It’s no secret that kids love three things: holidays, getting dressed up, and sweets. Perhaps that’s why Halloween is one of the most looked forward to events of the year for any child old enough to hold out a bag and say “trick or treat.”
This year, we decided to give Halloween a humane makeover, while still keeping it light and fun. At Caring Kids, a weekly program we run with Animal Haven at their facility, and with help from the generous donations from the wonderful people at Moomah, we had one of the best Halloween parties we could have hoped for. In addition to eating fair trade chocolate, apples and organic lollipops and listening to the Monster Mash, we looked at the animals who are usually thought to be creepy, scary or bad luck, and tried to see them from a different point of view.
Myths about Black Cats: Learn the Truth
Kids discussed the common myth that black cats are bad luck. They also found out that the “bad luck” myth isn’t the only one out there. In some countries people think it is good luck when a black cat crosses their path and other places believe it is good luck when a black cat sneezes. Kids then wrote down positive things about cats on a collage to dispel the dominating myth in our culture and hopefully inspire more people to adopt black kitties.
Beautiful Bats and Special Spiders
A lot of people think that spiders and bats are scary, which is why they are so often used in Halloween decorations. But, like most animals, they are truly incredible. That’s why kids did reverence building activities, learned amazing facts about spiders and bats, and how, perhaps, they aren’t so scary after all. Kids discovered that bats are pollinators who like to eat fruit, and use echolocation to help them navigate in the dark. They also learned that spiders make silk and help to control the insect population.
For each of the topics, there were fun crafts to go along with them like making spider hats, bat books and the cat collage. Kids also enjoyed laughing and watching a slide show of adorable companion animals wearing cute costumes. And no Caring Kids session would be complete without small groups of kids meeting and petting a dog or cat who is waiting for his or her forever home.
We’d like to thank the kids who came for being so fantastic, the volunteers, and Moomah for all their help. We can’t wait until next year.