Instead of sugary tricks, give LOVE this HALLOWEEN

Are you worried about giving children toxic candy this Halloween? The World Council for Health has a solution!

Instead of sugary tricks, give 'hand heart' treats!

If you need a refresher course on exactly how and why sugar is so bad for children and leads to chronic disease, our WCH Health & Science Team lead Christof Plothe DO explains in this video.

‘Hand hearts’ are MUCH HEALTHIER and cheaper than candy too. Children of all ages LOVE them.

So…

To make about 20 neon pink HAND HEARTS, you will need:

1. An A4 sheet of neon pink thick felt or cardboard

2. 0.5mm elastic thread cut into 16 to 20 cm lengths (depending on size of the hands)

3. Tape of any sort

4. Heart-shaped stencil

5. A large sewing needle

6. A pen

All set? To craft the hand hearts:

1. Outline 20 hand hearts on the felt with the pen/pencil.

2. Cut out the hand hearts

3. With the sewing needle threaded with a length of elastic, make 2 holes about 0.5cm from the inside edge on either side of each heart, looping the elastic through to one side.

4. Secure the ends with tape, and

5. Voila!

In addition to gifting at Halloween, ‘hand hearts’ may also be useful to:

• say ‘thank you’, e.g. as driver or pedestrian on the roads

• wave ‘goodbye’ or say ‘hi’ or ‘sorry’

• transcend political divisions at the ballot box

• uplift someone’s spirits

• bring colour to a dreary day

• spread LOVE not fear

• make cheerful heart bunting

• use as tree decorations at Christmas time

Add extra love to the crafting process by inviting children and the elderly to create them with you.

Hand hearts are best worn in conjunction with a smile!

Post your photos of hand hearts to social media with the hashtag: #SpreadLOVE

Learn more about the Spread LOVE campaign and other World Council for Health campaigns on the WCH website.