Happy Halloween!

It is finally here! Halloween! Halloween has to be one of the favorite holidays of childhood. Seriously, How often do you get to dress up in your favorite costume and go outside at night to collect candy? It is the best!

Children start talking about Halloween in August and are still talking about it in January. Thanksgiving, Christmas, birthdays and the other fun days are sandwiched in there, but none of them compare to Halloween.

Little Reminder: With all of the excitement in the air, be sure to start early enough to feed your children something easy but with some nutritional substance. Once the doorbell rings, dinnertime is a lost cause. Everyone wants to be outside trick or treating. Order pizza, make spaghetti, your favorite sandwiches, soup, etc. The key is to make something your child will be sure to eat. After all, he soon will be coming home with a bucket full of candy. After Trick or Treating, have popcorn, pumpkin seeds or something sugar free to snack on while sorting the candy. This will kind of cut the desire to gorge on the sweets. (Wishful thinking.)

TEACHING TIPS:

1. A fun game is to sort the candy by the brand, size, type (chocolate, hard candy, gum, etc).
2. The next day you can even graph them by size, quantity, color, etc. Try gluing the wrappers to the graph! Each time a candy is eaten...send them to the graph to glue it in the appropriate column! The more sensory the better!
3. Be sure to sneak some of your favorites for a Mommy snack in the closet :) (Not really a tip just important to remember!)
4. The younger ones can use the wrappers to create a candy collage. There is lots of environmental print on those candy labels. When they read the labels mention to them "You can read!" or challenge them "Where is the Snicker's wrapper?" "Where are the M&M's?" Go deeper...."How do you know that is Snicker's?" You will be surprised!!

Looking Ahead:

Save your Jack O Lantern and any other pumpkins or gourds you might have for some fun activities next week on the blog.

Last But not Least: BE SAFE and HAVE FUN!!!!

Happy Halloween!

~Rita