5 Educational Ways to Keep Your Little Monsters Entertained This Halloween
Apart from trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving and Halloween themed parties, the eve of All Saints’ Day is perfect for family bonding and history lessons. Children love Halloween because it’s a day when they can get many free candies, wear fun costumes and bright makeups, as well as spend some time with their parents – yes, super busy parents your little ones crave your attention and wait for any holiday to spend more time with you.
Halloween has a rich history and great legends that our generation should know too. Both indoor and outdoor activities can help your children learn more about Halloween while having fun and enjoying a true spirit of the eve of All Saints’ Day. Here are a few educational ways to keep your little monsters entertained this Halloween.
1 Celebrate the end of the harvest season
Tell your children that the Celts used Halloween to mark the end of the harvest season and suggest starting a new family tradition of celebrating the end of your harvest season, especially if you grow your own vegetables and fruits each year. Plan a Halloween-themed picnic in the park or in your own backyard. But first, spend a few hours together cooking some fall-inspired meals and desserts for your picnic and Halloween treats for the party. This way, you will kill two birds with one stone (hate this saying) and have more free time till the next day.
When munching on your goodies, discuss favorite veggies, fruits and the best things about the fall season. You can also host a pumpkin and apple carving contest or play apple bobbing to add more fun to your new family tradition.
Read also – 10 Kid-Friendly Ways to Celebrate Halloween at Home
2 Photo history
If you are lucky to have some old Halloween photos of your parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents, it’s a wonderful way to keep your little ones entertained and discuss family history and traditions. It’s always interesting, especially for kids, to see what people wore many years ago. This family activity will teach your children to appreciate family traditions and create new ones. You can show your own old Halloween photos too.
3 Learn Halloween history
Whether you know Halloween’s origins or you want to learn it, keep yourself and your little monsters entertained with a Halloween history lesson. Find out more about an ancient holiday that has its roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain. You can read books together, play educational games, and hold a contest to find out who knows more Halloween facts. Halloween has a long and thrilling history so no one will feel bored on Halloween.
4 Play Halloween-themed games
There are many educational and fun Halloween games that kids love. Depending on the kid’s age, choose a few games to keep them busy for hours. If your children are too little to play complicated games, suggest playing some easier games like Candy Grab, where you dump a full bucket of various candies on the ground or floor and ask them pick up the candies and place them in a bucket using their toes only. Take a few buckets if you have many kids. The child that picks more candies than others wins.
You can also suggest your little monsters play Halloween scavenger hunt with mysterious curses and spells, or Spider Web Maze – draw a big spider web on the paper or ground, place spooky black plastic spiders along the web’s lines and ask each child pick as many spiders as they can in one minute or more if your maze is very large. The only rule is not to step off the web’s lines. Games are healthy and fun workouts so join your little ones to move your body a bit.
Read also – 9 Fun Halloween Activities for the Whole Family
5 Ghost stories
Gathering around a fire or a fireplace (if the weather is bad) and telling ghost stories in the backyard or living room is one of the best ways to celebrate Halloween as a family. During Samhain (Halloween), Druids built huge sacred bonfires to burn crops as sacrifices and celebrate the eve of All Saints’ Day. You don’t have to burn crops though. Setting a small fire is enough to add family bonding to the holiday. Also, make sure your ghost stories aren’t too scary.
Although adults love Halloween, this is a totally childish holiday. Children genuinely love it and wait for it. They get disappointed when this day comes and parents tell something, “Don’t bother me, watch TV or read some book. Look I’m busy” or “You are not a little child to keep you entertained. Find some activity for yourself without my help.” Halloween is a family holiday too. Don’t forget about it.
