged for shipping fees. You can order them directly from Dover or check to see if your local bookstores carry them or would add them to their inventory. If you can get them to order them or carry them on a regular basis you’ll eliminate the shipping and handling fees associated with ordering from online sites.

For more information about the wonderful line of books from Dover, please feel free to visit their website at the following address: http://store.doverpublications.com. To skip right to their Halloween section, please use this link: http://store.doverpublications.com/halloween.html


Stats

Name: The Little Halloween Activity Book
Published By: Dover Publications
Author: Anna Pomaska
Pages: 64
Age Range: 4 - 8
ISBN: 048 6276 01-5
Price: $ 1.00



Wishing you a safe and ghoulish Halloween!

^V^ Freak ^V^

© 2002 Freak369




Recommended: Yes