Fun Halloween Activities for Preschoolers

Halloween is a very special event for kids because they can become a part of a make-believe world. We know how important pretend-play is, especially in the early years period. This is why we designed amazing Halloween activities for preschoolers that can help them learn while playing and develop their skills.

They can invent stories with our Halloween masks, practice critical thinking skills with a great PowerPoint game with riddlers. Our fun Halloween activities for preschoolers can even help them improve gross and fine motor skills with a game of Swat it, Mummy Wrap, Silly Spiders Crafts, Pin the Head. They can even learn new vocabulary with our Halloween Board Game and Scavenger Hunt game.

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As teachers, we know how important it is to use learning through play activities and we want to offer parents a chance to use our amazing resources.

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1. Swat It

Materials needed: swatter, bugs worksheets, laminator, laminator pouches

How to play: This is a great game for any age and it is both fun and educational just like all the other Halloween activities for preschoolers in this list. The game can be played individually or in pairs.

Children have the chance to learn the names of different bugs which I am not sure you might otherwise plan for them to learn. For older children, you can also insist on the written words.

The game is very simple: simply cut out and laminate the bugs cards for extended use. Then either spread them on a table or attach them to the wall. Before you start the game, teach the child the different names of the bugs. Once you’ve done that, you can begin.

Give the child a swatter and call out the creepy crawlies. The child should be fast enough to swat all the names you shout out. Perhaps you can start slow and speed it up once the child becomes more confident.

2. Pin the Head

Materials needed: pin the head printables, laminator, laminator pouches, velcro dots/blu tack

How to play: Considering that this is not a scary game, it can be played by very young children as well. It can be used as a great matching game.

However, if you do wish to make it Halloween scary, tell the children that the animals have lost their heads in a fight with a witch. Now they must use their magic powers to try and reattach them.

First, print the worksheets and cut out the heads worksheets. Laminate them so that they can be easier to manipulate and for longer life. Use velcro dots to attach the heads, but you can just as well use blu tack or any other material you may find useful.

You can play the game in two ways: display all the animals around the room. Ask your child to take a close look and try to remember where each animal is. Put the animal heads in a hat. Blindfold the child and have him extract one animal head at a time.

Tell him which animal head he extracted but not where the animal body is. Observe closely and guide the child. Try to get rid of any obstacles that might hurt him. Another option would be to hide all the animal heads around the house and set a timer for the child to match all heads and bodies.

3. Mask Up

Materials needed: masks printables, rubber band, scissors

How to play: Children love masks, but scary masks are more interesting. They offer more inspiration for games and pretend play. My son loves masks that portray his favourite characters, but he was also eager to try on the monster and ghost masks I prepared for him.

If you laminate it make sure to cut out the eyes exactly right the dotted line to avoid rigid corners that can hurt the child. Prepare the mask yourself or let your child do it if old enough to use the scissors safely.

There is a green monster mask for boys and a blue ghost mask for girls. They can use the mask to go trick or treat, or use it in their games: have a hero/villain fight, cast spells, play haunted house, the possibilities are endless.

4. Scary Picture Story

Materials needed: paper, pencils, markers, arts and crafts materials (stickers with spiders, a witch’s hat, felt stickers, etc)

How to play: This is one of the Halloween activities for preschoolers that I love because it is very versatile and the results quite unexpected.  In groups or pairs, even individually, create a great Halloween story that you can read before bedtime.

Start with a simple sketch of something, anything basically. Let the others guess what the drawing is, you can even let them finish the drawing. Then, together decide on how the story starts. Then, another person draws a sketch to continue the story (a skeleton, house, tree, mouse, witch, etc) and lets the others guess what it is. Continue to add pictures and build the story until everyone agrees on the ending.

Do not write anything so that you don’t give the children the impression of a writing task. Read the story out loud based on the pictures. Each child might remember it or say it differently so that could add to the fun, the others can listen actively to correct or add details.

5. Silly Spiders Crafts

Materials needed: paints, paper, string, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, paper plates, plastic cups, popsicle sticks, spider printables

How to play: There are so many ways in which you can make spiders and even spider webs. Depending on the age of the child, you can either use pipe cleaners that you twist around and easily connect to create the 8 legs and tiny body.

Then add the googly eyes and a tiny string to hand them around the house. Or print the spider worksheets, cut out the parts, and let your child colour and glue the parts to make their unique spiders. Maybe try some popsicle sticks to create a snowflake shape. Then tie string all around to make it resemble a snowflake. Use plastic spiders to attach on the spider web and hang them around.

Perhaps you would like to use finger paint and make hand shapes on a paper plate. Avoid adding the thumb though. Add one more handprint to create the other four legs. Paint over the body and add your little eyes. There is, of course, the option of using a plastic cup that you turn upside down and pierce 4 holes on each side. Insert pipe cleaners in the tiny holes and paint the mouth and eyes.

6. What is it?

This game is one of the funniest Halloween activities for preschoolers as it involves a little mess and a mystery. 

Materials needed: a few bowls, a scarf, various objects, wet wipes.

How to play: The objective of the game is for one person, who is blindfolded, to guess what’s inside the bowl by using all senses except sight. 

So, before the game starts, make sure you think of a few Halloween-related items to put in the bowls. Some suggestions are slime, pumpkin flesh and seeds, sticky candy, a chopped onion, jelly eyes, some dirt with earthworms (if you have the stomach for it), vampire’s teeth, a furry pom pom. 

There are so many things that you can put in those bowls, your imagination is the limit. Of course, make sure that if there are kids playing, the items are age-appropriate. 

One thing is for certain. Everyone is going to have a blast with this game.

7. Halloween Board Game

Board Games are a fantastic way of gathering the family around the table for a screen-free activity. Board games are our favourite Halloween activities for preschoolers due to the many benefits they have for kids.

It teaches them patience, how to lose and win gracefully, hand-eye coordination when moving the pieces on the board, teamwork, develop their language skills, logic, decision making and life lessons (your luck can change in a moment). 

Materials needed:

• Halloween board game – for 2 different age groups 
• Dice
• Game pawns

How to play:

Board game for 3-5 year-olds: players roll the dice and move their pawns according to the number shown on the die. When they land on a picture they must say what character it is (a ghost, mummy, zombie etc.) or move back to the square they were on before rolling the dice. The player that reachers the FINISH square first is the winner.

Board Game for 6-8 year-olds: players roll the dice and move their pawns according to the number shown on the die. When they land on a question, they will need to answer it correctly in order to stay on that square. If not, they will go back to the square they were on before rolling the die. Watch out for the action squares where you have to move back or forward. The player that reachers the FINISH square first is the winner.

8. Mummy Wrap

If there is a game that can be called a Halloween classic, then the Mummy Wrap must be the one. Ideally, this game works best when there are more players.

Materials needed: plenty of  toilet paper

How to play: The first step is to form pairs. One player is the mummy and the other one has the paper roll. The goal of the game is for the player who has the roll to completely wrap the other player in paper. The first pair who does so is the winner. Of course, you can have a timer and at the end, the best mummy wins.

There can also be strategies developed here. “The mummy” spins around while the other player sits still and holds the paper, they both spin in different directions, “the mummy” sits still and the player with the paper roll moves around the partner. Or other battle plans can be developed in order to win the game. Serious stuff!

9. Halloween Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger and Treasure Hunts are among our favourite Halloween activities for preschoolers since they are so versatile and exciting to play. So, naturally, our Halloween party wouldn’t be complete without a good ol’ Scavenger Hunt.

This Scavenger Hunt can be played both indoors or, depending on the restrictions in your area, outdoors around the neighbourhood. 

Materials needed:

• Halloween Scavenger Hunt printable
• Pencil

How to play: Simply walk around the house or neighbourhood and try to find all the items on the list. To make things more exciting, especially for older kids, you could add a time limit in which all the objects must be found. 

10. Pumpkin/Balloon Race

I played this game a few years ago with my students and we had a blast. So I thought it should definitely be added to the Halloween activities for preschoolers list. Having more participants to the race is always great since the atmosphere gets more animated but it can very well be played in as little as 2 players.

Materials needed:

• plastic pumpkins or orange balloons
• Brooms

How to play: The aim of the game is to get the balloon/pumpkin into the designated finish area, which could be an overturned bucket for example or simply a line, by sweeping it with the broom.

I found the game to be a lot more fun to play with balloons since they are more tricky to control.

Get set, ready, GO! 

11. Halloween Riddles

Riddles are such a great way of giving your little one’s brain a good workout, developing vocabulary and having fun. So why not try a seasonal round of riddles?

Materials needed: Halloween Riddles PPT

How to play: Simply start the PowerPoint Presentation and you will see the riddle come up, the timer and then the answer. 

For younger children, it might be a good idea to enable the “click to change slides” option to give them more reading and thinking time.

Another way to play the game, especially if there are more players involved, is to form teams and either each team writes their answers on a piece of paper OR, my personal favourite, equip each team with a BUZZER. The player that presses the buzzer first has the right to answer and win a point for the team.

Trick or Treat

Even though this year’s Halloween routine might look different for some of us, for example in some areas the traditional Trick or Treating will not take place, there’s no reason why you can’t move the party indoors with these amazing Halloween activities for preschoolers.  With so many fun ideas at your disposal, the kids will surely have a blast.

Trick or Treat! Trick or Treat,

Give me something good to eat,

Give me candy, give me cake,

Give me something good to take. ?

We share all of our ideas on our Facebook group Learning Activities for Kids.