Happy Halloween & The Spooky Scavenger Hunt Giveaway

Halloween is finally here! Are your kids having some spooky fun? I bet they will if they've watched the Halloween special episodes from Dinosaur Train and Sid the Science Kid on PBS Kids!

In the "Haunted Roundhouse" episode of Dinosaur Train, dad takes the kids on a special Night Train to Troodon Town, where the Troodons have decorated their Roundhouse into a “haunted house” for a spooky party. The kids end up meeting a strange new nocturnal creature – a mammal named Vlad Volaticotherium, who was hiding in the roundhouse trying to get some sleep. And in "Big Pond Pumpkin Patch", the Pteranodon family learns more about the customs of their neighbors, the Lambeosaurus family, when they are invited for the first time to accompany them to the Big Pond to celebrate “Gourd Day” – a kind of Mesozoic Halloween. The kids see their first pumpkins, and Larry Lambeosaurus even shows our family how to hollow them out and carve faces into them.

In "Spooky Science Special" of Sid the Science Kid, it’s Halloween time and Sid and his friends have dressed up in the spookiest and scariest costumes possible. Sid is a bat with big fangs. May is a spooky black cat. Gabriela is a furry, yucky spider. And Gerald is a super spooky skeleton that goes boo! Susie (dressed as a silly mad scientist) loves their costumes, and helps the kids discover that Halloween can be spooky and scientific! The kids investigate how bats are helpful creatures that catch mosquitoes, spiders are expert engineer web builders, cats are leaping aerial acrobats, and skeletons help hold up our body frames! At the Halloween party, the kids also investigate how to make icky, gooey green slime. Susie then ends the day with a special “Halloween Parade” song so the kids can march around and show off their spooky and scientific costumes!

What costume is your kid wearing this Halloween? Have you checked out the Dinosaur Train costumes featuring Buddy and Tiny? They are available for toddlers ages 3-4, and children between the ages of 4-6, with a retail price between $34.99–$39.99.

What's more? You could get your kid a little scary bedtime fun from Dinosaur Train by reading to her The Spooky Scavenger Hunt, in which Mr. Pteranodon takes Buddy and Tiny on a nighttime trip to the Big Pond for a spooky nature walk! Mr. Pteranodon and the conductor insist that they can't be scared, but when the conductor's mom jumps out at them, everyone gets a good scare! This simple storybook is perfect for children aged 4-8 and it's only $3.99.

My son loves anything about Dinosaur Train. He keeps asking me to go over the book with him again and again. He can now tells the story to his teacher and friends at school.

The Giveaway

As a sweet treat on Halloween, The Jim Henson Company has generously offered to give one of my lucky readers a copy of The Spooky Scavenger Hunt! It's a fun read not just for Halloween.

To enter the giveaway, simply fill out this secure form in its entirely by midnight CT on November 2, 2011. Open to US residents only. Good luck!

Disclosure: I received a free book for review. Show and product info was provided by the PR agency. No monetary exchange took place. Prize will be delivered to the winner directly from the Jim Henson Company.