Holidays with kids are tons of fun, and Halloween is no different. Using fun Halloween activities is a great way to engage your young children with learning and developmental activities!
Each of these activities is exploding with Halloween fun. Kids of all ages will be able to engage and enjoy these fun ideas. These Halloween activities are great to do at home, in the classroom, during youth groups, at playdates, or even at a Halloween party. These easy Halloween activities are meant for your real life – nothing here is too hard to do!
These lists of Halloween-themed activities will help you bring excitement and learning to this spooky and fun time of year. The whole family will enjoy spending this time together and having fun.
Each collection of Halloween activities has a different goal in mind, from crafts to sensory play to gross motor play. Leave me a comment and let me know your favorite Halloween activities. My kids and I are always looking for new ways to play and celebrate their favorite holiday!
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Halloween Sensory Play Ideas
Sensory play is great for engaging your child in activities that activate their imagination and help them ave tons of fun! Sure, you may end up with a messy little monster, but the fun and learning is definitely worth it.
Sensory activities can be really simple. Use a bin with a lid to save and reuse all through the Halloween season.
Halloween Sensory Bin
Sensory activities engage your child’s senses. Think about including different textures, smells, colors, and shapes to really get them engaged! Sensory bins are a perfect way to create those experiences, but don’t be afraid to get creative.
Here are some sensory bin filler ideas:
- Rice
- Beans
- Corn kernels
- Oatmeal
- Cereal
- Plastic spiders
- Googly eyes
- Fake cobwebs
- Small halloween toys
- Halloween sprinkles
Halloween Sensory Bin Ideas:
Pumpkin Spice Sensory Bin
Add some dry oatmeal, pumpkin spice seasoning, Halloween sprinkles, and other themed baking items! I like to add muffin cups, a whisk, and a large spoon. Let your little ones “bake” a treat with this taste-safe sensory bin.
This bin is great because it explores taste, smell, and touch. Your little one can smell the seasoning and taste the oatmeal while using their little hands to dig around and play. It’s a great opportunity to try some new flavors!
Apple Sensory Bin
I make this apple spice sensory bin for toddler and she loves it! I add some cinnamon, cloves, and dry oatmeal to a bin. I throw in a few apple slices as well and let my daughter explore how the oatmeal and spices stick to the apple. You can give them a paintbrush and some water to brush and clean the apple and explore getting it dirty again.
Adding water can make the oatmeal thick and muddy and it can be fun for your little one to see how the texture changes! You can easily do this activity in the bath tub to make cleanup a bit easier.
Pumpkin Guts
Cut the top off a pumpkin and let your little one enjoy the insides! Squish the guts with your hands and pick out the seeds. You can then roast the seeds, use them for crafts, and sort them!
The perfect time to do this is when you are planning to carve a pumpkin. Allot yourself extra time if that’s part of your plan – this fun Halloween activity is a bit messy!
Halloween Sensory Bottles
Sensory bottles are one of those simple activities that has a high reward. They can be used over and over again and make little mess.
Fill empty plastic bottles with Halloween-themed items like glitter, plastic spiders, and water or clear gel. Close the bottles tightly and use a glue gun to seal it up.
Toddlers can shake the sensory bottle and watch how the fillings move around! Use small water bottles or larger soda bottles and make a few different kinds to compare and contrast. Stuffing the bottle with small Halloween trinkets can be a great fine motor activity, too.
Themed Cloud Dough
This easy craft can be adapted to any holiday! Cloud dough is similar to play dough, but is gluten free and great for sensitive skin.
To make cloud dough, mix ⅓ cup of conditioner or lotion with ⅔ cup of cornstarch. You can dye the dough with food coloring (I recommend using orange, black, purple, and green) and add some mix-ins like Halloween sprinkles or glitter.
Your little ones will have an awesome time playing with their cloud dough! I recommend using a playdough mat and offering some Halloween shaped cookie cutters to make it a really fun and engaging activity.
Halloween Sensory Bags
Fill sealable plastic bags with Halloween-themed items and things like colorful gel, plastic spiders, and googly eyes.
Seal the bags tightly and cover the seal with thick tape. Toddlers can squish and explore the bags for a fun sensory activity that doesn’t make a mess.
Halloween sensory bag filling ideas:
- Hair gel
- Gelatin
- Paint (black, orange, green, and purple)
- Google eyes
- Little spiders
- Felt ghosts, pumpkins, and black cats
- Halloween sprinkles
- Yarn
- Baby oil
Halloween theme bag ideas:
- Googly eyes and black yarn as kitty whiskers (your little one can squish the eyes and whiskers around to make a face)
- Felt shapes and orange colored gel (your child can move the pieces around to make a jack-o-lantern face)
- Clear gel, black yarn pieces, and a plastic spider (encourage them to move the yarn around and make a spider web)
Halloween Baking
You may not think of baking as being a sensory activity, but it absolutely can be!
Halloween-themed baking activities, such as making ghost-shaped cookies or decorating cupcakes with orange and black frosting, offer your child a chance to engage their senses and their fine motor skills. Let them participate in measuring and mixing ingredients, taste testing (when safe), smelling, and touching. It’s a fun time, and you will even get some great treats out of it!
Gross Motor Halloween Activities
If you want to get all their energy and excitement out, gross motor activities are a great way to do so. These activity ideas are perfect to wear out your little ones while keeping them in the Halloween spirit.
Pumpkin Bowling
Set up a simple bowling game using small plastic pumpkins as pins and a soft ball. Let toddlers take turns rolling the ball and knocking down the mini pumpkins.
You can also use some plastic bowling pins and use small pumpkins as the bowling ball. Use what you have and have fun!
Spider Web Obstacle Course
Create a spider web obstacle course using yarn or string. Attach the string to furniture or other objects, creating a maze for toddlers to navigate through without touching the “spider webs.” Your kids will have a great time working on problem-solving skills, balance, and coordination. Have them race to the finish or work in teams to find the best way to complete the course!
Halloween Dance Party
Sometimes the best Halloween activities are the easiest ones! Put on some kid-friendly Halloween music and have a dance party with toddlers. Encourage them to dance, move, and have fun with their spooky dance moves.
Halloween Songs For Kids:
- “Monster Mash” by Bobby Pickett
- “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.
- “Thriller” by Michael Jackson
- “The Addams Family Theme Song”
- “Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley
- “This Is Halloween” from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” soundtrack
- “I Put a Spell On You” by Bette Midler (from the movie “Hocus Pocus”)
- “Witch Doctor” by David Seville
- “The Skeleton Dance” by Super Simple Songs
- “Five Little Pumpkins” by Super Simple Songs
- “Spooky Scary Skeletons” by Andrew Gold
- “The Monster Boogie” by Laurie Berkner
- “The Haunted House” by Little Red Car
- “Halloween Sharks” by Pinkfong
- “Trick or Treat” by Super Simple Songs
Ghost Freeze Dance
Play some Halloween-themed music and have toddlers dance around. When the music stops, they have to freeze in their ghostly poses. There are even Halloween themed freeze dance songs on YouTube.
Trick-or-treat practice
Set up a small trick-or-treat practice session at home. Create a mini candy trail or use pictures of candy placed around the house, and let your kids go around and collect the “treats” in a small bag or bucket.
Create small obstacles for them for more gross-motor practice! For example, have them crawl under tables or over the top of couch cushions to get the candy.
Easy Halloween Crafts For Kids
My kids love to do crafts and put them on display. These craft ideas are great if you want a simple activity! I recommend using trays to keep organized and keep the mess contained. These fun Halloween crafts will be great to display all season long!
Paper Plate Jack-o’-Lanterns
Paint paper plates orange, cut construction paper for eyes, nose, and mouth cutouts, and glue. Let the kids decorate their paper plates to create their own pumpkin face.
Young kids will probably want to do this simple craft a few different ways – some spooky and some silly! Cut out lots of different shapes and let them explore how different arrangements display different emotions.
Popsicle Stick Spiderwebs
Using popsicle sticks and white yarn or string, help the kids create spiderweb shapes by gluing the sticks together and then weaving the string in a radial pattern between the sticks. Use small plastic spiders to place on your web!
Related: 165+ Halloween Would You Rather Questions For Kids (+ FREE DOWNLOAD)
Egg Carton Bats
Cut sections of an egg carton and let the kids paint them black. Attach googly eyes and cut out paper wings to create cute and spooky bats.
Handprint Ghosts
Paint your kids’ hands in white washable paint and help them make handprints on black construction paper. Once dry, they can decorate the handprints with markers or googly eyes to turn them into friendly ghosts.
Mummy Mason Jars
Wrap empty mason jars with strips of white gauze or toilet paper, securing them with glue or tape. Add googly eyes to create adorable mummy jars that can be used as candle holders or filled with treats.
Paper Bag Monsters
Using paper lunch bags, markers, and construction paper, kids can create their own monster puppets. They can decorate the bags, add eyes, teeth, and other spooky features using the materials. Use your fun monster to do puppet shows or as a Halloween treat bag!
Toilet Paper Roll Monsters
Decorate empty toilet paper rolls with colored paper, googly eyes, and markers to transform them into cute or spooky monsters. Kids can get creative and design their own unique characters.
You can also use gauze or white construction paper to make mummies.
Halloween Costume Designer
This is a great activity for school-age children. Let them start by designing a Halloween costume on paper. Next, help them bring their design to life! Use materials like toilet paper, tape, glue, markers, pipe cleaners, strips of fabric, tissue paper, and more to create their design!
Finish off this activity with a fashion show or dance party. It’s a fun craft that will definitely tap into their creative and imaginative side!
Halloween Masks
Offer blank masks or white paper plates and let kids decorate them with markers, crayons, or paint to create their own Halloween masks. They can make their favorite characters like ghosts, monsters, witches, or pumpkins.
This is a great idea for a kids Halloween party because your party guests will get to leave with their mask as a favor. Using a hole puncher, tie ribbon or string to the plate and let your child fasten it around their face.
Tracing/Cutting Activity
This free printable worksheet won’t make too much of a mess! Your little one can spend time tracing and cutting with these Halloween characters. This simple Halloween activity is a great way to practice using scissors.
Spider Handprint Craft
Help kids make spider shapes by tracing their hand on black construction paper. Cut out the handprints and attach pipe cleaners as legs. They can decorate the spiders with googly eyes or stickers.
Halloween Paper Chains
Cut strips of colored paper in Halloween colors like orange, black, green, and purple. Help the kids make loops with the paper strips and glue or tape them together to create a festive paper chain. It can be used as a countdown to Halloween and you can rip one off the chain each day. Or use it as Halloween decor!
Related: FREE PRINTABLES: Halloween “I Spy” Worksheets
Bat Silhouette Art
Have kids cut out bat shapes from black construction paper. Provide them with a white or colored background and let them glue the bats onto it.
They can create a spooky night sky scene by adding moon and star shapes, or glue a piece of yarn or string on the back of the bat and hang in windows or from the ceiling. This is a cute way to decorate the house or a classroom for Halloween!
Pumpkin Collage
Give kids orange construction paper and a variety of materials like tissue paper, colored paper scraps, cotton balls, and stickers. Let them create a pumpkin collage by tearing or cutting the materials and gluing them onto the paper.
Contact Paper Collage
Using “sticky paper” or clear contact paper, let your kids create a collage. Use felt Halloween shapes, cut paper or tissue paper, pompoms, or other spooky items to create a collage.
Ghostly Lanterns
Use clean empty glass jars and let the kids paint them with glass paint or apply white tissue paper using a mixture of glue and water. Once dry, place LED tea lights inside to create glowing ghostly lanterns. This is a cute way to light up your trick or treat path on Halloween night!
Pumpkin Seed Art
After carving or decorating pumpkins, wash and dry the seeds. Use colored markers or paint to decorate the pumpkin seeds. They can create colorful patterns or faces on the seeds and use them to make unique art pieces or jewelry. You can use glue to add the seeds to art projects, or get some contact paper and let your little one practice sticking.
Black Cat Craft
Help your little one paint a paper plate with black paint. Using cut up construction paper or felt pieces, help your child glue a cat face onto the plate. You can use googly eyes for your kitty, and use pipe cleaners for whiskers!
Pumpkin decorating
Give your little one a pumpkin and let them go crazy!
Toddlers decorate them with non-toxic markers, paint, or stickers while older children may have more fun using a carving kit. Use stencils or let them practice making their Halloween art freehand. You can also let them explore the texture and feel of the pumpkin’s insides (under close supervision) if they are curious.
Cardboard Tube Spiders
Using empty paper towel or toilet paper rolls you can make adorable spiders! Cut the tube down to the size you want, paint it black, and use pipe cleaners for legs. Stick the pipe cleaners through the tube for an adorable spider! Decorate using googly eyes.
Themed Coloring Pages
This is one of the best ideas for an easy activity to keep little fingers busy. Give your kids some crayons and some coloring pages and let them go crazy! Click here for my free printable Halloween coloring pages.
Related: Halloween Worksheets for Preschoolers and Kindergarteners
Other Fun Halloween Activities For Kids:
These fun activities are great for learning and spending time together as a family.
You can practice simple sorting and math with things like pumpkin seeds or candy corn. It’s so much fun, your little one probably won’t realize how much they are learning!
Pumpkin Seed Sorting
After carving or decorating a pumpkin, collect the seeds and let toddlers practice sorting them by size, color, or shape. Use small cups or trays for the sorting activity.
Monster Scavenger Hunt
Hide cutout monster shapes or Halloween-themed objects around the house or yard and have toddlers search for them. You can even write clues to make it a fun game for older kids! This is a great party game for the kids at your Halloween festivities.
Halloween Puppet Show
Help toddlers create simple paper bag puppets using Halloween characters like ghosts, bats, or pumpkins. Encourage them to put on a puppet show with their creations. Hint: use their paper bag monsters from the craft portion of this list!
Candy Corn Counting
Use a small bowl of candy corn to practice counting with toddlers. Have them place the candy corn in numbered cups or line them up in order while counting. You can even glue them to a sheet of paper to make it even more exciting!
This is a great activity for kids that are learning basic math skills. You can discuss adding and subtracting candy corns in a way that is much more fun than using worksheets.
Halloween Shadow Puppets
Use flashlights to create shadow puppets on a wall or sheet. Cut out Halloween-themed shapes like bats or cats from black construction paper and attach them to popsicle sticks. Toddlers can move the shapes to create spooky shadows.
Halloween storytime
Gather a selection of age-appropriate Halloween books and read them aloud to the toddlers. Choose books with colorful illustrations and engaging stories that are not too scary for their age. Reading to your kids is a great way to facilitate language development and Halloween books may become their new favorite.
My kids love to read Halloween books all year long. Here are some of our favorite Halloween books:
- Clifford’s Halloween
- I Spy Halloween Book For Kids
- Five Little Pumpkins On Sesame Street
- How To Catch A Witch
- Room On The Broom
Pumpkin patch visit
Take a trip to a local pumpkin patch where you can enjoy the sights and sounds of Halloween as a family. They can pick out their own small pumpkin or participate in other activities available at the patch. Many pumpkin patches have other activities for kids like hay rides, jumping pillows, corn mazes, and more! Little kids will find this to be so exciting and there is just something magical about choosing your pumpkin!
What are your kids favorite things to do during fall and Halloween? My toddler and older children always have a blast with these simple and easy Halloween activities – I want to hear your traditions in the comments below!
