Halloween is just around the corner! Even if creepy crawlies and dressing up aren’t your thing, most kids enjoy the change in scenery after the long summer months. Halloween is a great time to engage the imagination, spark some magic, and enjoy quality time together as a family. There’s no need to “be extra” here—little ones love fun, simple activities. I’ve made a list of 31 fun Halloween activities for kids, and you can pull most together with little to no preparation at all using items around your home.
If Halloween is your jam and you do want to go all out, you could coordinate with other parents on your block to plan a block party/fall festival using some of these activities. Happy Halloween from Dazzling Diva Photography!
31 Fun + Easy Halloween Activities for Kids
- Choose a theme and let your kiddos help decorate the yard and outside of the house for Halloween.
- Let your littles help you decorate the inside of your home for fall/Halloween. (I used to love helping my mom pull out all the seasonal décor—and don’t worry if it isn’t Insta-perfect. These memories are worth it.)
- Have a Halloween-themed dance party at home, complete with flickering lights, ghoulish décor, tasty treats, and a cauldron of red punch! Kidz Bop Halloween has some super cute tunes to dance to.
- Make your own Halloween treats and desserts. Pinterest has ideas galore!
- Do a trick-or-treat scavenger hunt in the house.
- Make a DIY “haunted” house. It doesn’t have to be scary. If you don’t want to decorate the whole house, use large carboard boxes to created your own miniature version. Streamers, balloons, fake candles, spider web gauze, pumpkins, happy ghosts, and pool noodles made some fun obstacle course-type fun without being too spooky.
- Create a fall-themed maze in the backyard.
- Do an autumn scavenger hunt outside. Search for acorns, different colored leaves, a spiderweb, and pinecones. You can add to it by having your kids find items like a pumpkin, scarecrow, and cute Halloween items and trinkets.
- Paint pumpkins. Check out these easy kid-friendly tutorials by Aubree Originals.
- Dress up as your favorite book character.
- Have a hotdog and s’mores cookout. Add fall-colored sprinkles or Halloween candy for a festive touch.
- Carve pumpkins.
- Make hot dog mummies. Wrap hotdogs or little smokies with thin strips of crescent roll dough, leaving spaces for the hot dog to show through. (Don’t forget to cut into non-choking hazard pieces for little ones.)
- Make a witch hat or pumpkin ring toss. Purchase tall witch hats or pumpkins with long stems, and let your little ones try to throw glowstick rings or pool diving rings around them. Make this a 2-in-1 activities by painting small orange cones into witch hats, ghosts, Frankenstein’s, or other lovable Halloween characters.
- Family face painting!
- Pumpkin Chuckin’—See this super cute tutorial by B-Inspired Mama.
- Decorate paper lanterns. Get some white, orange, and/or black paper lanterns from the craft store, and make them into Halloween characters. Cut and glue construction paper to make faces. Or, you could also buy some mesh or light fabric/gauze material to make little ghosts.
- Play Halloween BINGO.
- Bob for apples (if your kids are old enough). Alternatively, you could also get small bug nets from the dollar store and let them fish for apples or floating toys.
- Ghost Busters. Add ghost faces to white cups or small pails (flipped upside down). Stack them in a pyramid, and let your kids take turns throwing a small ball to knock them all down.
- Make a spider web obstacle course with white streamers. Check out Mrs. Plemons Kindergarten for the tutorial.
- Create a “Little Bats Sensory Bin.” Fill a container with orange ring pasta, and add black bowties for the bats. Hide little Halloween-themed trinkets inside for little fingers to find. Courtesy of Mrs. Plemons Kindergarten.
- Make pool noodle monsters—tutorial by Easy Crafts for Kids.
- Read classic Halloween-themed books together. Some examples might include Stellaluna, Very Busy Spider, or Big Pumpkin. For older elementary kids, try Little Witch, James and the Giant Peach, or The Witches.
- Have a spooky Halloween movie night. Turn off the lights, add orange, green, and purple string lights, and sprinkle some candy corn (or favorite candy) into the popcorn.
- Make Halloween trail mix with M&M’s, candy corn, Bugles (witch hats), pretzels, goldfish, Reese’s Pieces, mini Oreo bites, Chex Mix or Muddy Buddies, raisins…whatever your heart desires.
- Make popsicle stick monsters with this adorably spooky monster tutorial—Frankenstein, bats, and more! (Appropriate for older babies and toddlers, too. They can help with the googly eyes or just have fun with the popsicle sticks.)
- Make potions. Check out this incredible (and doable) Magic School setup by Fairy Poppins!
- Roast pumpkin seeds. If you have older kids, you might mix it up by creating a sweet cinnamon sugar batch and a savory batch. Which is the favorite? Find six versions on Wholefully.
- Apple taste test. This is not necessarily a Halloween activity, but if you have young ones, this is a classic fall favorite! Slice different types of apples—Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Gala, Honey Crisp, Golden Delicious, etc. and see which ones your kiddo prefers. Take it up a notch for older preschoolers by blindfolding them and seeing if they can guess the colors based on the taste.
- Dress up and go trick-or-treating! Happy Halloween, friends!
Hope you enjoy these Halloween activities for kids–don’t forget to take photos!
Book Your Fall Mini Session with Dazzling Diva Photography
I’ve still got a handful of fall and winter themed mini sessions available. These make beautiful holiday cards, gifts, wall art, gallery walls, and more! Book your session here before they run out—these are the last available of my 2021 sessions!
Have questions before booking? Connect with me here.
