Guest Blog #216, Entry #710, October 18, 2011
Celebrate Halloween at your children’s day nursery with these fun ideas for pre-school kids and toddlers.
Halloween party ideas for the youngsters
Image via: The Party Dress
Crazy costumes
Young children love dressing up, so ask them to come in Halloween costumes for the day. For busy parents, there are a range of affordable costumes in the shops and supermarkets at the moment. Little boys will love dressing up as mummies, skeletons, wizards or ghosts while little girls can enjoy masquerading as witches, naughty fairies or black cats.
For more creative parents, costumes can easily be made using old sheets and cardboard boxes and are a great way to get kids crafty. To make it even more special, invest in some face paints or help the children make spooky masks out of cardboard and poster paints.
Make the most out of the costumes by holding a Halloween parade around the neighbourhood and holding a competition for the best outfit. And don’t forget to dress up yourself. The children will love to see the staff joining in!
Can’t forget the costumes!
Funny faces
With some adult supervision (of course) enjoy the traditional carving of Halloween pumpkins for the children to take home to use as lanterns. Allow the children to create their own designs and then carve them out for them. This is a great way of also introducing them to some learning about safety around knives and candles.
For something safer and a bit different, try making pumpkin faces out of oranges. It’s easy to do using craft materials such as googly eyes, pipe cleaner and foam shapes. Afterwards the kids can enjoy eating their spooky Halloween creations. Oranges are also a great alternative to the usual sugary treats around at this time of year.
Halloween treats can make a fun party for little ones
Image via: At Home with Kim Vallee
Terrifying treats
Baking is part of the fun of Halloween. Push out the boat and make a haunted gingerbread house for them to share or for something a bit easier make gingerbread biscuits and cut them into the shapes of ghosts, pumpkins and witches hats. Buy some coloured icing so that the children can decorate them. Wash the biscuits down with limeade served out of a cauldron and renamed Witch’s Broth.
Spooky stories
Use the occasion to tell spooky stories and then ask the children to draw the characters or scenes from the book. There are some beautifully illustrated books available with witches and wizards which children will love.
Ghoulish games
Traditional games such as bobbing for apples never go out of fashion and the kids will love getting splashed as they try to reach for their apples without their hands. Or theme some word and number games around Halloween including basic letter games – identifying ‘G is for Ghost’ for example, or counting the number of pumpkins.
A Halloween-themed treasure hunt is a great way of getting children outside kicking through the leaves and getting muddy. Just remember their wellies!
Of course some younger children can be easily scared by Halloween, so keep everything you do light and cheerful with friendly ghosts and smiling pumpkins. Make sure you take a camera to capture the moment and create long-lasting memories of their day.
Rachel is a business blogger currently on the lookout for nurseries for sale.
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