Tips and Tricks (or Treats!) for Supporting Children’s Halloween Feelings

October 29, 2024

Book recommendations & activities are included!

Halloween is almost here, which means feelings like excitement, fear, and even disappointment are starting to bubble to the surface for children everywhere. Don’t let their trick-or-treat bags get weighed down by big feelings this year! Dedicate time to helping children explore their emotions so they feel prepared, safe, in control, and ready to face it all.

Let’s unpack the many cozy and prickly Halloween-related feelings, book recommendations to help children become the boss of all of them, and activities to engage children every step of the way. 

Safely Exploring Fear (and Bravery)

Halloween blog book rec - fear and bravery

Spooky imagery and characters are part of the Halloween fun, but for littles who may be experiencing this for the first time (or even the second), it can be scary. Make sure children feel safe by reassuring them that you will be there and the scary things they see are just pretend.

Reading stories about feeling scared is a great way to acknowledge children’s feelings, help them feel prepared for what’s to come, and learn strategies that will help them face their fears and be more in control. Take a look at some book recommendations and related activities below:

Books & Activities

Scaredy Squirrel Prepares for Halloween by Mélanie Watt

  • If you have some particularly anxious kiddos in your care, this story is a great way to meet them where they are. This book includes an in-depth “safety guide” on what to do leading up to Halloween, and includes interactive activities you can do together as you read.
  • Activity: Make your own Halloween Safety Guide with children at home or at school. What do they need to feel safe? Brainstorm steps you can take, practice them together, and sprinkle in some silliness to lean into the fun part of feeling scared. 

Boo, Bunny! by Katherine O. Galbraith, illustrated by Jeff Mac

  • Scary things can feel even scarier when we face them alone. This book explores how friendship can help us feel brave and courageous during Halloween.
  • Activity: Try a few trick-or-treating “practice runs” to help children know what to expect. Take a walk around your neighborhood during the day, pick a parking spot at your local trunk-or-treat location, or schedule a sunset playdate with your Halloween crew to ease some of their fear and anxiety.

 

Exploring Excitement & Overstimulation

Halloween blog book rec - excitement and overstimulation

Candy, costumes, staying up late, and trick-or-treating with friends…what’s not to be excited about? All this excitement is valid, but it can easily escalate, leaving children (and adults) feeling overwhelmed or overstimulated. 

Teachers, try to limit how much of your day you focus on holiday activities or conversations. Children will be getting plenty of messaging around all the exciting things Halloween has to offer from home, friends, and media. Your classroom can double as a calm space and palate cleanser in the midst of all the excitement.

Parents, as Halloween approaches, incorporate calm-down strategies into your evening routines with children. Reading a story, stretching before bed, or practicing deep breaths are all things you can do to help children feel regulated after an exciting day. Keep things consistent by continuing your calm-down routine, even after Halloween is over.

Books & Activities

Recommended Book: Halloween is Coming! by Cal Everett, illustrated by Lenny Wen

  • Read this story to validate children’s building excitement and explore different Halloween traditions. What is your favorite tradition?
  • Activity: Create a Halloween Countdown Calendar at home to build excitement but keep anxiety in check with concrete steps towards the end goal: Halloween. Include activities, stories to read, or tasks that you can do with children each day or each week to keep them engaged. Let them cross off the days on the calendar before bed time to give them a little boost of agency and control!

As children’s excitement builds leading up to Halloween, acknowledge and validate their feelings rather than shutting them down or ignoring them. Extend children’s interest in the holiday by asking questions about what they are most excited about. Connect their answers to an area of learning to build on children’s underlying interests. For example:

  • Math Activity:  Use different color sorting toys as “candy,” and mix them up at your table. Guide children to sort the different candies by color and determine which candy has the most and fewest pieces to create a Candy Color Graph.
  • Art & Fine Motor Activity: Cut out silhouettes that reflect children’s identities as well as different clothing shapes, including capes and masks. Invite children to color their own unique costumes for their paper dolls, and share their ideas during circle time as a group.
  • Dramatic Play Activity: Not all countries have the same Halloween routines. In fact, even different families may have their own unique ways of celebrating! Learn about different global (or local) traditions and dress up/act out your favorites.

 

Exploring Disappointment, Loneliness, and Jealousy

Halloween blog book rec - disappointment and loneliness

Not everyone celebrates Halloween, and for those who don’t, going to school and seeing decorations, hearing friends talk about trick-or-treating, or sharing costume ideas can cause uncomfortable feelings, like disappointment, loneliness, and even jealousy.

These feelings are normal, and while we don’t want them to stick around forever, it’s important not to dismiss them or try to “fix” them right away. Instead, we can use instances like these as opportunities to explore the similarities and differences between us, and how to embrace and appreciate who we are and what we have.

Books & Activities

Book Recommendation: The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt by Riel Nason, illustrated by Byron Eggenschwiler

  • This story explores the sad and lonely feelings of a ghost who looks and acts differently than his friends and family and doesn’t know why. By the end of the story, something happens to make him feel proud to be who he is and realize that it is okay to be different!
  • Activity: Create your own ghost sheets as a class or family project. Each one will look different, and that’s okay! Help children embrace their interests and identities by encouraging them to add their favorite colors, shapes, and designs. For children ages preschool and up, ask them to share what makes them feel most proud about their creation.

Think about activities that all children can participate in and aren’t specifically about Halloween, but are related enough for children to feel socially included. Here are some ideas to get you started, at home or in the classroom.

  • Home & School Activity: Give each child a collection bag and take a walk around the playground, park, your neighborhood, or backyard to find fall nature items! Encourage children to pick up colorful leaves, acorns, branches, or other items that look interesting to them. Once back inside, look through the treasures and turn them into a collage!
  • Home & School Activity: You don’t need to celebrate Halloween to wear a costume, and this activity explores what it means to be “super.” Ask children what their superpower would be and invite them to create their very own super-personas and costumes. Keep their creations in your dramatic play center for role play any time of year.
  • Home & School Activity: Each season yields its own harvest, and a wonderful part of autumn is the pumpkins! Once you have a pumpkin, invite children to use different age-appropriate tools to try and get inside. After some adult assistance, explore the inside of the pumpkin and discuss the different feelings children have when they touch and feel. (Bonus: Save, clean, and season the seeds for a tasty snack!)
  • Home Activity: Apple picking is a favorite fall activity and a wonderful alternative to trick-or-treating for families who don’t participate. Give children prompts to keep them engaged. For example, “Can you find a big apple? Small? Red, yellow, and green?”
  • Home Activity: Even if you don’t celebrate or participate in Halloween, the evening is an opportunity to connect with children in your own ways. Try a special movie night in with children’s favorite snacks, stuffies, and treats.

 

Conclusion

Halloween is a lot of fun, and just like any holiday, it can bring up a lot of different feelings. Remember to acknowledge all of these feelings with children, and utilize the strategies in this blog to help them become the boss of their feelings, both big and small.

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