Halloween lends itself so easily to food play, transforming simple fruits and veggies into haunted treats with just a few tricks. To wit, today the kids enjoyed banana ghosts and jack o’ lantern clementines as part of our countdown to the big shindig.

For the “Casper Ghosts”, peel a banana and carefully cut in half lengthwise. Curvier bananas are better for this, because you’ll get that perfect curled ghost tail.

Add three chocolate chips: two for eyes, and one for the round O of a mouth.

Now it was the kids’ job to make the ghosts “disappear”, a task they were happily up to. Starting with the eyes of course!

For a Jack-o’-Orange, first draw jack o’ lantern features on the skin of a clementine. Show your kids how to poke whole cloves in along the lines.

This was tricky for Veronika, but I helped her poke cloves straight in, or she simply enjoyed sprinkling them on top as I worked.

She was delighted by her end result!

Travis, meanwhile, took the task so seriously and concentrated hard as he worked his way around the lines I’d drawn.

He loved it so much he wanted to make another as a present for his great-grandmother!

These oranges really are more potpourri decor than a snack (they’ll make your kitchen smell amazing!), so make sure there are extra clementines on hand to satisfy your little beasties.