It's Halloween

It's Halloween. Tonight a lot of creatures will visit your door. Be open minded. The child who is grabbing more than one piece of candy might have poor fine motor skills. The child who takes forever to pick out one piece of candy might have motor planning issues. The child who does not say trick or treat or thank you might be shy or non-verbal. The child who looks disappointed when he sees your bowl might have an allergy. The child who isn't wearing a costume at all might have SPD or autism. Be nice. Be patient. It's everyone's Halloween. Make a parent feel good by making a big deal of their special child.

Halloween Questions

Tricky Halloween Questions....for your little ones

Which is the biggest - a pumpkin, a scarecrow or a spider?

Which is NOT black - a cat, a ghost, or a spider?

Which one does NOT fly - a bat, a pumpkin or a witch?

Tell me three types of candy you get on Halloween.

What are three things you take Trick-or-treating?

Name three things that are orange.

Name three things that are black.

If you were dressing up as a princess, what three things would you wear?
a pirate?

What at two noises you might hear on Halloween?

What are two things that scare you?

What does a ghost say?
a witch? a monster?

Name three things you would see in a haunted house.

What does it mean to carve a pumpkin?

What is the difference between a pumpkin and a jack-o-lantern?

What sound does the word Halloween start with?

Halloween Math

Here is some fun with Math for Halloween ---

-Estimate the number of vertical lines on your pumpkin
-Estimate how big your pumpkin is.
cut a piece of string as you child thinks the pumpkin is. Try it again until you get it right.
-Estimate the weight of your pumpkin
-Estimate the number of seeds your pumpkin has.  Try grouping the seeds into groups of tens.
-Estimate how many pieces were collected.  Then count them.

-Sort and classify the treats: candy bars, lollipops, gum..
then sort by chocolate, peanut butter
or sort by colors of wrappers

Halloween activities to boost and enhance your child's development

Halloween fun and activities to boost/enhance your child's development:

Work on auditory processing and following directions:

Fill a plastic pumpkin bucket with small trinkets (plastic spiders, miniature pumpkins, small koosh balls, halloween erasers). Give simple directions such as "get the spider, then the pumpkin" and have your child follow the directions.  Make the tasks more difficult by adding more steps.
To work on fine motor skills have your child remove the items with tongs, or tweezers.

Work on auditory memory:

Make a pretend witches brew.  Take turns saying one thing you would add to the brew.  As the list gets longer, see if you child can still remember all the ingredients.

Compare different candies by finding similarities and differences.  Make piles with the candy and count them.

Try some sensory activities like hiding gummy spiders or worms in jello.  Fill a plastic pumpkin bucket with flour or beans, hide small toys in it and have your child find them.


Try working with recall and sequencing by reading "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything".

A recent thank you note from a parent

"I used a lot of your advice when I met with the school and it was incredibly helpful. I feel like I was finally able to get the school to see my child's anxiety issues as a mental health problem that they had to accommodate and not a discipline problem. Together with the school, we made some changes to the morning routine, which seem to be helping a great deal.

Thanks again for coming to my rescue. Your advice helped me through a very difficult time. I feel much better educated now and more confident about how to talk with the school."