A Nurturing Boo : Halloween tricks that are not too scary can be fun for kids. Several kinder, gentler treats are available.

Tess Hatcher, 4, smiles as she cautiously approaches Spooky House in Woodland Hills. She laughs when ghouls and goblins jump out, but she doesn’t take her eyes off the masked characters, nor does she let go of her mother’s hand.

Tess, with her mother, Jeanie Hatcher, as a buffer, makes her way through the creepy cemetery into the dusty attic, through a library with a secret passageway and into a spider-infested greenhouse. Funeral music and eerie laughter echo down the dark corridors, and visitors--whether they know one another or not--tend to cluster together until they reach the security of the Spooky House exit.

“Let’s do it again,” Tess said confidently, after returning to the safety of sunlight. A little fright is fun, at least according to this little one.

Spooky House creators Bob Koritzke and Dave Rector took pains to make the annual computerized haunted house accessible to young children during daylight hours (it’s open each weekend in October). The mutilated bodies that hang from the ceiling are covered in plastic, natural lighting keeps the place partly lit and the ghouls and goblins are portrayed by kids ages 7 to 12, rather than by the adults who don masks and attempt to scare the daylights out of the older crowd that arrives after dark.

But even without the additional gory special effects, going through the maze after dark “would be too scary” for a child as young as Tess, said her mother, adding that even during the daylight matinee, “I’m with her and talking with her the whole way.”

That is key to making Halloween scary fun as opposed to traumatic terror for kids, said Russell Thompson, a clinical psychologist in Long Beach. If Mom or Dad is there to explain that it’s fantasy or pretend, a little Halloween horror could be good fun.

“But if the parent is antagonistic, if the parent gets a kick out of the kid’s fear . . . the child could feel abandoned,” Thompson said. “He’s left to his own resources [to handle his fear] and may be unequipped to do so.”

As special effects become more graphic--and realistic--many communities have created Halloween happenings that cater to young children. Following is a sampling of events that are alternatives to blood-drenched adult horror fests:

Bob & Dave’s Eighth Annual Spooky House is a 20-room computerized haunted house in Valley Indoor Swap Meet’s parking lot, 6701 Variel Ave., Woodland Hills. Special effects are toned down for kids Friday, 3 to 5 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m.; also Halloween weekend. Admission (before 5 p.m. only), $5.50. (818) 888-8570.

Boo at the Zoo costume parade at Santa Ana Zoo, 1801 E. Chestnut Ave., Santa Ana. Storytelling, live animal encounters, trick-or-treat stations and educational programs make this a fright-free fest. Friday through Sunday only, 5:30 to 8 p.m. $5 at the door. (714) 953-8555.

Family Halloween Carnival, Costume Parade and Haunted House, Manhattan Heights Community Center, 1600 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Manhattan Beach. Game booths, pumpkin decorating, storytelling and a haunted house for ages 6 to 12. Saturday only, 2 to 6 p.m. Costume contest for ages 2 to 12, 2 p.m. All events free. (310) 545-5621, Ext. 321.

Haunted Howl-o-ween Walk, Eaton Canyon Park, 1750 N. Altadena Drive, Pasadena. Children can find goodies in the witch’s kitchen, visit a fortuneteller or sing and tell ghost stories around a campfire. Saturday only, 5 to 9 p.m. $3; $10 for family of five ($2 for each additional person). (626) 398-5420.

Tar Pits Camp-out. Children 5 and older (and an accompanying adult) can sleep beneath the mammoths, wolves and ground sloths at the La Bra Tar Pits. Bring a flashlight for a nighttime tour of the fossils at the George C. Page Museum of La Brea Discoveries, Hancock Park, 5801 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Sleepover from Saturday at 7 p.m. through Sunday at 8 a.m. $50; evening snack and breakfast included. (213) 934-7243.

Enchanted Castle, Children’s Museum at La Habra, 301 S. Euclid St., La Habra. Non-scary activities geared to ages 2 to 8. Explore dungeons, towers and moats and make craft projects; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Sunday, 1:30 to 4 p.m. Adults with children, free; ages 2 to 8, 75 cents. (562) 905-9693.

Halloween at Los Angeles Children’s Museum, 310 N. Main St., Los Angeles, includes storytelling, pumpkin decorating, monster medallions and ghoulish creatures crafts, Halloween story videos. Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Included in museum admission, which is $5; children in costumes, $4. (213) 687-8800.

Scared Silly is Universal CityWalk’s costume, crafts and entertainment-filled event for ages 3 to 10. Saturday and Sunday, 2 to 5 p.m. Free. (818) 622-4455.

Camp Spooky returns to Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park with trick-or-treating with Snoopy, the Kellogg’s Camp Snoopy Costume Contest, storytelling, the GhoulBusters Band and more for ages 3 to 11. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Included in park admission, which is $25 for Southern California residents; ages 3 to 11, $15; 2 and younger, free. (714) 220-5200.

Kidspace Haunted House, 390 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Includes a walk-through exhibit and activities for young children. Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Oct. 29 and 30, 3 to 6 p.m.; Oct. 31, 3 to 7:30 p.m. $5 for all ages. (626) 449-9143.

Halloween Adventures, Oak Canyon Nature Center, 6700 E. Walnut Canyon Road, Anaheim, includes Halloween-themed walks. Ages 6 to 10, Oct. 30, 3 to 4:30 p.m. On Oct. 31, ages 2 to 4 can walk the Tricky Trail and return to the center for “creepy critter cookie-making” beginning at 10 a.m. Ages 4 to 6 will learn about bats, owls and tarantulas on a walk, followed by creepy cookie-making, at 1 p.m. Ages 6 to 10, $4.50; 5 and younger, $3. Registration required: (714) 998-8380.

West Hollywood hosts the Youth Halloween Carnaval at Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., Oct. 30, 6 to 9 p.m. Kiddie games and rides, graveyard scene and entertainment. $1. (213) 848-6530.

Country Halloween Carnival, La Cienega Park, 8400 Gregory Way, Beverly Hills; Oct. 31, 4 to 9 p.m. Costume parades, for ages 3 to 6, 4:30 to 5 p.m.; for ages 7 to 12, 6 to 6:45 p.m. $12 fee includes admission, unlimited rides and five game tickets; or $2 fee includes admission and two games or rides. (310) 550-4765.

Halloween Carnival. Torrance Parks and Recreation Department’s event will be at Wilson Park, 2200 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance (ball fields 1 and 2), Oct. 31, 4 to 8 p.m. Food booths, games. Costume parade, 6:30 p.m. Game tickets $4. (310) 618-2930.