10 Ways to Make Halloween More Than Just Trick-or-Treating

What do children want to do for Halloween? They want to get dressed in a costume and go trick-or-treating to collect as much candy as possible. Parents are ready to throw out the candy by the end of the day on November 1st. Continue on to find ways to make Halloween fun for the kids as well as a learning experience that can last for several days. A win-win for you and your littles.

Costume Fun

While preparing for Halloween littles are so excited to find a costume to wear. This is a wonderful time to discuss what they would like to be, even show them pictures of things they might like to

be. Try to help them come up with a costume they can design with your help and create.

• • • They can draw a picture of what they want to be, talk about the shapes used to make it, the materials they need, and how to make it.
    • Then help them create their prized design.

Your little will be so excited to wear their new costume.

Map My Neighborhood

Halloween is a great time to talk about your neighborhood. To help your little learn more about your neighborhood and learn about maps and planning trips:

• • • Help your child make a map of the neighborhood.
    • Then help them plan which houses they want to go to and predict how long it will take to go to each house.
    • It is fun to practice the route and time your walk, to see how long the walk will be and how long it will take to travel to each house.

This makes for a great gets walk for you and your little while reinforcing the skills they are learning.

Candy, Candy and More Candy

When your littles go out trick or treating the will love saying Trick-or-Treat and receive candy in their bag. With all of this candy in the house why not put it to work for your little to acquire some math skills while having fun and getting a treat when they do a great job.

• • • Sorting Candy: How many ways can we sort the candy. Don’t just sort in one way, show your littles there are multiple ways to sort things because they have multiple characteristics. Help them become more observant to an items many characteristics and become focused on details. Whenever sorting items always discuss how they are sorted and ask is there another way we can sort them. Also sorting lends itself to counting and comparing piles; more, less, larger, smaller. Have these discussions to help build your littles skills and math vocabulary. (Allow you 2 or 3 year old to sort their candy too.)
      • • Sort and count by the name of the candy
        • Sort and count by the color of the wrapper
        • Sort and count by the type of candy: chocolate, hard candy, fruity, bar, round, anything you can think of
          
    • Graph Candy: Sorting lends itself nicely to graphing. It will also help your little with organization of counting and bring a visual to comparison questions
      • • • Build a graph using the actual candy pieces. Make sure to use the way they sorted the candy. (Once it is sorted your 2 or 3 year old can make a graph with your help) Ask more questions about the graph.
          • Which category has the most? Least? Are equal?
          • How many more does __ have than __? How many fewer does __ have than __?
          • If you combine __ and __ how many will you have?
  • • Weigh Candy: Littles love to see how heavy things are and to compare them. Learning how to weigh their candy is a fun way to help with this skill. You can use a balance scale, which children love to use, or use a simple kitchen scale to weigh them. (Allow you 2 or 3 year old to weigh their candy and discuss which weighs more/less too.)Have them weigh the different categories of candy from the sorting activity and decide which weighs more, less. Then have them take one candy from each category and see which weighs more and talk about how this compares to the category weight. Can the weight difference be because one has more candy than the other. Discuss how each category is the same or different from the other and why.
  • • Addition and Subtraction: Using the graph you can help your child learn addition and subtraction skills. You can also reinforce these skills when storing the candy away and allowing them to get some for a treat.

• • • • • Ask the questions about the graphs and if your little is ready show them how to write the equations out.
        • Which category has the most? Least? Are equal?
        • How many more does __ have than __? How many fewer does __ have than __?
        • If you combine __ and __ how many will you have?
        • After you complete the activities and are getting ready to store it away, place each type of candy in a different zip lock bag and write how many candies are in the bag. As your child takes candy out of the bags have them subtract the number they took from the number on the bag and record the new number. As bags have only a few pieces left combine the bags and have your child add and record the new number.

Fall is a wonderful time of year and Halloween is just one day children scamper to get candy. Show your littles other reasons to look forward to fall with the ideas from: 10 Fabulous Fall Activities.

Tell Your Story

A great way to wrap up all the Halloween fun and make a record of all the experiences you shared together is to write your own story. Help your child brainstorm all the fun activities you did together and then write a story about it. Some children will need to dictate their story to you while others will be able to write it themselves. Make sure to do this activity together and have fun remembering all the activities you did together. Keep their story and revisit it at the beginning of the next Halloween season. See how much they have grown over the year, discuss the activities you want to make sure to do again. Make it a tradition to write a story about the holiday, to record your family traditions, and have fond memories to return to each year.

Halloween Books to Enjoy

Pete the Cat Trick-or-Treat by James Dean

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

The Spooky Wheels on the Bus by J. Elizabeth Mills

Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano

The Little Old Lady Who wasn’t Afraid of Anything by Linda D. Williams

When the Clock Strikes Halloween by Lisa Ferland

Little Blue Trucks Halloween by Alice Schertle

Snowmen at Halloween by Caralyn M. Buehner and Mark E. Buehner

Llama Llama Trick-or-Treat by Anna Dewdney

Pumpkin Heads by Wendell Minor

What are some of your favorite Halloween activities and books to enjoy as a family?