Halloween is around the corner and it's a great time to make some memories with your grandchildren. Keep the age of your grandchildren in mind when planning your Halloween celebrations. Ghosts and goblins may be too frightening for younger children so look for ways to adapt activities to make them a little more kid-friendly.

Half the fun of Halloween is creating a spooky atmosphere! For many people, the Jack-O-Lantern is the focal point for any Halloween decor. Carving a pumpkin with your grandchild can be a fun tradition that stimulates creativity, imagination and the senses. Take a trip to your local pumpkin patch (or grocery store) and let your grandchild pick out their pumpkin. Designs can be as simple as big shapes that make a funny face or as intricate as a haunted graveyard scene. Do a quick online search and you'll find tons of templates ranging in difficulty from beginner to advanced. If your grandchildren are really young and not ready for handling carving tools, decorate a pumpkin with paint! Paint a spooky scene or a funny face. Use glow in the dark paint so these pumpkins can glow at night too.

Halloween is also filled with spooky urban legends and scary ghost stories. Share some of your favourite tales with your grandchildren and ask them to share their favourites with you. This just might inspire your grandchildren to write a story or poem of their own. Turn their story into a picture book you create together that you can revisit each Halloween.

Make dressing up on Halloween extra special by helping your grandchild make their costume. Turn a cardboard box into a robot or an old dress into a princess gown. Masks are also a lot of fun to make. Some things to keep in mind when making masks are ensuring that your grandchild's vision will not be impaired and that there is lots of room at the nose and mouth for breathing.

Remind your grandchildren about Halloween safety to make sure they have the most enjoyable Halloween possible. Some safety tips to include are:

• Be careful when you cross the street
• Never enter a strangers house
• Don’t eat any candy before parents inspect it
• Never trick or treat alone

Halloween can still be special and memorable from a distance. If you won't be seeing your grandchildren between now and Halloween, send a Halloween themed care package! This could include age-appropriate spooky movies and a Halloween picture book or novel. And no care package is complete without delicious edible treats. If you have a favourite traditional Halloween treat like caramels, popcorn balls or candy corn, this is a great chance to share it with your grandchild. Halloween stickers or a colouring book are also fun things to include. Package all these special treats inside a reusable goodie bag that they can take with them on Halloween when they go trick or treating.

A few fun activities will help your grandchildren get into the spooky spirit and enjoy Halloween!

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