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Halloween was a favorite holiday of mine for many years. What’s not to love about dressing up, running through the town with your friends well past dark, and receiving six months-worth of candy? Little did I know at the time, but there was a lot of learning going on during the entire Halloween process. As parents and mentors, we can capitalize on our children’s interest and enthusiasm for holidays and special events, and turn those events into learning opportunities. What can we learn, teach, and play with during Halloween you might ask?  Well, you’ve come to the right place…

Art, expression, and creativity
Halloween might be the most creative holiday we have. Given its unclear history, intermingled and evolving traditions, and Hollywood fixation, Halloween offers an array of symbolism and material to work with. Your children can sketch scarecrow images to hang in your window, design the “look” for your pumpkin, bake orange cookies for their classmates, and choose a creative costume. History and popular culture collide during this holiday, so have fun sorting through the offerings to come up with a look and feel that’s right for each member of your family. 

Language and literacy
Beautifully imaginative Halloween tales abound, such as “The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything.” But Halloween also offers a fantastic excuse to practice telling made-up stories with your children. Choose an age-appropriate topic, such as crickets in a pumpkin patch, and take turns building a story together. You can write out your story and illustrate it so you can re-tell the tale each year. 

Math
From the shapes in your carved pumpkin (triangle eyes, rectangle nose), to the number of treats received at each house, Halloween is math-tastic! How about visiting just the odd-numbered homes (“Are they all on one side of the street? Let’s count them aloud as we walk along”), or creating various orange-and-black patterns with Halloween decorations? Another fun activity that incorporates aspects of math with health and nutrition is to sort through treats once your children have returned from trick-or-treating. Together you can divide the treats into serving sizes, such as three treats, into small snack bags that the children can take to school.  The sky is the limit when it comes to highlighting the math in Halloween.

Health, safety, and physical development

Halloween, more than any other holiday, can open the door for important discussions related to health, nutrition, safety, and moderation. From choosing a safe costume, to making informed decisions about sugar consumption, this is one holiday in particular where your children will depend on you for guidance. 

Enjoy the opportunity to engage in imaginative play, story-telling, crafts, math, and other exciting educational domains.  This Halloween season, my hope is that your family will discover how “Spook-tacular” learning can be!

References:
List of Halloween picture books for children: http://www.library.illinois.edu/blog/esslchildlit/archives/2006/10/halloween_pictu.html

Tips for controlling sugar consumption:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/control-halloween-candy-consumption