Trick-or-Treat Doors

from 36 months · 30-40 min · Quiet & calm

What you need

Sit a soft toy behind three or four doors round the house, and stick a sticky note on each door with a quick drawing of who lives there: a bear, a rabbit, a dog.
Dress up together, give your child the basket, and walk to the first door. Read the picture together, "A bear lives here", then knock and say "Trick or treat!"
Open the door and let the toy hand over a pretend treat in a funny voice. Your child says thank you, and the treat goes in the basket.
Visit every door, then sit down and count the treats. Swap: you knock, and your child answers as the toy.

Knocking, saying the words and remembering thank you is Halloween in miniature, practised at home where every door is friendly.

Reading the door signs: A drawing of a bear means the bear lives behind this door.
Taking a role and saying thank you: Being the trick-or-treater, then the one who opens the door.
Counting treats: Tipping out the basket and counting what's inside.

Notice them saying thank you before you remind them.

If you're going trick-or-treating for real, talk about staying with you at every door and holding hands near the road.

Easier: use two doors, and say the words together each time

Harder: let them choose what each toy says back, and answer the door to you in character