11 Awesome kids Halloween Activities – make this Halloween a spooky one

Updated On: November 08, 2023 by   Sara Lynch

Halloween is a magical time for kids, it’s the season of mystery and superstition. There are loads of activities you can do to celebrate Halloween with your little monsters. Let their imaginations run wild and create great family memories with these suggestions for kids’ Halloween activities. 

Kids Halloween activities: 

Pumpkin Carving activity 

A classic Halloween activity where creativity and artist skill comes to light. Let your little ones explore their pumpkins, feeling the goo, seeds and innards, before carving out their own spooky designs. This is also great sensory play for younger kids, as it helps them interact and explore different textures.

You can carve out scary faces on your pumpkins or opt for more complex and unique designs, it’s your pumpkin so get creative. A useful 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 hard parts like cutting out. If they are older though, it’s a great time for them to demonstrate their own ability and creative flare. 

The whole family can take part in this activity and the results make for lovely homemade Hallwoeen decorations. 

Drive around to see the neighbours 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 amazing to see your neighbours’ efforts for Halloween. 

Drive or walk around your local town to see the amazing Halloween decorations on display. It is best to go in the evening or at night time, so that you 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 up the arts and crafts box for the kids. There are loads of Halloween themed crafts that your kids can create and they can also be used as Halloween decor afterwards. Have a read through this article for an extensive list of Halloween arts and craft ideas. 

One of our favourite Halloween activities is creating a spider’s web using just some string and sticks. It’s a simple arts and crafts activity and makes for a lovely Halloween decoration. It’s not overly complicated either, so it should be a suitable Halloween activity for 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 easier for them. 

There is also a massive range of halloween colouring in sheets available online. You can download and print them so that your children can spend an afternoon colouring in some 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 Halloween without it. Prepare your kids with bags or buckets for collecting candy and take them out trick or treating around your neighbours doors. Kids will love the opportunity to show off their costumes and interact 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 own 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, you may need to add a little drop of water if the mixture becomes too thick.

Let your kids get their hands dirty making the slime, it’s great for sensory play and the ingredients for the slime are non-toxic on the skin (but not edible!). You can also add in creepy Halloween extras to really 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 apples 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 to dunk their heads in the water and attempt to grab an apple out using only their mouths. 

This game is great for creating funny and chaotic energy. Some versions of the game also put small slits in the apples and fill it 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 away on making eachother toilet paper mummies. It’s a really fun, simple and cheap Halloween activity that’s bound to bring about some laughs. You can also reuse the toilet paper afterwards, so nothing goes to waste.

This activity is a wholesome one and it 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 own home and you might even volunteer yourself to be the mummy!

Visit a haunted house

What better way to scare your kids at Halloween than bringing them to a haunted house? Haunted houses have become an increasingly popular Halloween attraction, so it may be worth looking to see if any have popped up around your local town.

Haunted houses usually involve a lot of jump scares, frightening characters and chaotic energy. So ensure your kids are going into the Haunted House, knowing what to expect. It’s usually not suitable for young children, but those thrill-seeking older kids will enjoy the terrifying experience! 

Make some Halloween treats

Another great Halloween activity for kids is creating some tasty Halloween treats. Kids can share them with friends and family, give them out to trick or treaters, or simply gobble them up themselves. 

There are lots of easy Halloween recipes you can pick to make with your children. It’s a lovely family friendly Halloween activity and it 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:

1. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water.
2. Separate the melted chocolate into 2 parts.
3. Add green food colouring to one part of the melted chocolate and black food colouring to other, mix well. 
4. Place your marshmallows on the top of the wooden skewers. 
5. Dip the marshmallows into the green chocolate mixture and let set.
6. Once set, dip the marshmallows into the black mixture and let it run down a little to resemble hair. 
7. Put the rest of the black chocolate into a piping bag for drawing on the smaller details.
8. Set in the fridge for 10-15minutes. 

These Frankenstein marshmallows are a really simple and easy Halloween activity you can do with kids. The kids don’t have to stick to making Frankenstein’s though, let them get creative and make marshmallow monsters, zombies or even aliens. For more 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. Depending on the age of your children, you might be able to spin them a tale of magic and superstition, even if they are older they might still believe you a little bit if you can tell the story convincely enough. 

Make sure to tell your kids scary stories in the evening or at night time, as you ideally, want it to be dark outside. You could get your kids under a sheet and hold a torch under your chin whilst telling 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, it will make for a de-frightful and memorable experience. 

Kids Halloween movies 

Kids Halloween films are some of the best movies out there. With tales of magic, mystery and superstition, it’s a great family activity to just enjoy 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 the month of October and even YouTube has a collection of short scary stories on their Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids channel. 

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Kids Halloween activities are the perfect time for bonding with your kids and you don’t need to wait until October 31st to get celebrating, you can do many of these activities throughout the whole 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!