Good community ideas for family fun spread quickly. “Trunk or Treat” could be in your Halloween fun next year at your school, religious organization, or community center.

Here is how it works. Families decorate their cars with lights, spider webs, and other Halloween decorations.

They may even add “Thriller” or “Monster Mash” music. After dressing up in their Halloween costumes, and gathering candy, they park their car in the designated parking lot and open the trunk to pass out candy.

Treating the kids

Children and parents go from car to car trick or treating while enjoying a beautiful evening before Halloween.

Talking, laughing and being a community is a throwback to meeting in the town square, strolling downtown, or sitting on neighborhood porches.

The school or community center then sells hot dogs, sloppy Joes, nachos and soda to raise funds for the children. Kids dance the “Hokey Pokey,” “YMCA” and other traditional favorites. Later, families make S’Mores in a campfire pit.

Halloween tailgating is another way to make Halloween last a little longer on a beautiful fall evening.

Math treats

Once the “Trunk or Treat” is over, friends can meet to divide candy and trade.

Older children can mark off sections of a room with blocks or yarn. They can divide their haul into piles of favorites and those ready- for- trade.

The ready- for-trade pile can be further divided by characteristics like chocolate, with- nuts, non-chocolate, chips, or gum.

Teach children how to trade. They can trade two or three small candies for a large bar.

The week after Halloween is a good time to sneak in a little math graphing with candy bars because children like to play with their stash. Place a yardstick on the floor as the base of the graph.

Children can line up the same types of candy to compare the highest and lowest. Which candy bars were the most popular? Which ones were the least popular? Why do they think those bars were the least favorite to pass out for Halloween?

For more math activities see grandparentsteachtoo.blogspot.com, grandparentsteachtoo.org, and wnmufm.org /Learning Through the Seasons.

Editor’s note: Grandparents Teach, Too is a non-profit organization of elementary and preschool teachers from Marquette, Michigan. Writers include: Jan Sabin, Mary Davis, Jean Hetrick, Cheryl Anderegg, Esther Macalady, Colleen Walker, Fran Darling, and Iris Katers.Their mission since 2009 is to help parents, grandparents, and other caregivers of young children provide fun activities to help prepare young children for school and a life long love of learning. They are supported by Great Start, Parent Awareness of Michigan (PAM), Upper Peninsula Association for the Education of Young Children (UPAEYC), Northern Michigan School of Education, U.P. Children’s Museum and NMU Center for Economic Education.