Taming the Beast. 7 fun activities to get your kids through the storm.

I'm securely land-locked west of the middle of this great piece of land we call America, but that hasn't kept my overactive mind from dreaming up a list of things to do in the event of Halloween being ruined by an uninvited monster of storms.

In doing so, my mildly intelligent IQ led me to realize, Hey, I can do these things for my kids, too!

[We'll ignore that fact that a desire to prepare for thwarting off the world's latest terror threat (aka, the weather) is what motivated me to make plans for a fun Halloween in the first place.]

Hopefully, this list will introduce you to some new favorites and remind you of some old!

1. Ghost, ghost, ghoul (as in, duck, duck moose)

2.  Mummy saran-wrap tag. You'll want to supervise this activity, for obvious reasons. I'm assuming Frankenstorm will do more damage outside than your kids will inside with some ground rules established beforehand (just keeping it in persepective!). Wrap kids from their calves to their shoulders in saran wrap (yes, arms get tucked in, as well). Sit them on the floor and have them play sharks in the minnows or regular tag.... watch them writhe and wiggle in doing so!

3. Apple and Pig Relay Race. This can follow the Saran Wrap tag. The players will need to be slightly more mobile with being wrapped from right above their knees to their shoulders (arms in again). Line up two teams facing each other. Place two apples in the middle on the floor inside small circles marked with masking tape. On the word, "go", one pig from each team does what he/she can to retrieve the apple and bring it back to their teammates so that the next player can bring it back to their team's circle in the middle. This relay race continues until all pigs have either retrieved the apple, or brought it back to the middle.

3. Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin, or Pin the Heart on the Monster

4. Apple to the core contest. Put apple on paper plate in front on each player, first person to eat apple clean to the core wins.

5. Balloon volleyball (indoor). If possible, use Caution Tape to mark the top of the "net" and the field of play

6. Marshmallow bowl. A blindfold game. To goal is to transfer as many marshmallows as possble from one bowl to another with a spoon while being blindfolded. The size of the spoon and bowl are up to you, depending on the level of difficulty you would like to give each player. The only hand they can use is the one holding the spoon.

7. Readers theatre. After all these activities, as Frankenstorm is howling (or not) outside your door, settle things down and cap off the evening before bedtime with sharing a book or story by reading it aloud as a group. Suggest that your readers read the book in a way would make it the scariest or silliest story they have ever read. (Leave it up to their interpretation of how it should be narrated.) Kids actually get a kick out of reading this way and hearing stories read this way. It becomes  competition to see who can give the best "performance."

Have any other suggestion? Share them here!

Wishing everyone a safe but fun Halloween!