Most children eagerly anticipate Halloween. But for some children, Halloween is a scary event. Naming or acknowledging fears is the starting point in dealing with anxieties and preparation is all important. Here are some ways practitioners can help children manage any Halloween anxieties and free them up to enjoy it.
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Make time to talk about feeling ‘scared’ and what that means for children. You could use Ferre Laevers’ Box full of Feelings or make your own box of feelings. The box should be built around four basic feelings: happiness, fear, anger and sadness and helps children get in touch with their inner world of feelings, recognise emotions in themselves, accept them, name them and have a more differentiated awareness of them.
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Listen to the child and then discuss the common weird and creepy noises that he hears and be sure to explain what really causes them.
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Play peek-a-boo with Halloween masks ahead of time. It’s hard to be afraid when you’re concentrating on hiding! Physically holding or touching a mask can sometimes help dispel fear.
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As part of a fantasy play, encourage all children and even staff to dress up. This can help desensitise children to seeing people in costumes (and wearing costumes themselves). Remember to allow children to ask people to take off their masks.
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Make dressing up a guessing game. Ask children to choose a silly costume, the practitioners then have to try and guess who the children are dressed up as. The costumed children then remove their masks and reveal who they really are. This can reinforce the idea that you are still the same person, even when you are wearing a mask.
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Encourage children to draw pictures of monsters, ghouls, goblins and witches, and then discuss what’s real and unreal. For instance, snakes and bears are real, while many fictional characters in books, TV shows, and movies are unreal.
