In October, incorporating Halloween crafts and activities is a must! There are so many things you can do to celebrate the holiday and get in the spooky spirit with your little ones. From crafts to treats, adding a Halloween element will bring the fun for the whole family.
We've got some amazing, and highly customizable ideas for you, which we're sure your kids will be excited about. Many of these activities may be new for them and could spark some major creativity, so be sure to ask for their suggestions as well!
Paint or Carve Pumpkins
Pumpkin carving is likely the craft we all turn to for Halloween. The great thing about pumpkins is that you can make this a multiple-day or multi-step activity. The first thing that you can do is go to a farm or pumpkin patch to pick them out. Many pumpkin patches have other activities for kids, too.
After picking out their prize pumpkin or gourd, the kids can go to town painting or carving them. Carving is a messy business, but you can make pumpkin activities last for days. If someone in your family eats the seeds, you can also bake them as a snack.
Mummy Making
Similar to the wedding dress game played at bridal showers, this game makes much more sense, you know, considering a mummy's ensemble and all. To play, just grab a roll of toilet paper and wrap each other up like mummies.
You can add to the game by having the kids do their best mummy impression or by having a dance party as mummies. Just be sure not to trip on your wrappings!
Make a 'Dirt Cake'
Growing up, my mom would make dirt cake (the chocolate kind!), but instead of decorating it with gummy worms, we made whipped topping ghosts. You make the dirt cake as usual, but use a 13-by-9 pan to give more surface area to work with.
You can then make little ghosts and use cookies as graves. It makes for a delicious Halloween treat. Be sure to remember the candy corn pumpkins.
Build a Spiderweb
Another fun activity is to make your own human-sized spiderwebs. All you need is some yarn. You can wrap the yarn around each other (as long as they do it safely) or between furniture. My kids have a lot of fun with this and will make spiderwebs any time of year. If you get yarn in different colors, it's even more fun.
Make Paper Halloween Decorations
Construction paper is practically a necessity of childhood. You can make ghosts or spiders out of paper. One of my son's favorite toys right now is the spider that we made and glued googly eyes to. You can also make pumpkins in all colors, which involves cutting out circles, so the kids can have a lot of fun with that.
Halloween Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts can be fun for kids, and Halloween gives you a theme to work with. Look online for printables if you're stuck for ideas. If the weather is nice, do a scavenger hunt for items the kids will be able to find during a walk, such as types of Halloween decorations. If the weather is too cold, create a scavenger hunt inside featuring different Halloween items.
Make Cut-Out Sugar Cookies
People often make sugar cookies for Christmas, but you can also enjoy them for Halloween. There are adorable Halloween cookie cutters, including cats, moons, ghosts, and pumpkins available on Amazon. You can have a ton of fun making sugar cookies and decorating them with spooky colors.
Paint Rocks To Look Like Jack-o'-Lanterns
We have recently discovered the fun of painting rocks. You could do this on a Halloween theme for the month. Rocks lend themselves well to jack-o'-lanterns, but you could also paint other spooky things on them.
Have a Halloween Dance Party
Dance parties are always on the list in my house, so why not add some Halloween music to yours? You could play songs like "Thriller," "Monster Mash," "Ghostbusters," "Purple People Eater," "This is Halloween," and "I Want Candy." Add some costumes to make it really festive.
Make Masks
Speaking of costumes, a great activity to do with your kids at this time of year is making your own masks. You may not be ambitious enough or have the patience to create entire costumes, but kids can decorate and create their own masks. All you need is some paper, yarn, markers, and glitter glue (if you're OK with that last one).
Build a Gingerbread Halloween House
Another way to flip a traditional Christmas activity to Halloween is with a gingerbread house. You can use the same base as the one for Christmas, but you can decorate it differently. Make ghosts and bats and create a haunted house instead.
Make Spooky Cupcakes or Monster Sandwich Cookies
If you want some more treat options, you could make some mummy cupcakes or monster sandwich cookies. If you play around with some piping tips, you can make some cool frosting effects. You can even start a little bake off or cake/cookie wars challenge to up those fun stakes.
Have a Halloween Movie Night
Depending on the ages of your kids, you'll need to pick Halloween-themed movies with care, but it can be a lot of fun to have a Halloween movie night together. Make some spooky treats, or just some popcorn, and pick some fun movies for your marathon.
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