As summer turns to fall the Intermediate School Age students are reminded of our yearly tradition, making the centers Haunted House for the annual Fall Festival. Every year students are asked to create and implement a theme for the Haunted House, and then on the night of Fall Festival they are able to hide within their creation and scare their peers and center families who brave the house.
This year our room was transformed. Students first created their own versions of the layout of our classroom. They decided that to better serve the customer (the families) they should create both a “scary” route and a “so-so” route, for the not so brave, and the younger children. They also decided that they wanted to expand the Haunted House to continue from our classroom all the way to their coat room. They chose very distinct things to design within every section of the room. As you entered the classroom you either took the scary route to the right, or the so-so route to the left. The scary route went into the middle portion of our room, where the students had created a home with a kitchen and bedroom, they were able to hide in much of what they created and had fun popping out and scaring those who passed by.
In the coatroom the students created a laboratory full of spooky bottled concoctions, they mixed oil, water food coloring and other supplies they found around our room and then put a colored light in a cauldron to look like there was something brewing. By far this year’s student involvement has been greater than any other years past. The students were involved in creating every aspect of the Haunted House. They completed the setup of the Haunted House early on the night of Fall Festival.
Not only were the students completely involved in the creation of the Haunted House, but the following Monday all of the students helped to support the staff in cleaning the room, sorting decorations and putting the room back the way it was. They had complete ownership over taking care of the materials they had created and packed them away properly. The entire room was cleaned in a day. This was something we the staff had never seen in the students before. After all, getting children of any age to clean up can have its challenges. We are very excited about the students participation in this event, and hope that next year we can continue to grow and improve. Happy Halloween!
A Parent's Partner 