Halloween is one of those times of year when there are so many lovely activities you can do with children without needing to spend a fortune or organise anything particularly complicated.
A few pumpkins, some paper, things collected from the garden and a little imagination can easily turn an ordinary October afternoon into something rather magical.
We love activities that are fun but actually achievable at home, so I wanted to gather together some of our favourite easy Halloween activities for kids.
There is a mixture here of crafts, outdoor activities, games and quieter printable activities, so hopefully there is something for whatever sort of Halloween day you are having.
And because sometimes it is nice to have something you can simply print and put on the table, I have also created an A Crafty Day Halloween Activity Pack to go alongside these ideas.
Go on a Halloween scavenger hunt
A scavenger hunt is probably one of the easiest activities to set up.
You can do one around the house, in the garden or while you are out on an autumn walk.
Rather than hiding lots of special Halloween objects, I like the idea of mixing Halloween things with things children might naturally spot in October.
They could look for a pumpkin, something orange, a crunchy leaf, a spider web, something purple, a spooky face or a crescent moon.
Younger children can work together with a grown-up while older children can race to see who can find everything first.
I have included a ready-to-print Halloween scavenger hunt in the activity pack, and there is one in the free sampler too.
Decorate a pumpkin on paper
You don’t always need an actual pumpkin for pumpkin decorating.
Give children a big blank pumpkin outline and let them create whatever they like.
They could draw a traditional jack-o’-lantern face, turn it into an animal, cover it in patterns or give their pumpkin glasses, a hat and a ridiculous moustache.
It is also a handy activity if your children want to design their pumpkin before you carve or decorate the real thing.
For little ones, you could put out crayons, washable pens or stickers and let them decorate freely.
Make your own Halloween potions
Potion making is one of my favourite activities because there is really no correct way to do it.
A bowl of water and a few things gathered from the garden are enough to get started.
Crunchy leaves, petals, herbs and twigs can all become mysterious potion ingredients.
You could give children a wooden spoon, bowl, jug and perhaps a small pestle and mortar and let them make their own magical mixtures.
We have included a Witch’s Garden Potion recipe in the printable pack using leaves, dark petals, rosemary, a crooked twig and water.
The most important part, of course, is deciding what magical power the finished potion has.
Our mud kitchen potions are always for pretend play rather than eating or drinking.
Design a witch’s hat
Give children a blank witch’s hat and see what kind of witch they create it for.
Perhaps it belongs to a gardening witch and needs flowers and leaves.
Maybe it belongs to a space witch and is covered in stars and moons.
Or perhaps it is the hat of the world’s silliest witch and needs spots, stripes and a pom-pom on the end.
It is a very simple drawing activity, but adding a little story around it can make it much more interesting.
Build a monster
Instead of asking children simply to “draw a monster”, give them a few choices to make first.
Should its body be round, fluffy, tiny or wobbly?
Does it have one eye or ten?
Does it have wings, horns or antennae?
Does it have enormous teeth or no mouth at all?
Once all the decisions have been made, they can draw the creature they have invented and give it a suitably ridiculous monster name.
This works particularly well when siblings or friends do it together because they can start with similar prompts and still end up with completely different monsters.
Have a Halloween craft challenge
Sometimes children want to make something but don’t know what to make.
That is where craft challenge cards are really useful.
Pick a challenge at random and see what you can create using the craft supplies you already have.
You might make a paper bat, create a tiny ghost, design a witch’s hat, build a spooky house or make a nature monster from leaves and twigs.
It takes some of the pressure away from having to come up with an elaborate craft beforehand.
I have put eight cut-out Halloween craft challenge cards into the full activity pack for exactly this reason.
Play Halloween bingo
Halloween bingo works well for a quiet afternoon at home, a Halloween party or even while watching a Halloween film.
Children can look out for things such as pumpkins, bats, stars, witches’ hats, spiders and costumes and cross them off as they find them.
If you are having a Halloween party, you could also use little sweets, buttons or paper circles as bingo counters.
Go on a spooky nature hunt
Halloween and autumn fit together so nicely that it seems a shame not to take some of the activities outdoors.
Go for a walk and see whether you can find an orange leaf, a very dark leaf, an acorn, a spider web, something mossy or even a twig that looks a little bit like a magic wand.
A crooked stick can become a witch’s wand.
A pinecone can become a monster.
A handful of autumn leaves can become potion ingredients.
Children are remarkably good at turning ordinary natural things into something much more exciting.
Try a Halloween word search or maze
Not every Halloween activity needs to involve paint, glue and mud.
Sometimes you just need something you can print out while you’re making dinner or while everyone needs a quieter half-hour.
A simple Halloween word search, maze or count-and-find sheet is perfect for this.
These are also useful to pack into a little Halloween activity folder for travelling, restaurants or half-term days.
Play Halloween Would You Rather?
This one usually produces some entertaining conversations.
Would you rather ride a broom or fly with bat wings?
Would you rather have a pet bat or a pet black cat?
Would you rather live inside a pumpkin or in a treehouse?
There doesn’t need to be a winner. The fun is usually in hearing the reasons behind the answers.
Make a Halloween keepsake
After all the activities are finished, children can fill in a simple page about their Halloween.
They can write what they dressed up as, their favourite activity, their favourite treat and the funniest thing that happened.
There is also space to draw their favourite moment.
I love little pages like this because something that takes five minutes to fill in can be lovely to look back at a few years later.
Free Halloween activity printable
If you would like to try some of these activities, I have made a free A Crafty Day Halloween Activity Sampler.
It contains four printable pages and is available in both A4 and US Letter, so you can print whichever format suits you.
[Download the free Halloween activity sampler here.]
Want the full Halloween Activity Pack?
The complete A Crafty Day Halloween Activity Pack contains 15 different activities, plus the cover and guide.
It includes scavenger hunts, bingo, drawing and design activities, games, a maze, word search, potion activities, craft challenges and a Halloween keepsake page.
Simply download the PDF, print the activities you want and keep the rest for another spooky afternoon.
[Get the full A Crafty Day Halloween Activity Pack here.]
For little hands, big imaginations.
