10 Awesome Halloween Activities for Kids

Our top ten Halloween activities are fun for all ages. Gather your kids and their friends to keep them entertained and spooked this Halloween season!

More: 8 Not-Too-Spooky Halloween Activities for Kids

Halloween Painted Pots

Help your child turn an empty flowerpot into a spooky pumpkin or any other creepy creature.

Materials:

• Terracotta clay pot
• Black, grey, or yellow construction paper
• Paint
• Clear acrylic sealer spray
• Glue

Directions:

• Paint the pot orange.
• Let the paint dry.
• Now, on one side of the pot, paint a jack-o-lantern face (this printable template can help).
• Once the paint is dry, spray the pot with the clear acrylic sealer.
• Make other creatures like Frankenstein or a ghost!

Halloween Treats

'Tis the season for ghosts and goblins! For a fun party treat, you and your kids will love making this festive punch. Plus, check out our other ideas for delectably disgusting Halloween treats.

Radioactive Punch

• Orange juice
• Mountain Dew
• Blue KOOL-AID
• Latex gloves
• Food coloring (optional)

Fill gloves with water or juice tinted with food coloring, and secure openings with sturdy rubber bands. Freeze overnight. Mix liquid ingredients to create a radioactive shade of green. Remove gloves from freezer and quickly run them under warm water. Carefully peel off the gloves. Float the frozen hands in the punch bowl.

Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin carving is a tradition when it comes to Halloween. Spend some creative quality time with your family making jack-o'-lanterns this Halloween.

Here are some pumpkin carving tips:

• Decide on a design. Use our jack-o'-lantern creator to help!
• Let kids participate according to their ability. Older kids can help carve (supervise them closely). Younger kids can draw designs for older kids to cut out. Very small kids can help by removing seeds and getting them ready to toast.
• Thumbtack your paper design onto the pumpkin so it won't move. Prick an outline of your design with a skewer. Remove the paper.
• Carve out the design using the right tools. There are special tools just for carving pumpkins, although wood carving tools work well, too.
• Put your carved pumpkin in a cool, dry place when you're not displaying it, and limit the time you light it. The more heat it is exposed to, the quicker it will spoil.

Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Crafts with Kids

More: 12 Pumpkin Activities and Crafts for Kids

Trick-or-Treat Bag

Spend a fun fall afternoon with your child creating a trick-or-treat candy bag for her to use on All Hallows' Eve.

Materials:

• Canvas tote bag (sold at local craft stores)
• Tempera paints (Halloween colors)
• Paintbrush
• Paper plates
• Scissors
• Wiggle eyes, felt, glitter, buttons, or other decorative materials
• Fabric glue
• Newspaper

Directions:

• Lay newspaper over your work area in case of spills.
• Pour a bit of paint on a paper plate.
• Have your child decorate the bag with paintings of witches, black cats, pumpkins and ghosts, using her fingers, handprints or paintbrushes.
• Add any other designs or decorative items on the bag.
• Let the bag dry completely - then fill it with treats on Halloween!

Walk on the Witch's Hat

This Halloween party game is similar to the game musical chairs. Beware! You don't want to be the one caught on the witch's hat!

Directions:

• Tape a large picture of a witch's hat on the floor.
• Players line up and shut their eyes, whoever peeks is out of the game.
• The leader will control when the music stops and starts.
• When the music starts, the players begin walking in a circle around the hat.
• When the music stops, the person who is standing on the hat is out of the game.
• The last player to circle the hat wins!

Find the Pumpkin

This Halloween game is fun for the whole family and great for a goblin get-together.

Materials:

• Ten pieces of white paper
• Five pieces of yellow paper
• Five pieces of orange paper
• A crayon
• Scissors

Directions:

• Draw ten white pumpkins, five yellow pumpkins, and five orange pumpkins.
• Cut out all the pumpkins and decorate with funny faces.
• Write the number 1 on the backs of the white pumpkins, the number 5 on the backs of the yellow pumpkins, and the number 10 on the backs of the orange pumpkins.
• Hide all the pumpkins
• Kids and guests will try to find as many pumpkins as you can before the grownup says "Stop!"
• Players will add up the numbers on the pumpkins each of them found. The player with the most points wins!

Tricks and Treats

This word game will have your kids screaming with joy and swapping candy all night when they catch others saying Halloween-related words.

Directions:

• Give each of the players a bag filled with ten pieces of wrapped candy and decide on a time limit
• The object of the game is to catch people saying any of the following words: HALLOWEEN, CANDY, WITCH, PARTY, GHOST, and PUMPKIN. Write the words in large letters on a piece of paper and tape the paper up where everyone can see it.
• If you catch someone saying one of the words on the list, that person has to give you a piece of candy from his bag.
• The person who has the most candy at the end of the game wins a prize.

The best part is, everyone gets to keep any candy they have left in their bag.

For more creative Halloween ideas, check our our official Halloween Pinterest board:

Pin the Wart on the Witch

This ghoulish game is similar to pin the tail on the donkey. Kids will have lots of laughs pinning the wart on the witch.

Materials:

• Large picture of a witch, preferably with a wart already on it
• Blindfold
• A paper wart for each player with his or her name on it
• Tape

Directions:

• If the picture of the witch does not already have a wart on it, draw one.
• Hang the witch on a wall or a door where there is lots of space around it.
• When it is a player's turn, blindfold the child and give her the wart with a piece of tape stuck on it.
• Spin the player around (not too fast!) and tell her to stick the wart on the witch's nose.

The player whose wart is closest to the real one is the winner!

Bowling for Pumpkins

Bowling with pumpkins and gourds is a great family or party activity that will also help develop your child's motor skills. Look for gourds that are shaped like bottles for an authentic bowling experience

Materials:

• 5 small dried gourds
• Masking tape
• 1 or 2 small round pumpkins

Directions:

• Set the gourds up like bowling pins.
• Stick a strip of masking tape to the floor to make a start line. This should be quite close to the gourds, as the pumpkins will not roll very far.
• Show your child how to roll the pumpkins to knock down the gourds. Don't worry about keeping score.

Excerpted from The Everything Toddler Activities Book

These activities are great for a chilly October day or for a full-blown Halloween party. Are you looking for more Halloween party activities? Check out 13 Fun Halloween Party Games for Kids.