Happy Halloween
Making Learning Magical
“If we all could see the world through the eyes of a child, we would see the magic in everything.”
September and October are Mimi’s favourite months of the year, and once her birthday cake has been cut and the celebratory dancing and singing has taken place her excitement mounts as the countdown to Halloween the magical child centric holiday begins. While you may not be the biggest fan, joining your children for some frightfully good family fun during the spookiest season of the year provides the perfect opportunity embrace your artistic spirit, flex your creative muscles and spend some quality family time interacting with your kids observing their skill sets and interests and also just enjoying each other’s company.
“ Creativity is inventing , experimenting , growing , taking risks , breaking rules , making mistakes , and having fun .” ~ Mary Lea Ceek
Kids of all ages love Halloween, and what better way to get into the Halloween spirit than to take some items that you already have around the house ( toilet paper rolls, for starters!), add a dash of fun, a pinch of creativity and do some fun , quick and easy , kid friendly arts and crafts together.
Crafting is one activity that children love no matter what season it is, and encouraging them to express themselves creatively is beneficial throughout their young lives. Creating Halloween decorations and treat packets or lanterns is a great way to decorate the house and to give your children a sense of pride and achievement. This is a wonderful opportunity for your children to learn and improve painting, gluing, colouring or cutting skills, all of which will help them to become more successful, independent learners.
Building Maths and English Skills Through Crafting
“ Adding fun to learning creates the best educational experience possible.” ~ Tamara L Chilver
Children absorb information more easily when they are excited, enthusiastic and engaged , and doing hands–on activities with their hands and brains are simultaneously busy will help them to retain and understand the information better. When arts and crafts are incorporated into maths and English lessons the children are more attentive, less anxious as they see learning as fun, and they will be able to develop and reinforce maths and English skills almost without realising it.
Using concrete materials to develop understanding of concepts is becoming an essential part of how we teach maths and making Halloween decorations will help to reinforce the mathematical concepts your kids are being taught at school. Creating witches hats and their crazy cats, jack o’ lanterns and haunted mansions , and strings of spooky spiders your kids will learn about different shapes, counting, patterning, multiplication, division and measuring lengths of art materials.
Crafting will also help your children acquire and improve English skills in a more effective way following visual and verbal instructions, improving focus and concentration levels, developing fine motor skills, literacy from speaking to reading and learning new vocabulary.
Spooky and Sweet Halloween Treats
“The more you know, the more you can create. There’s no end to imagination in the kitchen.” ~ Julia Child
A big part of Halloween is definitely the food – especially if you prefer treats over tricks. Encouraging your kids to join you in the kitchen to have fun with food is a perfect bonding moment and a learning opportunity as well. Parties and special occasions like Halloween are the time for favourite flavours, novelty nibbles, cute cakes and popular treats. Practically any food can take on a super scary look with a little DIY skill. Kids tend to make everything exciting, and using their imagination and bit of creativity to turn their favourite foods into spooks, monsters , crazy bugs and “creatures of the night” will become an adventure.
Getting your kids involved with the planning , making and decorating of spider pizzas, sneaky puff pastry snakes and mummy dogs with a “ bloody “ tomato sauce, monster cupcakes and white chocolate dipped strawberry ghosts will get everybody into a party mood, and having the food prepared in advance by the mini chefs will allow you to be outside joining in the fun not stuck in the kitchen.
Coco Pop Graveyard Slices
For most kids Halloween is an excuse for a sweetie indulgence, but with all the excitement, games and rushing around they will also need a burst of energy to keep them on the go. While these cool “graveyard” slices can be made with a Rocky Road biscuit base , coco pops and marshmallows will give it extra crunch and a “muddy” chocolate butter icing topping makes them Spooktacular.
Ingredients:
§ 45g butter ( base )
§ 300g mini marshmallows
§ 180g coco pops
§ 75g butter ( icing ) , softened
§ 250g icing sugar, sifted
§ cocoa powder
§ 2 Tbsps milk
§ Smarties, worm and body parts sweets
To Make :
1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat.
2. Add the marshmallows and cook gently until they are completely melted and blended, stirring constantly.
3. Take the pan off the heat and immediately add the cereal, mixing lightly until well coated.
4. Press the mixture into a 32cm x 23cm baking tin lined with baking paper. Flatten the top.
5. Beat together the butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder and milk to make a smooth icing.
6. When the marshmallow crispy squares have cooled completely in the tin , spread the icing over them and then decorate them with the sweeties.
7. Cut into squares and enjoy.
