Halloween Activities

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Choose one of these Halloween activities for kids and celebrate the spookiest of holidays. Halloween is observed on October 31st, which is the last day of the Celtic calendar.

On the following pages, we have collected some great Halloween activities that the whole family can enjoy. Learn about spooky games, fun decorations, and scary costumes. They're frighteningly fun and most can be done with things you already have in your home.

­Paper Plate Monster

Protect your candy with this fun monster.

Scary Sounds

Practice your scary sounds with this fun game.

Alien Eggs

A spooky atmosphere is a must on Halloween. You'll be sure to frighten people with these extraterrestrial decorations.

Colored Face Powder

Makeup is an essential part of Halloween. Learn how to make it here.

Dancing Jack-O'- Lantern

This dancing decoration is will certainly startle anyone that visits your house this Halloween.

Scary Bug Game

See how creative everyone is with this fun game.

Visible/Invisible Game

Costumes aren't the only way to put on a disguise this Halloween. See how good you are at spotting things in hiding when you play this fun game.

Wriggling Snake ­

Use this trick when you get a treat and everyone will be surprised.

Spooky Pictures

Did you know you can make spooky pictures just by blowing through a straw?

Pitch the Pumpkin Game

You'll have no problem catching the Halloween spirit when you play this game.

One Boo-tiful Family Halloween Fest

Your family will love the time you spent decorating for this frightening fest.

10 of the Most Boo-tiful Things to Do at Halloween Time

Scary Sleepover

Your friends will love spending the night in this spooky setting.

Witchy Woman Nail Decorations

Painted nails are the perfect addition to any costume.

Fall Festival of Fun

These fuzzy decorations are easy to make and will be the perfect spooky addition.

There are a lot of things to do here. If you don't know which activity to start with why don't you try a paper plate monster. It's a fun activity that will put you in the Halloween mood. Keep reading to learn more.

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Use this Paper Plate Monster to keep people away from your candy this year. This Halloween activity can be scary or silly. When you're done, put it on your table and see what people do.

What you'll need:

White paper plate

Poster board

Scissors

Glue

Chenille stems

Crayons or markers

Ribbon

Fold a dinner-sized paper plate in half for the giant mouth. Cut out a few 3-inch-long, arch-shaped eyes -- remember, monsters can have more than 2 eyes!

Carefully cut slits in the top half of the mouth, and stick the eyes into the slits.

Fold the bottom edge of the slit, and glue it to the inside of the mouth to hold the eyes in place. Make antennae or horns, and attach them to the mouth in the same way as you did the eyes.

Cut out arms, legs, or tentacles. Glue them to the underside of the mouth so that they stick out. Color your monster with wild colors. You might want to glue a long ribbon inside the mouth for the monster's tongue.

Put your monster on the kitchen table, and tell everyone to watch their treats!

Halloween can be really frightening. See how good you are at making monster sounds when you try to fool the witch in the scary sounds game. Keep reading to learn how to play.

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Halloween is the spookiest holiday of the year. See how scary you can be when you play the scary sounds game. Halloween activities are fun to play with your friends or your family.

What You'll Need:

Blindfold

Witch hat

4 or more players

How to play Scary Sounds:

The game begins with one person wearing a witch hat and a blindfold. This person is the "witch" and must be seated facing away from the rest of the players.

The rest of the players are the "monsters." Each monster takes a turn creeping up to the witch and disguising their voice to make scary monster sounds. They can also say scary monster sayings such as "I'm coming to get you!"

The witch must try to guess who each monster is. If the monster gets caught, he or she must take the witch's place.

Your voice isn't the only thing that will be scary this Halloween. When you decorate with things like alien eggs your home will be frightening, too. Keep reading to learn more.

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One look at these alien eggs and you will know they could never have been laid by an earthy creature! These spooky decorations can be hung from trees or set around your house. Anywhere you put them will create a spooky atmosphere.

What You'll Need:

Wrapped candies

Halloween toys (creepy bugs and monsters)

12-inch balloons

White glue

Water

Measuring cup

String

Push 3 to 4 large wrapped candies and a medium-sized toy inside a deflated balloon. (Important: Don't use small candies or toys! Make sure that the candies and toys are too big to fit back through the nozzle of the balloon -- so you have no danger of inhaling the objects. You should have to stretch the nozzle to get them inside.)

Blow up the balloon until it is about 6 inches across. Tie the balloon.

Mix 1/2 cup white glue and 1/4 cup water. Put the string in the glue/water mixture. Pull the string between your fingers to squeeze out some of the glue; wrap the balloon in a spider's web of string.

Allow to dry in a warm place for at least a day. When the glue is thoroughly dry, pop the balloon. Carefully take out the broken balloon pieces.

Balloons are choking hazards -- keep them away from small children!

Makeup is the perfect way to enhance any costume. Keep reading to learn how to make colored face powder -- a great addition to your costume this Halloween.

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With colored face powder you can make your own costume from scratch or add a little something extra to one you already have. Originally, the Celts wore costumes on All Hallows Eve to scare away the spirits. You'll be sure to scare a few, too, when you add this makeup to your garb.

What You'll Need:

Colored nontoxic chalk

Plastic bags

Rolling pin

2 nesting metal bowls

Cornstarch

Measuring cup

Talcum powder

Cup

Food coloring

Spoon

Cotton balls

How to make Colored Face Powder (version 1):

How to make Colored Face Powder (version 2):

Jack-o-lanterns are another Halloween tradition originally meant to keep bad spirits from coming in the house. Create a dancing jack-o'-lantern for your house. Keep reading to learn more.

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A dancing jack-o'-lantern will make a great Halloween show for the trick-or-treaters! Scare away ghosts with this animated Halloween activity.

What You'll Need:

Poster board

Scissors

Paintbrush

Glow-in-the-dark paints

Paper fasteners

Dark clothes

To make a dancing jack-o'-lantern, cut out a round pumpkin shape for the body and a smaller pumpkin shape for the head.

Cut out rectangles for the arms and legs. Cut out small pumpkin shapes for the hands and feet. Paint all of the shapes with glow-in-the-dark paint, adding jack-o'-lantern faces on the head and hands.

Using the paper fasteners, attach the hands to the arms and the legs to the feet. Then attach arms and legs to the body. Charge up the glow paint by shining a light on it.

Turn off all the lights, and stand in front of the window with the curtains drawn behind you. Wear black or dark clothes, gloves, and a hat so you are almost invisible.

Move the jack-o'-lantern's head, arms, and legs to make him dance. Anyone who looks in the window will see something very spooky!

For more scary fun, learn how to play the scary bug game. Keep reading to learn how.

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You don't have to be a bug lover to have fun with the scary bug game. When you play this game you can see how creative you and friends can be. Make bugs as scary or weird as you can imagine.

What You'll Need:

Die

Paper

Scissors

Markers

Tape

Cut small squares of paper to cover a die. Mark each square with one of these letters: B, H, L, E, A, T. These letters stand for body, head, legs, eyes, antennae, and tail of the Scary Bug. Tape each square onto one side of the die. Give each player a piece of drawing paper. Have a lot of colored markers for them to choose from.

To play the game, a player rolls the die. That player draws the body part starting with whichever letter is face up. The next player rolls the die and draws whatever body part that starts with the letter rolled. Play continues until someone draws the entire Scary Bug to win the game.

At the end of the game, everyone can color their bug drawings and hang them up as Halloween decorations.

For another fun game keep reading. When you and your friends play the visible/invisible game, you won't be the only things in disguise this Halloween.

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You and your Halloween guests won't be the only ones in disguise during the visible/invisible game. Ordinary household objects will seem to disappear once you know how to "disguise" them.

What You'll Need:

12 small objects (piece of embroidery thread, nail, marble, button, piece of ribbon, thimble, postage stamp, pencil, etc.)

List of objects

Pencil for each player

Timer

To set up the game, all the players except one must leave the room.

That one player then places a dozen small objects in plain sight near other objects that can camouflage them. For example, she or he might put a piece of thread on a curtain that is the same color or place a pencil along the bottom edge of a cabinet.

When all the objects are hidden, the player who hid them gives each of the other players a list of what they must find.

The players race to find the objects but when they spy one, they don't tell anyone. They write down on their list where they saw it hidden.

After 5 minutes, all the players stop looking. Whoever found the most objects is the winner. (Hint: Whoever is hiding the objects should keep a list for her or himself to remember where the objects are hidden!)

Costumes aren't the only Halloween tradition. Trick-or-treating may be the most anticipated part of Halloween. Keep a wriggling snake trick handy and you'll be sure to get a treat. Keep reading to learn more.

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Trick-or-treating is one of the most awaited activities of the year. Take this wriggling snake with you and you'll be sure to take home treats. Tell your audience that you have a live snake in your pocket.

What You'll Need:

5-inch piece of stretchy plastic wrap (This trick looks very good with colored plastic wrap!)

Large paper clip

Sometime before the trick, hold one end of a piece of plastic wrap and twist the other end into a rope shape. Make sure when you are twisting the wrap that you wind it very tight. Roll the twisted wrap up so it forms a round, flat coil.

For the snake's head, make a small knot in the free end of the coil. Hold the coil together with a large paper clip.

When you are about to let your snake out of your pocket, reach your hand in and remove the paper clip, but hold the coil so it doesn't unwind. Once the snake is in your hand without the paper clip, it will wriggle and writhe as it unwinds. Getting the clip off in secret will take a little practice.

Be sure to spook visitors who come to your home, too. Spooky pictures are great for this. Keep reading to learn more.

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Who knew you could make spooky pictures just with a straw and some paint? Let your imagination go when you are making these creepy pictures.

What You'll Need:

Newspaper

Drawing paper

Teaspoon

Thinned tempera paint

Drinking straw

These spooky pictures can be a little messy to make, so cover your table with newspaper before you begin. For each picture, pour a teaspoon of tempera paint onto a piece of paper.

Gently blow at the paint through a drinking straw to make weird, scary shapes. If you want, you can add teaspoons of different colors of paint on top of the first color.

These pictures will always be a big surprise. Is that a spider? Is that a witch riding a broom? Take turns with your friends describing the things you see in each picture.

Need a break from all the spookiness? Try playing "Pitch the Pumpkin" and you'll be quick to catch the Halloween spirit. Keep reading to learn more.

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If you didn't get enough candy from trick-or-treating, play "Pitch the Pumpkin" and win some more. Of course, you don't have to wait until Halloween is over -- you can play this Halloween activity anytime you want to catch a little Halloween spirit.

**Adult Help Needed**

What You'll Need

2 bleach bottles

Heavy-duty scissors

Permanent markers

Self-sealing sandwich bags

Dry beans

Measuring cup

Fabric

Rubber band

Wash the bleach bottles well, and dry them. Have an adult help you cut the handles from the bottles to form catcher's scoops. Decorate the handles with permanent markers.

Fill a sandwich bag with 1 cup of dry beans, and seal the bag. Using scraps of Halloween fabric, wrap the bag in the fabric and use a rubber band to hold the fabric in place. (If you don't have Halloween fabric, use markers to decorate plain white fabric in a fun Halloween style.)

Toss and catch the beanbag with your scoops. Whoever drops the beanbag first loses a piece of Halloween candy.

Have a gory-ous Halloween party with the Boo-tiful Family Halloween Fest. Learn about spooky and creepy decorations that will sure to be a hit.

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When you plan a Boo-tiful Family Halloween Fest, get ready to have more fun than a barrel of bats. Halloween is a frightfully good time for families to have a gory-ous, glorious get-together. Here's everything you need to make your kooky, spooky Halloween celebration the most boo-tiful time of the year!

There's a lot more to do on Halloween than dressing up and going trick-or-treating. Keep reading to learn at least ten new things you can do this year.

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Halloween has a long history of traditions. Find something new for your family to do from this list of 10 of the Most Boo-tiful Things to do at Halloween Time. You never know, one of these Halloween activities could be a new terrifying tradition.

1. Instead of carving the pumpkins you pick, paint them! Use brightly colored acrylic paints, and let each family member design a Halloween pumpkin. The best part is that these pumpkins will last much longer than carved ones.

2. Have a make-your-own trick-or-treat bag craft time. Set up a table with plain grocery bags, markers, glue sticks, stickers, and paints. The creepiest bag gets the first piece of Halloween candy!

3. Organize a Halloween costume parade and contest in your neighborhood. Send out flyers to all the neighbors letting them know when and where the parade will be. Have everyone gather before you all go off to trick-or-treat. Serve donuts and cider, and enjoy seeing everyone you thought you knew showing up in Halloween disguise!

4. Have a family pumpkin-picking outing. Check the phone book for local pick-your-own pumpkin patches. Make it a family tradition!

5. Instead of just collecting treats on Halloween, take treats to elderly neighbors who would appreciate the attention on this spooky day!

6. Make a scary face out of cardboard, and hang it on your front door.

7. ­Make a Halloween ghost tree. Make ghosts out of pieces of white plastic trash bags. Stuff a couple of cotton balls in the middle of a plastic square, tie a piece of string below the cotton balls, and make faces with markers. Leave the extra plastic flowing freely. Then hang the ghosts on your tree.

8. ­Have a create-a-monster-face contest. Using old lipsticks, eyebrow pencils, eye shadows, bandages, cotton balls, and surgical glue made for skin, create a completely creepy face. Let a less creepy person in the house be the judge of whose face is the scariest, the funniest, the most creative, or the most artistic.

9. Play Creepy Feelie Feelings. Fill six or so bowls with things like peeled grapes for eyeballs; cold spaghetti for worms; dried apricots for ears; tapioca pudding for innards; fat pretzel sticks for bones; and a big bowl of soapy water for a "pool of acid." Keep the bowls hidden until you are ready to play the game. Turn the lights down low or blindfold the players. Tell them they are lost in a bat cave and must feel their way out. Then pass the bowls around while telling them what creepy things are in each as the players touch the creepy contents of each bowl.

10. After trick-or-treating is done, check and sort the candy and have a candy swap meet. Trade what you don't like for things that you do, or just give it all to Dad!­

A scary sleepover may be the tradition of your choice. Keep reading to learn how to have the scariest sleepover.

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To have a scary sleepover make your home a spooky castle and home to slimy cellar-dwellers, ghosts, and monsters. With these tips you'll be in for a night of fun and fright!

Invitations

For each ghostly invitation, you'll need two plain white paper towels.

On one sheet, in your spookiest handwriting, write, "Come to my scary sleep over! My haunted house is at 257 Holland Drive. The nightmare begins on February 6, at the ghastly hour of 7:00 p.m. My frightful phone number is 555-1234. Call if you're brave enough to come!"

Wad the other sheet up in a ball, and place it in the center of the instruction sheet. Twist the flat sheet around the ball under the ghost's neck and tie with a ribbon. Add facial features.

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Decorating!

It's dark in the castle, dark and a little damp. The basement would be the perfect place for your party!

Play spooky sound effects. Flicker the lights to the sound of thunder.

Make creepy trees from spindly branches and twigs. Have some strips of gauzy material hanging from the ceiling for your guests to walk through when they arrive.

If you have a squeaky rocking chair, use it! Scatter crunchy dry leaves on the floor.

Have a fan blowing on bats, spiders, eerie white balloons, and dolls' heads hanging from the ceiling. Getting the chills yet?

Decorate Yourselves!

Wear your scariest mask.

Carve rotten-looking teeth from the peel of an orange wedge; place it in your mouth white side out.

Bug and lizard tattoos on your face would be really creepy!

Another great activity you could do at your Scary Sleepover is witchy woman nail decorations. Keep reading to learn more.

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Create nails that will scare your friends! Bewitching nails are a great Halloween activity because they are the perfect complement to any costume.

Spider

Spooky eyes

After your nails have dried, you can start decorating the house. With fuzzy fall decorations you can add the petrifyingly perfect Halloween details to your home.

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Fuzzy Fall Decorations make the perfect Halloween adornments. All you need are different colored chenille stems.

Creepy Spider

Make a creepy spider using thin and thick black stems, and set it in a sparkly web of metallic silver stems.

Pumpkin Patch

Experiment with different lengths and textures of chenille stems to make pumpkins. (The 15mm stems make great-looking, chubby pumpkins!) Make tight spirals out of a green chenille stem (3mm works well) for stems, and wrap looser spirals for curly vines. Use 3mm black stems to add creepy jack-o'-lantern details for Halloween!

Spooky Skeleton

What You'll Need:

7 white bump chenille stems

Scissors

How to make a spooky skeleton:

1. Cut a 2-bump section for the spine.

2. Cut 2 bumps, and trim most of the thin part from 1 end of each. Twist them together at the trimmed ends so the bumps touch. Bend into a circle. Straighten the thin ends and twist them together and onto the spine.

3. ­Twist the middle of a stem to the spine, just under the skull. Bend it to form shoulders and arms, cutting away most of the thin part of each stem and twisting them back together to look like elbows.

4. Cut 1 bump; twist it to the bottom of the spine for hips.

5. ­Cut a stem in half; twist each piece to 1 side of the hip bone. Bend each leg between bumps to create knees.

6. To make the rib cage, cut four 2-bump pieces and twist them onto the spine. Bend each rib around the spine toward the front.

7. Finally, cut the remaining stem into 4 bumps, and bend each bump in half. Twist them to the ends of the arms and legs to create hands and feet.

With so many activities, it may be hard to choose which one to start with first. Don't be frightened by the selection. Pick one to get started and you'll be off.

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ABOUT THE CRAFT DESIGNERSPaper Plate Monster by Lisa Lerner and Kersten HamiltonScary Sounds by Lisa Lerner and Kersten HamiltonAlien Eggs by Lisa Lerner and Kersten HamiltonColored Face Powder by Lisa Lerner and Kersten HamiltonDancing Jack-o'-Lantern by Lisa Lerner and Kersten HamiltonScary Bug Game by Lisa Lerner and Kersten HamiltonVisible/Invisible Game by Lisa Lerner and Kersten HamiltonWriggling Snake by Lisa Lerner and Kersten HamiltonScary Sleepover by Laurie FreehaferWitchy Woman Nail Decorations by Shari Finger and Susan Tumblety

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