What to watch: Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest
Where to find it: Hulu
Run time: 58m
Best for ages: 2.5 and up (2-year-olds may need some more redirection when watching)
Why We Recommend Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest
Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest is a great story about George and his friends investigating the legend of No Noggin. This is a fun "spooky" movie for the young ones in your family. Kids will love the movie for the pumpkins, Halloween-related topics, and fun little songs. Parents will love it because it can hold the attention of even a 2.5-year-old! Logan has been so excited to do these activities and see me share them online for others. When I told him we were going to do an activity for Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest he announced to me that we had to wait to do that one until we were with his little cousin Connor, who is 2, because he knows how much Connor loves George. Luckily we got to spend some time with Connor the other week. The movie held both the boys attention through the whole film, which made me happy because I was able to get a lot of work done!
Halloween No Noggin Hat, Imagination Parade, & Boo Contest.
On Halloween, a scarecrow named No Noggin is known for kicking off people's hats and taking the hats away. So the boys and I decided to make hats that would scare No Noggin from taking our hats! This is a painting activity so while the paint is drying, I added another fun activity, the Imagination Halloween Parade, followed by a Boo Contest so they could show off their hats!
Estimated time:
Painting - 20 mins
Imagination Halloween Parade - 30 mins
Boo Contest - 10 mins
Materials needed:
Construction paper
Stapler/tape
Paint (could use markers or other coloring supplies)
Paintbrushes
Cup of water (to rinse paintbrushes)
Print "Imagination Halloween Parade Cards"
Halloween Hat Inspired By No Noggin
Step 1: I let the boys help me set up for this craft. I asked them each what color they wanted their hat to be as well as what shape. They both wanted a triangle, Connor wanted his hat to be like The Man With the Yellow Hat and Logan chose it because No Noggin's hat was a triangle shape as well. I loved that the triangles looked like old fashion party hats! I then asked the boys what color paints they wanted to use to make their hats scary. Logan shouted he wanted Halloween colors and Connor said he wanted brown and red. So those were the colors we selected to use.
Step 2: For Logan's hat I drew out a triangle for him to cut, he is 5 and can cut this on his own, since Connor is only 2, I cut the Triangle out for him and we counted together how many sides make a triangle.
Step 3: I let the boys paint their spooky hats while I sparked a conversation about the movie.
What was your favorite part of the movie?
What was your favorite song in the movie?
Who was No Noggin?
Why do people believe he took people's hats?
How does George want to help No Noggin?
Who do George and his friend discover is really taking the hats and why?
Why does George decide not to tell everyone who No Noggin really is?
Step 4: Have the "Imagination Halloween Parade" cards printed for when your child is done painting. While we were waiting for the paint to dry we had an "Imagination Halloween Parade" to pretend we were part of the Curious George Halloween Boo Fest. Really it was as simple as the boys marching in a circle as I used my magic wand "pencil" to turn them into different characters from the cards. They had fun acting out how those characters would show off in a parade. It could also be fun if you have an older child who reads, to give them a turn calling out the different character cards while you march with your younger child.
Step 5: Once the hats were dried enough (they were a bit impatient to get them on their heads), I used the stapler (tape would also work) to add fringed paper to the top of the triangle. Then I added two long cut pieces of construction paper to the bottom of the hats to wrap around their heads like a forehead band.
Step 6: We then had a Boo Contest with the hats on. The boys wanted to hide behind the chairs as they boo'd at me and each other. I gave different qualifications for the Boo Contest.
Loudest Boo (a little out of control haha)
Longest Boo
Quietest Boo
Funniest Boo
Scariest Boo (once again a little out of control)
Tiniest Boo
Singing a Boo
Deep Voice Boo
Step 7: Share the fun you are having with us on Social Media! Tag us when you try out any of our activities so we can share as well! @curiouscouchpotatoes
Jeanette's Educational Insights
Young children love repetition and it is a great learning tool. Therefore, choosing a story with such a familiar character like Curious George leads to a great way to help children predict what they think might happen. Knowing George's personality, your child can give a good educated guess about some of the mischief he might get into in this Halloween movie. Predicting outcomes in a story is an important pre-reading skill!
Everything and anything can be a learning experience. With this craft activity, you can incorporate shape recognition and attributes. For young children, choosing a shape for their hat helps them recognize possible shape choices: circle, square, and triangle. For older children, you can introduce academic vocabulary like side and vertex, by asking how many sides a shape has and how many vertices?
The Imagination Halloween Parade is a fun listening activity. Mixing up the possible characters requires your child to listen and then respond with their actions. No action is wrong, but you can ask them to explain why they chose an action. You will be surprised how their little minds work in very mysterious, yet accurate ways!
The Boo Contest helps your child learn to regulate: quiet, loud; long, short; tiny, singing, and deep voices! Children love to try different voices. Let them create their own "voice challenge" too!