Making Halloween Fun Last

Halloween Is Not Just About Candy

Halloween is not about the candy.  It is about dressing up in costumes and pretending you are your favorite character. It is about using your imagination to scrounge around for all of the parts that make up a whole costume. Halloween night is almost anticlimactic to all of the preparation and anticipation. Children are often sad when they must put away the costumes, light sabers, and crowns.  Why not keep all of Halloween fun around for a while?

   Develop a costume box and let your children’s imagination sore. Add a few dress up clothes or Halloween costumes and they become princesses and Star Wars characters. Halloween time is a great time to look for bargains and ideas to add to a costume box. Cardboard and duct tape are handy to construct inexpensive knight armor, crowns, and safe light sabers. Old sheets and towels are useful for super hero capes.

   Children of all ages love to make a special cozy place

Children Love a Cozy Place to Play Dress Up

 to play dress up. During warm weather kids have fun building forts or setting up tents.  On days when the weather is nasty, the family can help them set up a little box train, castle, tent, or hideaway place inside, and take out a costume box.

Nurture Imagination

  For a quiet activity spread a big sheet over chairs or table. Inside the tent, let your children make a little room with their favorite blanket, pillow, books, toys, crayons, paper and flashlight. Send in a snack like crackers and cheese or Cheerios and climb in, too.  Sometimes little kids can fit into a tunnel simply made with sofa cushions placed against a solid surface.

  For a more active time, use cardboard boxes to make a train, bus, castle or spaceship, whatever they are really into at the moment. You can help them decorate large pieces of cardboard with markers. There are many ideas for cardboard boxes on line at Pinterest.

Dramatic Play

  Support the activity by pretending and carrying on a conversation. Dress up, too, and tell stories. Children’s

Children Love Acting Out Scenes

libraries have many books about princesses, super heroes and other adventure stories.. The Disney book section of the library shelves are a good place to start.The illustrations are beautiful and the well-loved old stories are full of action. Children enjoy acting out those scenes. 

   Imaginative play builds vocabulary, problem solving, and communication skills. Children playing in a fort like area learn to decorate their environment, problem solve, and develop an appreciation for quiet activities.  Reading and dramatic play are more opportunities to turn off technology.  It is very hard for children to use imagination when media is distracting them. 

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

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