Halloween is fast approaching.  We stand on our porches and hand out lots of candy.  So why not make it more fun. Much to my family's embarassment every other year or so, children who come to our house meet, not me, but the "Math Wizard".  The math wizard has a silly cape and requires each trick or treeter to answer a math problem before getting a candy. Answer but not answer correctly.  For children under 5 this entails counting fingers, for early elementary students answering simple addition and subtraction, all the way up to simple algebra for high Schoolers. Parents love it, kids laugh and giggle, and it is much more engaging then simply handing out candy.  Kids high five each other when they answer the tough ones, and tease and correct each other when they miss the easy or hard ones. Sometimes they solve them together.

So, why not brainstorm how we can turn the simple act of trick or treat in our neighborhood into something where we can actually talk to kids and have a meaningful interaction.  Anyone feel like being a reading wizard, a poetry wizard, a map wizard (Where in the world is?), a science wizard?  Have an idea throw it out here. And. just to answer your question, no-one has ever egged my house, soaped my windows, or given me a hard time about it.