Hey friends, today I’m back with a printable activity for our folk song of the week: Black Cat, Black Cat. Make sure you have downloaded the free song card here.
The printable activity goes along with the game on the song card. I’ve illustrated a little Halloween kitty to hide as you play the game. As I was preparing to illustrate this, I researched lots of different ideas for how I wanted it to look. I was very inspired by the slightly-spooky but still sweet faces of the vintage Halloween cats, with white and orange details.
The first version of my cat looked much more like the old vintage cats, but I decided I wanted a touch more realism to our Halloween cat. I took out all of the orange details, and most of the white ones, but I left in the outlines of some of those retro-feeling details, for a fun little spookyish detail.
So in the end, what our kitty lacks in retro detail he makes up for with charm and a touch of fashun! His bright green eyes stand out strikingly against his dark black fur, and you can tell he’s looking closely for a witch to befriend on Halloween night.
I really enjoyed illustrating this little cat, and it has been a fun challenge for me. Just a few weeks back I was re-illustrating some previous work I had done for the Farmer in the Dell (I wanted to make a bigger playset to go with the song card and crankie I have previously shared) and I remarked to my husband that I was having a really hard time illustrating the cat for the playset. I don’t have a lot of experience with cats, I never had one growing up and I don’t have one now. I’m actually a little scared of cats, I don’t like that you can’t quite ever tell if they like you or not, haha! I have been burned before! But do you know what helped me draw cats better? Drawing..lots of cats. There must be a metaphor in there somewhere.
I also thought I’d share a sweet little book you could use as you share this folk song. The book I’m linking to is absolutely darling. It is cut into the shape of a cat, and it is so fun and festive to include on a Halloween bookshelf! The vibes of the book and the illustrations are 10/10. However, know that it is not a long or detailed book at all. It doesn’t have a lot of content, and is only a few pages long. However, the story closely mirrors the folk song, and talks about the cat being able to sneak around on a dark night.
So if you decide you’d like to purchase this book to use as you sing along to this darling folk song, I would really appreciate if you’d support my work here by clicking the link to Buy the Black Cat Book Here
I’m trying out affilliate links for the first time, if you click the link to purchase this book, I will make a small amount with no additional charge to you. 99.9% of my content is free and always will be. (I just have a very small etsy shop) I’m dipping my toes into afflinks to see if it’s worth the hassle (lol.) I know links can seem pushy and inauthentic, but I promise to only share things I actually have and love. I have this book, my kids love it, and it’s absolutely darling. So there you go!
Anyway, I hope this week’s folk song brings some Halloween joy to your heart, and that you enjoy playing the game with your family or class! I love to hear from you when you try out the things I have shared, reach out to me on my instagram, I am active in my DMs and love to chat all things music ed! I’ve noted on the download that it may be fun to use some glow in the dark paint over just the cat’s eyes, so that they glow as you play the game with the lights off. I need to get my hands on some paint to try it out! Let me know if you try it out and how it goes! I think it would be such a magical detail for the kids.
Click here to download the free printable cat
Happy Singing!
-Lauren
(Ps, if you’re interested in more Halloween Folk Songs, check out the links below!)