It seems like we just said goodbye to summer, but if you've stepped foot in a Costco, Target, or HomeGoods lately, you've seen the giant skeletons, jack-o-lantern throw pillows, and jumbo bags of treats—which can only mean one thing…Halloween is coming. If the festive decorations brought on a little pre-holiday anxiety, never fear! iD Tech is here to help make your planning process as sweet as candy.
1. Plan out your monster mash
When it comes to Halloween, there are so many options for activities! There's the traditional trick or treat, the new-age trunk or treat, school dances, and holiday parties. If your family loves to get all the things in, get 'em scheduled out now so you can ensure the timing is possible. If trick or treating is your main event, decide which neighborhood to go to, which route is best for your family, what friends you'll meet up with, and the optimal time to head out to see all the spookiness. Either way, having plans on the books for next month offers peace of mind.
2. Ghostbuster? Vampire? Start thinking about costumes
It always seems like there's a mad dash at your local store to find the perfect costume the week before Halloween. Avoid that this year by starting to get an idea of what your child wants to dress up as and do some browsing now. What is their current hyperfixation? Who are some of their favorite characters? Have you considered a DIY costume? We may be a little biased, but incorporating STEM into the costume-making process is so fun! Think LED-powered superhero suits using Arduino microcontrollers, or robotic wings that actually move with servo motors. Your child just might love having a one-of-a-kind, tech-enhanced outfit to show off on the big night.
3. Build excitement with a thriller
Get your child excited for Halloween by exploring our coding private lessons! There's no limit to what they'll learn 1-on-1 with our elite instructors. Your child can dive into game development and create their own spooky Halloween-themed games, or design haunted house experiences in Minecraft or Roblox. After just a few lessons, they'll be ready to share their creations with friends and family!
4. Do some practical magic together
Halloween is one of those holidays that's filled with childlike wonder. It's cauldrons, witch's brew, and jack-o-lanterns that all come alive under the glow of night. There are only so many years that your child will cherish that magic, so make each one special with at-home STEM activities. Try creating "magic" potions using safe chemistry experiments with baking soda and vinegar reactions, or carve pumpkins while exploring the mathematics of symmetry and patterns. Program LED strips to create color-changing jack-o-lanterns, or build motion-sensor decorations that activate when trick-or-treaters approach. Family-friendly STEM fun is the best way to ensure quality time becomes core memories.
5. Put a spell on with post-Halloween STEM
While the Jimmy Fallon-inspired "I ate all my kids' candy videos" are something we look forward to every year, something we love even more than a good-natured prank is a STEM experiment. After the big night, put all that candy to good use by encouraging your child to build a "bone" bridge out of Q-tips, pipe cleaners, and clothespins, and see how much of their hard-earned candy the structure can hold. Or conduct density experiments by having your child hypothesize which candy will float and which will sink, then fill a bowl with water and test their predictions. Create candy catapults using physics principles, or sort and graph candy by color, type, and size to explore data visualization.
TL;DR
- Plan out your monster mash - Schedule all your Halloween activities early to avoid last-minute stress.
- Start thinking about tech-enhanced costumes - Add STEM elements like LEDs and motors to DIY costumes.
- Build excitement with coding projects - Create spooky games and experiences through iD Tech lessons.
- Do some practical STEM magic together - Turn traditional Halloween activities like pumpkin carving into science experiments.
- Put a spell on with post-Halloween experiments - Use leftover candy for engineering challenges and science investigations.