“I wanna be a lion tamer…”
Kelly and I just had a crazy Halloween day. Together we had a Halloween party at and for her school. We designed 6 activities: bobbing for apples, pin the tail on the black cat, what’s in the box, candy jar guessing game, fortune teller making, and mask making. Before we began we told the participants, approximately 50 kids, about Halloween. We explained how all Americans wear costumes like Kelly and I had on. We explained how we make jack-o-lanterns and what trick or treating is. We had our girls’ club members there to man stations for us and help translate.
In the first room was bobbing for apples, which is exactly what it sounds like, except we made it a relay race with teams of four. The first to get all the apples out of the bucket wins. Azeri’s don’t like to get dirty/messy and so sticking their face in a bucket of water was quite a feat. Also along the wall there were 3 boxes with holes in the front. They were labeled: cobwebs, worms, and blood! The kids would see the labels and then feel for themselves. None the less, pin the tail on the black cat seemed a little more approachable.
In the second room there was only arts and crafts for mask making and fortune teller making. We encouraged them to be creative. We had a great assortment of elaborate masks. For fortune tellers we taught them to make the paper fortune tellers you might remember from your childhood. They are the square ones that you hold with both hands and count pointing front and back then left and right revealing different numbers. They wrote their own fortunes and instead of colors on the outside there were witches, ghosts, pumpkins, spiders, mummies, monsters, and cats.
After all the kids had spent time at each station we got together for Kelly to tell everyone a ghost story, during which she screamed, and accordingly the entire room screamed with her. We announced the best guess of the candy jar guessing game and awarded the winner the jar of candy. Finally as everyone left they stopped by Kelly and me and said “tick or treat” and we gave them all candy.
It was quite an event that I’m proud to have been a part of. I think these kids understand Halloween a little better and more importantly had a good time. Below are some pictures of the event.
Happy Halloween!
Kat Zig
Disclaimer: “The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.”
In the first room was bobbing for apples, which is exactly what it sounds like, except we made it a relay race with teams of four. The first to get all the apples out of the bucket wins. Azeri’s don’t like to get dirty/messy and so sticking their face in a bucket of water was quite a feat. Also along the wall there were 3 boxes with holes in the front. They were labeled: cobwebs, worms, and blood! The kids would see the labels and then feel for themselves. None the less, pin the tail on the black cat seemed a little more approachable.
In the second room there was only arts and crafts for mask making and fortune teller making. We encouraged them to be creative. We had a great assortment of elaborate masks. For fortune tellers we taught them to make the paper fortune tellers you might remember from your childhood. They are the square ones that you hold with both hands and count pointing front and back then left and right revealing different numbers. They wrote their own fortunes and instead of colors on the outside there were witches, ghosts, pumpkins, spiders, mummies, monsters, and cats.
After all the kids had spent time at each station we got together for Kelly to tell everyone a ghost story, during which she screamed, and accordingly the entire room screamed with her. We announced the best guess of the candy jar guessing game and awarded the winner the jar of candy. Finally as everyone left they stopped by Kelly and me and said “tick or treat” and we gave them all candy.
It was quite an event that I’m proud to have been a part of. I think these kids understand Halloween a little better and more importantly had a good time. Below are some pictures of the event.
Happy Halloween!
Kat Zig
Disclaimer: “The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.”
You'd be a good Lion Tamer