Halloween Fun

This week was Hallowe’en and our little sprites were buzzing with excitement. Last week, they visited a pumpkin patch and collected their Hallowe’en pumpkin. Last Friday, we had a conference at the end of the day and each child was given a pumpkin outline to design. Once finished, each took a turn describing the characteristics of their pumpkin. Next we drew a huge pumpkin head to create a collaborative design. Each person was asked to choose one feature from their pumpkin design that they would like to see on the finished product and together we made up the final plan which included bloody nose goo, a surprised expression, two tone palour, rotten teeth and a graveyard hat (complete with skeleton emerging from the ground and a tombstone made of the pumpkin stem painted RIP). The night before Hallowe’en, Andrew carved the pumpkin (along with another Titanic pumpkin by special request) and put them out on the step for the children to inspect.

Melody made squash and apple soup with the children which they enjoyed at lunchtime sprinkled with pumpkin seeds they roasted from their pumpkins. At the end of they day, we gathered to light our pumpkins and talk about the Celtic tradition of Samhain (pronounced Sow-wane) which involved all the villagers gathering in the centre of town where a huge bonfire roared to feast, dance and celebrate their ancestors. At the end of the evening, each family took a burning stick from the village fire back to their homes to light their fires to keep them literally and symbolically warm through the winter. We talked about how communities keep their members safe and warm.

We had a final story and gave out little packets containing the dried seeds of their pumpkins they could take home and hopefully plant next year to complete their circle of life, which is a big theme in the casa right now. Then we went upstairs to put on costumes and had a costume parade as the parents arrived. We had fairies, a ninja and even a dinosaur and we all sat together and got fortified for a very blustery night of trick or treating. The next day, we took the pumpkins up to the Sorauren Pumpkin Parade to finish their journey to the compost heap.