The Halloween Night Quest

For grown-ups

Six symbols hide on a Halloween puzzle trail. Your child navigates two friends through it, and back by eight.

What your child practises

• Making a plan with a grown-up, and changing it only by asking
• Disagreeing with a friend kindly, and saying no to a shortcut or a doorway
• What to do when someone is out of sight: stop somewhere bright, call, find a marshal
• Crossing a busy road at the lights, and looking all the way across

Listen for

Your child saying why the friends stayed outside, or why they called before choosing to be late.

Your part

• How far a child this age goes without you is your family's call; in the book a grown-up walks the same streets
• A child with a food allergy follows their emergency plan and carries their prescribed epinephrine, if they have it
• If your family doesn't celebrate Halloween, read it as a puzzle walk with friends

Take it off the screen

Write a night plan together: who goes, which streets, where to meet if you lose each other, and what time is home.

Where the facts come from

• Health Canada: Halloween safety
• Parachute: Halloween safety

Every Halloween, the Lantern Keeper hides six symbols on the houses round the loop. "In nine years," says Mr. Adeyemi, handing over a card, "no team has guessed the picture before I showed it to them. Guess it first, and you may ask me one question. Any question." "What kind of picture?" asks Theo. "That," says the Keeper, "is the quest." He taps the banner on his table. "And some clues are easier to find when you stop looking far away." Your child's name is the navigator this year. Priya is already reading the map. Theo is already filming.

Your child's name studies the card. In the middle of the clear paper is an empty square with a little tick at each corner. "Every symbol hangs in a square like this," says Priya, reading the rules on the back. "Line the ticks up, then trace." Under the clear paper is the map. Maple Street, the busiest. Birch Street, with the big garages. Crow Lane, the quiet one under the trees. The hall at the corner. Along the bottom runs Elm Road: cars, buses, the lot. One set of lights crosses it.

The plan was made at Priya's kitchen table last week, with all three families. Priya's mum says it once more. "Three streets, and the lights on Elm. Nobody goes inside anywhere. Back here after the third symbol, and back here by eight." "And if we lose each other?" asks your child's name. "Stop somewhere bright, and stay there. Call me. If there's an orange vest close by, tell the marshal. Nobody walks off looking." "Got my snacks and my medicine," says Theo, patting his bag. Theo has a peanut allergy. He brings his own. "And I'll be walking Pepper round the loop," says Priya's mum. "Close enough to call."

Everyone has a flashlight, the card, and a phone in Priya's pocket. "One extra thing per team," says the Keeper, opening a box. A magnifying glass. A notebook. "The glass," says Priya. "Some symbols are tiny." "The notebook," says Theo. "Then we can draw what we think it is." They both look at the navigator.