Leaves are dropping, grocery stores are filling up with candy, and horror movies are in full force at the theaters. Let's face it - Halloween is all but here. This year, the KidsQuest staff has put together some ideas for ways to celebrate the season with little ones, minus the sugar headache and horror stories.

Paint a pumpkin.

Carving can be tricky (and dangerous) for little ones. This year, try getting them involved in a new way.

Step 1:
Go get a pumpkin. (Make this fun and go to a pumpkin patch instead of the grocery store. A lot of pumpkin patches have other fun activities this time of year as well.)

Step 2:
Wash it, Weigh it, Measure it. (Explore your pumpkins. Talk about which ones are bigger, smaller, heavier, lighter. This is a great opportunity to introduce math skills into your daily routine.)

Step 3:
Paint it. If your child wants, wash the pumpkin and paint it again. (Fun Tip: You can also use Mr. Potato Head pieces to decorate your pumpkin, just have an adult pre-poke the holes.)

Get into some spooky, kooky science.

What's more fun than adding a little mystery and spookiness to your Halloween experience? This is what we did in Family Adventures in Spooky Kooky Science last week, when families got together to find out what makes chemicals react with other chemicals. The results were spooky (and sometimes kooky) to say the least.  

Want to make your own at-home science lab? Here are a couple suggestions:

If you want to make things glow under a black light and you don’t want to buy an expensive product you can use tonic water or the inside of a highlighter to get the same effect. Try mixing this with oil and drop alka-seltzer tabs in to make your own lava lamp. To make Oobleck, a great gooey substance that turns from a liquid to a solid and then back again, mix equal parts cornstarch and water. It's fun to mess around with the ratios because it will make the Oobleck act very different. Remember not to worry if it gets everywhere because when it dries out you can always sweep it up.

Sound complicated? You can always attend our annual Halloween Spooktacular instead, which includes science activities, costumes, a cake walk and, of course, all of your favorite exhibits, spruced up specially for Halloween. For some families it's a Halloween tradition. Try it out!

Other great ideas:

• Spookify the house together. There's no reason kids can't get involved with the decor, so get out those cotton cobwebs and get creative!
• Make your costumes together (rather than just picking it out).
• Make homemade donuts and hot apple cider. Or pumpkin bars. Or toasted pumpkin seeds. Or anything else warm and fall-y.
• Read scary (or not so scary) stories together.  

 
Happy Halloween from all of us at KidsQuest!