Celebrating Halloween At The Kindergarten: How Do You Explain?

Hey there! Ever wondered how to navigate the spooky fun of Celebrating Halloween at the Kindergarten with your little ones? Join me on a journey of explaining the magic of this festive day to our curious toddlers. Let’s make it a memorable and not-so-spooky experience for our tiny trick-or-treaters!

Each year, October 31st is important to many people all around the world. Some are impatiently waiting and preparing for this 31st night to celebrate this Halloween holiday. Lots of celebrations take place on this festive day.

This evening was known as “All-Hallows Eve” many years back and later known as “Halloween”. The origin of this tradition dates back to Ancient Celtic Festivals of Samhain. People light up bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.

Celts celebrated their new year on November 01st November. Celts believed that the night before their new year, the margins between the dead and living worlds blurred. So, on the 31st night, they celebrated Samhain.

With time, Halloween celebrations include trick-or-treating, carving jack-o-lanterns, festive gatherings, donning costumes, eating treats, etc. Moreover, Halloween parties, Halloween movies, different myths, and soul cakes come to the Halloween celebrations.

This festival attracts the attention of many people, especially those who are young. So this tradition is taught at kindergartens, too. There are Halloween toys and Halloween songs for kids. Kids are wearing costumes of their favourite characters on this day.

They go trick-or-treating in their neighbourhood to collect sweets and candies with their gang of friends, or sometimes they go camping with their families and tell ghost stories until midnight. There are many other ways children celebrate Halloween all around the world. 

Through this article, you can learn how to celebrate Halloween at the kindergarten and, as a kindergarten teacher, how to explain Halloween to kindergarten. Moreover, there are facts and traditions that you should teach kindergarten students because it is very important to teach them before they celebrate Halloween.

And you can have ideas on celebrating Halloween with kindergarten students. Also, you can decorate the kindergarten classroom with Halloween decorations; a few ideas are mentioned in the article.

This article will help you celebrate Halloween happily and safely at your kindergarten with your children!

How Do You Explain Halloween To Kindergarten?

Kids may have many questions about Halloween as they are very curious about it. If you are a kindergarten teacher worrying about how to explain Halloween to kindergarten, try the following tips.

• Let them read

To inform them about Halloween, you can let them explore it. There are a lot of kindergarten books about Halloween available in the market. They are eye-catching with pictures, and kids can easily understand them. 

• Make Believe Makes It Okay

Kids may not understand everything about Halloween as it is difficult to explain. Explaining it is a night with fake scary things will be so easy to say to an adult. But, for a kid? It will be a little difficult.

So, you have to focus on every single thing they are afraid of Halloween and explain why it is fake. Then, they will start to understand and love Halloween.

• Cartoons And Comedy

You do not have to worry about how to explain Halloween to kindergarten as long as there are cartoons and comedies that children always love to watch. Sometimes, children do not believe that Halloween is fake.

Because they cannot grab what is real and what is fake at once. Nowadays, there are many family-friendly Halloween films. Let them get used to Halloween. A few examples of Halloween films that you can allow your child to watch are;

• Cruella (2021)
• The Witches (2020)
• The Addams Family (2019)
• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (2019)
• Super Monsters Save Halloween (2018)
• Room on the Broom (2013)
• Halloweentown (2004)
• Spookley the Square Pumpkin (2004)
• Positive Participation

With participation, fear can fade away from children. Teach children how to take part in activities on Halloween, like trick-or-treating. This allows them to get an experience by themselves.

For example, if a child is fearful of a Dracula and when he gets dressed in a Dracula costume or sees how his/her friend gets dressed in a Dracula costume, they can understand that it is fake and there is nothing to fear.

• Imagination Magic

Kindergarten kids are full of imagination. This will make it easier to find solutions for how to explain Halloween to kindergarteners.

You can make them imagine that they have some superpower to frighten ghosts and witches or any clothing that will protect them from ghosts. Children will definitely enjoy this. 

Halloween Facts And Traditions To Teach In Kindergarten

Another thing you should consider when explaining Halloween to kindergarten is Halloween facts and traditions. Here are some of them that you can teach to your kindergarten.

• When is Halloween day?

This is a compulsory thing that you should teach them. It is celebrated on October 31st every year.

• Why is this day named “Halloween”?

It is the evening before the “All Hallows” day. First, this day was called All Hallows’ Eve, and then, with time, it changed to Halloween.

• Halloween Costumes

The main purpose is to disguise and avoid evil spirits at an early age. But now, these costumes play a huge role in Halloween. Examples of children’s Halloween day costumes are;

• Ghost
• Princess
• Vampire
• Cat
• Superhero
• Witch
• Orange and Black Colors

Halloween decorations mainly do with these two colours. Teach kindergarten students why these two colours are common on Halloween.

Orange symbolizes the colours of the crops and the changing colours of the leaves, while black symbolizes the ‘death’ of summer and the changing of the season.

• Spiders

There is a myth that seeing a spider on Halloween night means the spirit of your loved one is watching over you. But kids most probably wouldn’t like this myth. 

• Jack O’ Lanterns

You should teach them to do pumpkin décor for Halloween. Also, teach them to make delicious desserts with pumpkin insides. 

• Black cats

Black cats are known as the pets of witches. So, seeing a black cat on Halloween is considered as if there is a witch nearby. Teach these are just Halloween myths to your children.

Celebrating Halloween At The Kindergarten

You can celebrate Halloween at your kindergarten with your children during Halloween week. Following are ideas for celebrating Halloween at the kindergarten.

• Trick-or-Treating

Teach them how to do Trick-or-treating and make them take an active part in Halloween. On Halloween day, children go to neighbour’s houses and ask for “Trick or treat”. If it is a treat, they can have candy or money.

If the answer is a trick, children mistreat the house owner. Some kind house owners keep candy outside the house for children. This is a fun Halloween activity that children will love to play.

• Halloween party

Planning a Halloween party is one of the main ways to celebrate Halloween at the kindergarten. Ask your children to bring any Halloween costumes they have made to the classroom. Let them show their creativity through these costumes.

Then you can offer prizes for the costumes as “overall best,” “scariest,” “funniest,” and “most clever idea”, etc. Also, remember to play appropriate music in the background of the party.

To the foods, add some Halloween touches; you can add red to the beverages and make blueberries look like eyeballs, etc. You can offer kids some treats with Halloween-themed treats, such as candy apple skulls and vampire fang cookies.

• Show a scary movie

You can watch a scary Halloween kids movie with your kindergarten children. 

• Play Halloween games.

This is another great way to celebrate Halloween with your kids, like bobbing for apples.

• Go “ghosting.”

This will increase the bond between children, too. You can allow children to share Halloween-themed goodies with their friends secretly.

• Paint your faces.

Allow them to use safe paint to colour their faces according to Halloween.

• Tell ghost stories

You can tell ghost stories to children as well as encourage them to tell a ghost story to the class.

Halloween Decors For Your Kindergarten

Another way to celebrate Halloween at the kindergarten is to do Halloween decorations. You can use the following decoration ideas for your kindergarten.

• Paint pumpkin

Give children to paint pumpkins with safe paint. Try to avoid them participating in carving the pumpkin because it needs sharp tools, and it will be harmful to kindergarten children to work with that equipment. Let them keep painted pumpkins on tables, corners of the stairs, window sills, etc. 

• Hang fake spider webs 

Let children to décor the classroom in places like long, dark hallways, staircases, light fixtures, and the corners of the classroom ceiling with fake spider webs. Stick plastic spiders on the web to look more realistic.

• Fill the classroom with balloon ghosts.

Blow and tie the balloons with rubber bands. Then, ask students to draw horror faces on them. 

• Turn the classroom door into a cute yet menacing mummy

Use wind strips of toilet paper from the door to the party space of the classroom. And make the door look like a dummy.

• Convert an ordinary end table to a ghostly candy stand.

Grab a white cloth, cut two eyes and a mouth in the cloth, and wrap it around the table. Then, place a bowl of Halloween-themed candy on the table.

Conclusion

Halloween is a custom that has been passed down from generation to generation. It is important to pass it on to the next generation appropriately. So, you should be careful about how do you explain Halloween to kindergarten.

Also, you can celebrate Halloween with your kindergarten students. This article provides some tips for celebrating Halloween at the kindergarten. With proper timing and planning, children can safely enjoy Halloween.