Updated on:
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Sara Lynch
Sara Lynch
Halloween is a magical time for kids, a season of mystery and superstition. You can do many activities to celebrate Halloween with your little monsters. Let their imaginations run wild and create great family memories with these suggestions for kids’ Halloween activities.
Table of Contents
Kids Halloween activities:
Pumpkin Carving activity
This is a classic Halloween activity that showcases creativity and artistry. Let your little ones explore their pumpkins, feeling the goo, seeds, and innards before carving out their spooky designs. This is also great sensory play for younger kids, as it helps them interact and explore different textures.
You can carve scary faces on your pumpkins or opt for more complex and unique designs. It’s your pumpkin, so get creative. A helpful tip is to draw the face on the pumpkin with a whiteboard marker before you cut it out. As the saying goes, “cut once, measure twice.”
Depending on your child’s age, you may have to closely supervise them and do the complex parts, like cutting out. If they are older, though, it’s an excellent time to demonstrate their ability and creative flair.
The whole family can participate in this activity, and the results make for lovely homemade Halloween decorations.
Drive around to see the neighbour’s Halloween decorations
One thing about Halloween is that it unites the community in the spirit of the spooky celebrations. Some houses tend to go all out for the Halloween displays with flashing lights, creepy statues and horrific scenes; it’s fantastic to see your neighbours’ efforts for Halloween.
Drive or walk around your local town to see the incredible Halloween decorations. It is best to go in the evening or at night to get the full effect of their creepy decor. This is a sure way to create a loving Halloween family memory.
Kids Halloween arts and crafts activities
Halloween is a great time to open the arts and crafts box for the kids. There are loads of Halloween-themed crafts that your kids can create, which can also be used as Halloween decor afterwards. This article has an extensive list of Halloween arts and crafts ideas.
One of our favourite Halloween activities is creating a spider’s web using string and sticks. It’s a simple arts and crafts activity that makes a lovely Halloween decoration. It’s not overly complicated, so it should suit your children.
You can design Halloween arts and crafts activities according to your child’s age and ability. For example, the spider’s web activity can be adapted with wool and paper plates to make it more manageable and more accessible for them.
There is also a massive range of Halloween colouring-in sheets available online. You can download and print them so your children can spend an afternoon colouring in spooky pictures. Crayola has a wide range of free, downloadable Halloween colouring sheets.
Trick or treating – the best Halloween activity for kids
Trick or treating is a staple of Halloween celebrations; it wouldn’t be without it. Prepare your kids with bags or buckets for collecting candy and take them out trick or treating around your neighbour’s doors. Kids will love showing off their costumes and interacting with their local community.
You could also teach your kids some fun Halloween songs to sing for your neighbours or teach them funny trick-or-treat greetings, e.g.),
“Trick or Treat, smell my feet,
Give me something nice to eat.
If you don’t, I won’t be sad.
I’ll just make you wish you had!”
Make some Halloween slime
It’s slimy, gross and gooey, and kids love it. Slime has been a big hit in recent years, and you can help your kids make their own at home for a fun Halloween activity.
It only takes four simple ingredients to make your slime:
- 170g PVA glue
- Orange and green food colouring
- ½ teaspoon of baking soda.
- 1 ½ Tablespoons contact lens solution (containing boric acid)
Combine all of the ingredients and mix well to form a slimy substance. You should be able to hold and mould the slime. If the mixture becomes too thick, you may need to add a little water.
Let your kids get their hands dirty making the slime. It’s great for sensory play, and the ingredients are non-toxic on the skin (but not edible!). You can also add in creepy Halloween extras to spook up your slime, e.g.) fake eyeballs, spiders, worms and creepy crawlies. This is a Halloween activity that will surely keep your little ones occupied.
Bobbing for apple activity
Bobbing for apples is a classic Halloween party game. Simply fill a large bucket or basin full of drinkable water and put a load of apples in it. Kids will then take turns dunking their heads in the water and attempting to grab an apple using only their mouths.
This game is excellent for creating funny and chaotic energy. Some versions of the game also put small slits in the apples and fill them with loose change, so if a kid picks out that apple, they will win all of the money stuck in it.
Kids Halloween Dress up
Give your kids a roll of toilet paper and let them work on making each other toilet paper mummies. It’s an enjoyable, simple, and cheap Halloween activity that’s bound to bring about some laughs. You can reuse the toilet paper afterwards, so nothing goes to waste.
This activity is wholesome and will make for some great pictures when completed. I just wouldn’t let your kids use it as a Halloween costume, as it’s very flimsy, and they wouldn’t be able to get wet. This activity can be performed in the comfort of your home, and you might even volunteer to be the mummy!
Visit a haunted house
What better way to scare your kids at Halloween than taking them to a haunted house? Haunted houses have become an increasingly popular Halloween attraction, so seeing if any have popped up around your local town may be worth seeing.
Haunted houses usually involve a lot of jump scares, frightening characters, and chaotic energy. So ensure your kids go into the Haunted House knowing what to expect. It’s usually unsuitable for young children, but thrill-seeking older kids will enjoy the terrifying experience!
Make some Halloween treats
Another great Halloween activity for kids is creating tasty Halloween treats. They can share them with friends and family, give them to trick-or-treaters, or simply gobble them themselves.
There are lots of easy Halloween recipes you can make with your children. It’s a lovely, family-friendly Halloween activity that teaches kids basic cooking skills. One recipe we suggest making is Frankenstein Marshmallows.
Ingredients:
- Marshmallows
- Green food colouring
- Black food colouring
- White chocolate
- Wooden skewers.
Method:
- Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.
- Separate the melted chocolate into 2 parts.
- Mix well with green food colouring to one part of the melted chocolate and black food colouring to the other.
- Place your marshmallows on the top of the wooden skewers.
- Dip the marshmallows into the green chocolate mixture and let set.
- Once set, dip the marshmallows into the black mixture and let it run down to resemble hair.
- Put the rest of the black chocolate into a piping bag to draw on the more minor details.
- Set in the fridge for 10-15minutes.
These Frankenstein marshmallows are a straightforward Halloween activity you can do with kids. The kids don’t have to stick to making Frankenstein; let them get creative and make marshmallow monsters, zombies or even aliens. For inspiration on Halloween treats to make with the kids, visit this blog!
Tell scary stories
Halloween is the time for telling spooky stories. Scare your kids and make them believe in the mystical magic of Halloween. You can spin a tale of magic and superstition depending on their age. Even if they are older, they might still believe you if you can tell the story convincingly enough.
Make sure to tell your kids scary stories in the evening or at night, as you ideally want it to be dark outside. You could get your kids under a sheet and hold a torch under your chin while you tell the story; it adds to the scariness of it all.
You might even want to tell scary stories outside whilst toasting marshmallows, which is also the perfect opportunity for freaking your kids out, e.g.) did you hear that? I think it’s the Banshee in the story! Whatever way you tell your kids their scary stories will make for a de-frightful and memorable experience.
Kids Halloween movies
Kids’ Halloween films are some of the best movies out there. Tears of magic, mystery, and superstition make it a great family activity to enjoy while watching a Halloween film. Get the popcorn out and let your kids pick their favourite Halloween film. Some of our suggestions include:
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Hocus Pocus
- Casper
- Monster House
- Scooby-Doo
- The Witches
Many of these films are available on streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney Plus, Amazon Prime, etc. Digital television should also start showing Halloween films in October, and YouTube even has a collection of short scary stories on its Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids channel.
Kids’ Halloween activities are the perfect time for bonding with your kids, and you don’t need to wait until 31 October to celebrate; you can do many of these activities throughout the spooky month.
Halloween is an opportunity to create some memorable memories that they will cherish as they get older. From pumpkin carving to tasty treats, you might even enjoy the kids’ Halloween activities more than them!
MWAHAHAHAHA!
