Chirp October 2023

Let’s dress up,  It’s fun to do. Be a robot, a princess,  a dragon, too! Special This Month! Read a Halloween story Find it on page 24 Pretend Playtime Do you like to dress up and play pretend? It’s so exciting to be a brave superhero, a wild animal, or a mythical creature from another land. When you use your imagination, you can be anything and you can go anywhere! What are you going to be today? Where will you go? What magical things will you see? Editor of Chirp Find Owlkids on: https://www.facebook.com/owlkids https://twitter.com/owlkids?lang=en https://www.instagram.com/owlkidspublishing/?hl=en…

Our friends at Young People’s Theatre are putting on a play tonight! Let’s see how they do it. The professional actors get ready backstage. They put on special makeup and costumes so they look like the characters in the play. The actors come out to the stage and say their lines. The costumes and background sets make the play feel real even though it is pretend. Young People’s Theatre has been putting on plays for over 50 years! This play is called The Darkest Dark, and it is about a kid who wants to be an astronaut. When the play is over, the actors take a bow to thank the audience for watching. The people in the audience clap to show how much they enjoyed the play!…

You’ll need: • Hoodie • Felt • Scissors • Craft sticks • Fabric glue What to do: 1 Cut triangle scales out of felt. Glue them from the top to the bottom of the hood. 2 Cut out four felt wings of the same size. To make the wings strong, glue craft sticks to two, then glue the other two wings on top to cover the sticks. Glue the wings to the hoodie. 3 Put on your costume and roar like a dragon! BONUS: Make a paper flame and tape it to a stick. You’ll need: • Hoodie • Felt • Bristol board • Foil • Scissors • Fabric glue What to do: 1 Cut felt into strips. Glue them all the way down the middle of the hood to…

You’ll need: • Baking soda • 75 mL (⅓ cup) vinegar • Balloon • Bottle • Funnel What to do: 1 Pour the vinegar into the bottle. 2 Use the funnel to fill the balloon with baking soda. 3 Place the neck of the balloon over the opening of the bottle. Make sure none of the baking soda spills out. 4 Tip the balloon so the baking soda pours into the bottle. What happens? Booooo! How it works When baking soda and vinegar mix they make a chemical reaction that creates gas. The gas fills the bottle and then it fills the balloon, making it stretch and inflate! BONUS: Decorate the ballon with permanent marker first and watch your picture grow.…

At every stage of its life, the spicebush swallowtail caterpillar uses disguises to be something it’s not! How big they are About as big as a grown-up’s finger What they eat Leaves Where they live Forests and swamps in North America Disguise #1 When they hatch, these caterpillars look like bird poop so predators don’t eat them. Fooled you! Disguise #2 They grow spots on their heads that look like snake eyes! This really tricks predators. Disguise #3 When ready to change into butterflies, these critters build leaf-like shells around themselves to stay safe.…

Every year, Calista was a witch for Halloween. And every year, her cat, Clyde, prowled alongside her. They were great at pretending. But this year, Calista and Clyde didn’t want to be a witch and a witch’s cat. They wanted to be something new. Then they got their wish. Because of Orville. Orville was an orange. An orange in a fruit bowl on a table. And he was great at pretending, too. As Halloween got closer, Orville pretended he was a jack-o’-lantern! He didn’t pretend to be round like a jack-o’-lantern because he already was. He didn’t pretend to be the colour orange like a jack-o’-lantern because he already was. He didn’t even pretend to be bigger—because jack-o’-lanterns come in all sizes. He just pretended he had a jack-o’-lantern face.…