Toddler friendly Samhain ideas - please share

[Rhianna813]

Hi Folks,

Sharing our holidays and traditions with our kids is magical! This thread is geared for our younger kids who might have short attention spans, lots of energy and varying degrees of interest and coordination. Please share your ideas with the rest of us and include the age of your child. This helps others judge whether their children would be suited for the activity.

Since Samhain/Halloween already has some well established traditions that kids LOVE, feel free to post costume, party, trick-or-treating, etc ideas too.

Rhianna

[Rhianna813]

We are taking Brendan out trick or treating, just to a couple of streets and mostly to show off the costume. Plus the folks love seeing the little kids in costume :wave: We are making a pirate costume for Bren this year - he is SO into pirates!

We are also planning on taking Brendan to a local cemetary. There is an old Masonic one in town that is small, with lots of trees and interesting tomb stones. He will no doubt just run around but I am curious to see what conversations or quesitons come up. Maybe we'll find some good leaves too.

Another fun idea is get an apple and cut in crosswise, revealing the 5 pointed star inside. Kids were probably find that cool!

[Amythest]

some crafty ideas if you wish for decorations try using non-toxic paints and let them paint faces on pumpkins. Finger paints for the younger. or wrapping styrophome balls with white hankerchiefs and let the kids paint or draw with markers faces for ghosts. Using string to tie around the balls, then hang them in trees or in the windows using string and paperclips.

[CassiaMoon]

I am letting mine help me with things like making spider cookies out of oreos and string licorice. Taking them trick or treating until they are ready to pass out. They always help me carve the pumpkin and make fall goodies. They also like to make spiced apple cider too.

[mtpathy]

go buy some of those skeleton glow in the dark pajamas with a glow in the dark skeleton mask,and turn the whole turning from summer to winter into a theatrical event with a maiden holding high the sun as she dances in a field emphasised with a slidding backdrop of rolling lush green hills and blue skies.
then with subtle changes in the slidding background have it move from lush bushy trees and open skies to grays and blacks, orange and reds as summer folds into winter held by the hinge of seasons as death picks up these flowers
the maiden carlessly tossed into the air of "youth" as death contemplates a
poem in the perspective of "adulthood". and explains the stillness and perspective that only death brings, and that only this realisation is what makes summer "youth" that much sweeter to be careless within..
and yes i did cordinate and paint/ set up sceneries at school plays :)

[ObsessedFae86]

OOhh yeah..What a great topic idea! Charlie's 2 now so he's kind of ready for full on celebrating but kind of too young to just be thrown into it all. I'm taking him trick-or-treating as a lion cub :) and then we're going to come home and pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. We will probably watch some halloween specials on tv and do a small ritual for samhain.

[Ravenna Angellin]

Wow! There are some fun ideas here!!

We're going trick or treating this year with both boys. Aiden (5) decided he wanted to be Batman. Then we were just going recycle one of Aiden's older costumes for Finn (almost 2), but then Aiden inssted that Finn should be Robin... They both look cute in their costumes.

This year is also the year that I've decided Aiden is old enough to help me set up our ancestor altar for Samhain. We like to leave our family's favorite foods out and then tell stories about our loved ones. It helps to keep the memories of our family alive for my boys. Aiden is barely old enough to remember his two great-grandpas that passed away... but Finn was born after both of them passed on.

We're also taking the boys to a pumpkin patch this weekend to let them pick out their own pumpkins. We found this really great one last year, and we're hoping to get there again this year.

And that's about it for us.

~ Ravenna

[Rhianna813]

My parents invited all the grandkids to go to the pumpkin patch this year. I went along too because my son is the youngest. We all rode on a horse drawn wagon and then got to pick our own pumpkins, which were precut out in the patch. Brendan had a really good time!

He did not like the pumping carving part, mostly because I would not let him hold the knife LOL I tried to get him to help scoop the guts out but apparently that was way too gross hahahahahaha

[Ravenna Angellin]

My boys love scooping out the pumpkin guts. Gives them an excuse to destroy my kitchen, lol.

Also, it seems as though it's a family "tradition" for us to scoop out a handful of guts and eat them. Raw. Ick. LOL!

We had a blast at the pumpkin patch, both of the kids were running around the field screaming about this cool pumpkin or another. We went through the corn maze, ate fresh caramel popcorn... it was great!!

[StarPhoenix]

Around here, I think it's at the state park, they have a Haunted Hay Ride, might do that with son this year. Also there used to be a halloween fair, but not sure if it's still around but if it is we might go do that too.

I just don't like the idea of going around to strangers houses, especially in the world we live in today.