Of all the holidays that we celebrate each year, Halloween is the one with the greatest potential for sparking the imagination. Kids (and let’s be honest, quite a few adults, too) are thinking about the costume they’ll wear, long before the actual night. And it’s easy to get everyone excited about making fun decorations for the classroom and elsewhere.

Witches, goblins, superheroes, and cartoon characters meet Jack o’Lanterns, fangs, and zombies in a festival of the unreal and the fantastic. (Not to mention all the free candy!) It’s the perfect opportunity to round up some of that bubbling excitement, and turn it into poetic fun! Here are a few ideas for the Scary Season, activities that are easily adaptable for most age-groups.

The first in a series of videos demonstrating different aspects of poetry writing for elementary students, this video shows what a rhyme is (and what is NOT a rhyme). It gives examples of different types of rhymes, and it demonstrates where to put rhyming words when writing a poem.

This video is intended for primary grades, a is most appropriate for students in grade 1, but may also work for Kindergarten and grade 2.

This week I had the pleasure of speaking with J. Patrick Lewis about his career, his books, and his new position as Children's Poet Laureate of the United States. Pat was charming as he shared stories and even read a brand new poem.

Click the play button above to listen to the interview or click here to subscribe to the Poetry4kids.com podcast for more funny poems and interviews with well-known children's poets.

Beginning October 1 and continuing throughout the month, right up until Halloween, I will be posting a funny spooky poem or funny monster poem every day on Facebook, Google Plus, and Twitter. Follow me now to read them all! Click on the Facebook or Google Plus logo on the left or the Twitter logo on the right to follow.

NOTE: You don't need an account to follow along and read the poems. Even without an account, you can still view the Twitter feed and link to the poems. Just click on the Twitter link on the right to see my tweets, which will have links to the poems.

For quite some time I've wanted to create animated videos of my poems. Here is the first in what I hope will be a long series of videos, "My Parents Sent Me to the Store."

Note: If you'd like to read along with the poem, click on the "cc" button at the bottom of the video once it starts playing.

It's unfortunate but true, and probably due to our tech-driven, scientifically orientated world, that when I tell people I write poetry for a living, I'm likely to hear the question, "But what's it for? What does it do?" And that's a puzzler when it comes to literature and poetry. To those of us who love it, it's perfectly obvious what it's "for."

But just in case you're asked that question about poetry any time soon, and you want to have something to say without spluttering in indignation, I thought I'd throw together a few little-know facts about the effect poetry has on children's brains (and ours, for that matter).

Once you start trying to take over the world, you are going to find lots of government spies and secret agents trying to infiltrate your fortress and disable your doomsday devices. Step 9 of The Ultimate Top Secret Guide to Taking Over the World will teach you how to handily dispatch the forces of good so you can laugh maniacally and then go about your business of planning to conquer the planet.

Taking over the world can be loads of fun, especially when you're learning to construct giant space lasers, blow up the moon, rip the fabric of space-time, invent nano-robot armies, and create mutant zombie kitten viruses. Step 8 of The Ultimate Top Secret Guide to Taking Over the World will teach you how to do all of these and more.

In your quest for ultimate power, you're going to need to create armies of giant, slobbering mutant monsters and lots of minions to do your bidding. Step 7 of The Ultimate Top Secret Guide to Taking Over the World is the perfect resource for learning how to clone monsters and recruit minions. Get it now before it's too late.

No matter what kind of villain you are -- Mad Scientist, Evil Genius, or Tin Pot Dictator -- you are going to want to dress the part. Step 6 of The Ultimate Top Secret Guide to Taking Over the World will educate you on the proper outfits for any would-be world ruler.