A rare Halloween scare can be good for children

CHILDREN learn through play and when it comes to sheer variety of play opportunities, Halloween ticks a lot of boxes.

Whether it’s bobbing for apples – fishing floating apples out of a basin of water using only their teeth – or making DIY Halloween decorations, children can experience a range of play explorations.

Teresa Heeney, CEO of Early Childhood Ireland cites the myriad opportunities for creative play. “At Halloween, everything is a potential decoration or costume. Children love cutting, sticking, carving,” she says.

Get them to draw pumpkins, skeletons and witches. Give them sheets of black paper, bright coloured paint and different coloured cellophane to draw Halloween pictures. Help them make scary masks. Create a Halloween table where they can display their creations.

Heeney says trick-or-treating gives children a chance to wander around their own community and become known in their own right. “With small children, most parents know to stand behind in a protective way, while allowing the child to go forward.”

She points out that Halloween trick-or-treating is one of the few times you see groups of children of different ages walking around together. “Small children are toddling along beside the bigger ones. Little ones love being with older siblings, cousins and friends.”

With its emphasis on costumes and dressing up, children get carte blanche to indulge in pretend play. “Anything goes,” says Heeney.

Tradition, ritual and old customs are very much a part of this season, so it’s a good time to foster children’s connections with grandparents and older friends/neighbours. “Encourage them to engage with older members of the community, who maybe have memories of the games they played and the reasons behind them.”

To really get in the spirit of things, make traditional Halloween barmbrack with children, give them torches so they can explore light and dark, and read Halloween stories.

For some children,it can be a scary event and it’s important that parents realise when something is too much for their child. “At Halloween, scariness is an opportunity to see that something that looks scary isn’t. Children like the idea of screaming together because they know the thing is supposed to be scary but it’s not real. There’s something in that experience about growing up,” says Heeney.