Halloween is traditionally a spooky occasion in Australia! When you are celebrating Halloween with young children you want to make sure to stay on the fun and creative side of Halloween and not dwell too much on the scary aspects of the celebration. Here are some fun craft activities that you can do with children at a child care centre to celebrate Halloween.  

Carving 'pumpkins'

While pumpkin carving is a common Halloween tradition, it can be expensive as pumpkins are not in season for Australian Halloween. Instead, you can get the kids to plan their pumpkin design on a paper template and transfer to an orange using carbon paper. They can then 'carve' the peel with a butter knife. This is much safer than allowing young children to use sharp knives on tough pumpkin skin, and you don't have to worry about supervising a potentially unsafe activity. This can also be a yummy and healthy snack to eat once completed. 

Having the students simply cut out 'pumpkins' from orange paper could be another way to give them a Halloween experience.

Make your own costumes

Rather than getting everyone to come in with a costume from home, why not make your own costumes at the child care centre? It can be very affordable to buy some plain cotton or muslin and cut out simple 'capes' for the children. The children can decorate the capes by stamping them with suitably themed potato prints dipped in paint. (Potato prints are created by carving simple designs such as stars and moons into the flat side of half a potato.) The children can then wear the capes for a parade at child care and take them home for dressing up opportunities.

Make your own 'trick-or-treat' crafts

Doing a traditional trick-or-treat can be hard in the child care environment as there can be children with a range of allergies. It can be fun to make some simple crafts that the kids in the different rooms can exchange for a 'trick or treat' instead. You can collect some gum nuts and paint with PVA glue, then dip in orange glitter and dry to create some 'mini pumpkins' the kids can then exchange. You can also glue cotton buds and googly eyes to small semi-circles to create cute small ghosts to exchange. For younger children, you can print small monster templates and let the kids decorate them with stickers and crayons. 

Halloween can be a great excuse to dress up at child care and do some fun crafts with the kids. Keeping the crafts simple and cute can make sure the celebration is child-friendly and enjoyable for all age groups.