Halloween activities for kids

The word „Halloween” means All Saints’ Eve. It is now a holiday, mostly celebrated in the US and UK on October 31 as an occasion to party and visit neighbors. Children dress up in costumes of various fairy-tale or scary characters, knock on the door and collect candies, asking „Trick or treat?” In Poland, this is not our custom  yet, because we have a different mentality. We are used to spending holidays with our family and we give only family members sweets and gifts. For others, the gate is closed and the inscription „Bad dog” on the door :). I was surprised and felt stupid when a few years ago, for the first time, foreign, unknown children knocked on my house and wanted candy. And I didn’t have any, because I don’t celebrate this holiday. We are just not used to do it. This year, the coronavirus have thwarted Halloween plans in those countries where people usually decorate houses, prepare scary attractions and meet together this day.

Halloween can be a trip to the world of the imagination.

There are many people among us who take fancy characters extremely seriously. And yet in movies and literature we have different heroes – good and bad characters who are a metaphor. Stories about them refer to the most important values ​​in human life. The saga with the character of Harry Potter, the animated series Casper the Friendly Ghost, the film Monsters, Inc., the series of films about Scooby Doo, the film Shrek Forever, the fairy tale about Snow White. These are just some of them. So should we forget our folk traditions? Tales of witches, black cats, dragons and monsters? Should you deny their existence and make it a taboo subject? Or rather, use it to teach children that there is good and evil in the world, or even the fact that one cannot be sure of appearance. For some people, Halloween can only be associated with calling ghosts and making pranks, which of course I advise against doing it, because in some circumstances it’s no longer fun. Celebrating Halloween has an aesthetic that doesn’t appeal to everyone, but it may be worth taking a risk and breaking stereotypes.

Fear is not only a character from a fairy tale or movie.

It’s also a kind of emotion. We need fear to survive. Thanks to it, we avoid threats. So fear is our friend that protects against disaster. Therefore, the topic of fear can also be skillfully used in building a script for activities for children and make it a tool for coping with difficult situations and stress.

Below is my own script of classes and the poem for classes for children about Halloween.

The script for Halloween classes for the youngest children (Polish version) – download link below

The following gadgets can be used for classes:

• Witch outfit (hat and vest)

• Wand

• Magic box with colorful pictures

Pumpkin – Coloring card / for pasting artwork to download below:

Halloween Poem for the youngest kids:

At the castle there is rustle.

All the Halloween creatures are celebrating.

Boo! – For scaring children they are waiting.

Pumpkin – folds a napkin.

Mummy – wins the scream “Grammy”.

Bats – are doing squats.

Spiders – are pretending dark riders.

Owls – are throwing bowls.

And Black cats – can’t catch any rats.

Author: Olga Machałowska

 

Short instructions for kids:

1. Pumpkins (children puff up like a pumpkin and jump up)

2. Mummies (children spin around)

3. Bats (do squats)

4. Spiders (walk on all fours – legs front, hands back)

5. Puffing owls (fold our hands on the nose and imitate the sound of an owl – „hoot-hoot”)

6. Black cats (walk on all fours)

How to make a magic box?

Step 1.

Find a strong cardboard box. We can cover it with gilded paper or plain colored paper. Mine box has the possibility that it slides out, so it is worth attaching a hook to it.

Step 2.

We line the box with strings of wool. I used violet and green wool. You can be more zero waste, if  you find some old one from grandma from the attic.

Step 3.

We prepare caps after yoghurt or drinks. We print pictures and cut them out. Pictures can be taken from freepik.com or use magazines, publishers, such as „Get Creative!”. We stick them with double-sided tape.

Step 4.

Finally, we wrap them in aluminum foil so that the children have even more fun and a surprise. In this form, the caps also remind candies.

 

Now children can move the magic drawer of the box aside, look for the „candy” inside and unwind the glowing silver foil.

Image source: freepik.com,  Get creative! Nr 5 (15) wrzesień 2019