October 2026 Issue is Here

Here are your links to the October 2026 Kid Scoop News Scavenger Hunts:

Scavenger Hunt
Early Elementary Scavenger Hunt

Hello, Teachers! October Is Here!

October is creeping in quietly, filling the air with autumn smells and chilly breezes. It’s the perfect season to grab a book and get cozy while the rain pours outside. Kids are especially excited this time of year as they get ready to go out and haunt the streets! This month’s issue is filled with spooky topics, fun facts, articles, and games to help spark the Halloween spirit.

Reminder: Don’t forget, we recently added an Early Elementary Students Scavenger Hunt for our younger students who might find the usual scavenger hunt a little too challenging.

What’s Inside the October 2026 Issue?

Articles and activities include:

• News: Pumpkins Afloat!
  Students will discover how giant pumpkins can become boats for fall pumpkin regattas. They will learn how these enormous pumpkins are grown and where some of these unusual races take place, then answer questions about the article.
• Spotlight: Math Explorers and the Haunted House
  Students will help Gunther and Gordon make their way through a haunted house by solving math problems, completing patterns, finding matching portraits, and cracking a secret code. A bean game and word search add even more spooky fun.
• Legend: Hera and Juno
  Students will meet Hera, the Greek goddess, and Juno, her Roman counterpart. A Venn diagram helps them compare the two goddesses, while activities about peacocks, golden apples, and mythology add to the lesson.
• Safety: Fire Safety
  Students will learn three important fire safety rules, including knowing two ways out, leaving right away when a smoke alarm sounds, and never trying to fight a fire themselves. They can also practice planning a family meeting place and discover how often smoke alarms should be tested.
• Animal: Kangaroos
  Students will discover what makes kangaroos such unusual mammals, from the way joeys grow inside their mothers’ pouches to their powerful legs and impressive jumps. Math, codes, a hopping challenge, and puzzles make learning about these marsupials even more fun.
• Puzzles
  Students can find their way through a pumpkin maze and challenge a classmate to a game of Candy Corn Corners. Both activities bring a little Halloween fun while building strategy and problem solving skills.
• Activity Calendar
  October’s calendar is packed with fall and Halloween activities, reading, crafts, exercise, kindness, and family fun. Students can celebrate special days, prepare for Halloween, learn about fire prevention, collect fall leaves, and even try a little magic.
• Animal: Scary or Not?
  Bats, snakes, and tarantulas may look spooky, but are they really? Kids will discover how these often misunderstood animals can actually be helpful and learn why it is important to understand the animals that live around us.
• STEM: Angled for Distance
  Students will explore the math and physics behind a long baseball throw and learn how force, gravity, and angles affect the path of a ball. They will also practice calculating batting averages and earned run averages.
• Holiday: Halloween at Home
  A rainy Halloween keeps Drusilla and Darius inside, but there is still plenty of spooky fun to be had! Students can solve codes, spot patterns, count pumpkins and candy corn, search for matching groups, and tackle Halloween themed math and word puzzles.
• Money Matters: What Is a Debit Card?
  Students will learn how debit cards work and how they are different from credit cards. Shopping activities help them practice working with money, while a secret code activity teaches them what PIN stands for.
• Food: Kiwi
  Students will learn where kiwifruit comes from, discover its nutritional benefits, and find out how to tell when one is ripe. They can also complete a kiwi bird dot to dot and try making Kiwi Blueberry Pops.
• Parent Scoop
  This month’s Parent Scoop shares ideas for spending meaningful time together, turning Halloween candy into a math activity, and practicing fire safety at home. Vicki also recommends There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! by Lucille Colandro, a hilarious book kids will love!
• Early Learners
  Young children will practice the letter G, the number 3, counting, sorting, animal recognition, and storytelling. Newspaper searches and simple activities make it easy for families to practice these early skills together.

Kid Scoop News Reading Tip

Please share these tips with fellow teachers and families in your school community!

Nurturing Little Minds From the Start

When a baby arrives home, we think about all the things they need most: cuddles, love, nurturing, and keeping them safe and sound. And of course, all of those things are incredibly important. But there is something else we can start doing right away: nurturing their little minds.

A baby’s brain is growing at an amazing speed. During the first few years of life, more than one million new connections are forming in the brain every second! Everyday experiences like hearing your voice, looking at your face, singing, playing, and reading together help build the foundation for future learning.

If we want our little ones to fall in love with reading, books should be part of their world from the very beginning. They do not need to understand the story yet. Just seeing a book, touching it, hearing your voice as you read, and sitting close to you are all part of the experience.

One of my favorites for this stage is the soft book, also called a cloth book. These books are made especially for little hands. Babies can grab them, squeeze them, turn the soft pages, and explore different pictures and textures. Some have crinkly pages, mirrors, bright colors, or different materials to touch. And since babies explore almost everything with their mouths, cloth and sturdy board books are much easier for them to explore than regular paper books.

Having even one or two of these books within reach gives your baby another way to explore, learn, and become familiar with books.

And remember, what makes reading time special is not just what is written on the pages. It is being close to you, hearing your voice, looking at pictures together, and sharing that little moment. Those warm experiences can help books become something your child connects with comfort, love, and fun.

Great books for babies and toddlers:

• High contrast books: Black, white, and bold images are easier for very young babies to focus on.
• Cloth books: Soft, easy to grab, and great for little hands to explore.
• Board books: Sturdy pages are perfect for babies and toddlers who want to hold and turn pages themselves.
• Books with faces: Babies love looking at faces, especially pictures of other babies.
• Touch and feel books: Different textures make reading a sensory experience.
• Rhyming and repetitive books: Songs, rhymes, and repeated words invite little ones to listen and eventually join in.
• First word books: Pictures of familiar things like animals, food, toys, and family members help toddlers connect words with the world around them.
• The most important book is the one you enjoy sharing together. Read it once, twice, or twenty times. Little ones love repetition!

A few minutes of reading each day can inspire a lifetime of curiosity.

Thank you for helping us inspire curiosity, creativity, and a love of learning in young readers.