"Not-So-Scary" Halloween Fun with Funnybones

As it's very nearly Halloween, I thought I’d share some of our favourite "not-so-scary" stories with you. Here are our top three Halloween reads for little ones:

3. Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll and Jan Pieńkowski. The Meg and Mog books are a fantastic series, which the Mini Reviewers have all loved since they were very young. The eye catching  illustrations are bold and bright. The stories, although simple, are full of adventure and excitement. There should be a space for one of these books on every toddler's bookshelf!

2. Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. This is one of my favourite books to read aloud ever. The rhyming and rhythmic text flows so easily and makes it perfect for little ones to join in with. The story is full of humour and the illustrations are fantastic. We have recently been enjoying the audio book version read by Imelda Staunton. This really is Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler at their finest.

1. Funnybones, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg. Funnybones, is our top Halloween choice this year. For those not familiar with this classic picture book first published in 1980, it is a story about a family of skeletons; a big skeleton, a little skeleton and a dog skeleton. One night they go out to walk the dog and to frighten somebody!

This book was one of my childhood favourites but it has been many years since I last read it. We recently shared it together and I quickly remembered how perfectly the story begins:

“On a dark dark hill

there was a dark dark town.

In the dark dark town

there was a dark dark street.

In the dark dark street

there was a dark dark house.

In the dark dark house

there was a dark dark staircase.

Down the dark dark staircase

there was a dark dark cellar.

And in the dark dark cellar… 

...some skeletons lived.”

Theo (2) was a little scared by this opening but when he saw the smiling skeletons, he knew there was nothing to worry about. We then enjoyed following them on their nighttime adventure. They play in the park, visit the zoo and play tricks on each other. But our favourite part was when the dog skeleton has an accident and big and little skeleton struggle to put him back together again even with the help of their song. This is a funny book with fantastic illustrations and is perfect to read anytime of year but especially when celebrating Halloween.

Funnybones is published by Puffin and this year their website is full of Halloween inspiration. There are fantastic, yet easy, ideas for costumes, decorations, games and recipes. We thought we’d give some of them a go...

Lockwood inspired ghost cupcakes

We were delighted with how our cakes and decorations turned out. If you like them, then why not have your own Spooktacular Halloween Party?

*Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Funnybones and a party pack from Puffin books so we could try out their Halloween ideas. All opinions are, as always, our own. Please note that this post contains Amazon Affiliate links.