The Nanny Authority feels that Halloween is really about eating sweets and truly, can anyone reasonably disagree? We think not! This Halloween, have some fun at home by baking and decorating your very own pumpkin cookies! Use a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter and bake roll-out sugar cookies as your recipe directs. While your cookies are baking, mix ¼ cup meringue powder and ¼ cup warm water until you have a soupy bubbly concoction in your stand mixer. Add in 1 lb. of confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and mix until stiff, glossy peaks form. Be careful not to over mix! Divide royal icing into smaller bowls and mix with different food coloring gels as desired. Add water a ½ teaspoon at a time to thin icing to desired consistency and use a rubber spatula to put the icing into piping bags. Use piping bags filled with icing to decorate your cookies as you wish and add sprinkles and candies for extra holiday spirit points J This is a great activity to do with your littles to let their sweet and creative ideas flow! Refer to this post for more ideas.
We’re not sure if it gets any more nostalgic than a tissue wrapped around a lollipop to make the perfect trick or treat favor, you know? Make these cuties at home with this simple DIY that helps engage children’s fine motor skills, engages various sensory input systems, and creates memories to share for a lifetime.
Do you remember the I Spy books you and your parents would read together when you were little, and then you read and played the game with your children? Bring everyone’s favorite wordless picture book to life with this Halloween edition, I Spy printable. This is a fun and safe way to change up your after-school walk home from the bus or a new way to make Halloween fun if you plan on downsizing your trick or treating group this year.
We can tell you, one of our absolute favorite Halloween activities to do with children (aside from eating candy!) is building an at-home Halloween library to read from. From scary to sweet, reading to your children and incorporating things going on presently in their lives can have a profound impact on their understanding of the world around them and build comprehension skills. Some of my favorite classics are:
- The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson
- Creepy Carrots! By Aaron Reynolds
- Room On The Broom, by Julia Donaldson
- Big Pumpkin, by Erica Silverman
- Too Many Pumpkins, by Linda White
Have a spooky, scary, skeleton movie marathon at home! Grab all of your favorite Halloween candies, throw on a costume and get cozy on the couch with the family for all of your holiday favorites. From Casper the Friendly Ghost to Hocus Pocus to Halloweentown (we grew up in the 80s & 90s, can you tell?) the movie options for you and your little ones are endless.
Staying in this year? Find some more cool ways to bring in the All Hallows Eve spirit into your home here, and here.
For a fun, socially distanced, group activity outdoors, head to a local pumpkin patch. Pick pumpkins with the family, enjoy a hayride, and get lost in a corn maze! Nothing says Halloween like picking your own pumpkin to carve and place on the front porch as a jack-o-lantern! Let littles get involved by providing non-toxic paint, stickers, and stamps for a decorated pumpkin of their very own.
For more ghoulish and ghostly ways to celebrate Halloween click here.
This Halloween may look a little different from years past but that doesn’t mean you or your kids need to miss out on the holiday fun. Keep it safe, keep it smart and be mindful of your Halloween activities for you and your children to get the most out of the most ghostly time of year!
Make sure to follow the Nanny Authority on social media @thenannyauthority and @thenannyauthorityinc and inquire with us today at (973) 466 2669 about your next nanny hire!