Toddler Crafts and Activities for Halloween

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It’s officially pumpkin spice season!

<–Amazon has PSL candles!! o.m.g.

But this post is about my kids…

Okay, we all love Halloween for its pumpkin faces, trick-or-treating, costume making and sweet treats and candy. Now that at least one of my kids is at the age of understanding seasons and holidays I get to actually share with them the fun of Halloween activities like crafts, games and holiday baking!

I’ve been digging through Pinterest and Google looking for such activities and—WOW–there’s a ton! But the problem with most of the stuff I’m seeing are–they aren’t for tiny hands. Yes, I enjoy crafts, but do I really want my kids to watch all the time? No! I want them to experience a silly idea come to life in their hands too!


So…here are 5 activities I found that are 1) Great for the younger kids. Kids within the ages of 2-4 will be capable of all of these activities! and 2) Things I know toddlers—especially mine—will LOVE to do. Bonus=these are budget friendly too.

5 Halloween Activities for Children and Adults

1. No-Carve Jack-O-Lanterns

Last year my son thought it was totally awesome watching Daddy carve out our pumpkins. BUT it was a mess and he didn’t really get to do anything. So one of the things I can’t wait to let my children do this year is carve-free or no-carve jack-o-lanterns.

What you need:

• Glue sticks
• Any size pumpkins
• Googely eyes, buttons, bows
• Markers
• Pipe cleaners
• Orange construction paper
• Potato head parts if you have them laying around!
• Anything else you think would work!

How to decorate a no-carve jack-o-lantern:

Let them go wild! Glue pieces to whole pumpkins, stick potato head pieces into them or draw polka dots, spooky faces or bats on them. You can cut out toothy mouths from the construction paper. Or spell out Halloween words (BOO) with buttons. There’s really a lot of possibilities and some super cute ideas online. Here are photos (*not mine–left credit where credit is due) to inspire some creative ideas!

2. Halloween Baking!

Let the baking begin! Halloween officially kicks off the holiday baking season!! I am so excited–cookies with spooky faces, “witch’s brew” soup, “slimy” French toast, and pumpkin pie from those pumpkins we didn’t carve up, all on the menu for October! What sorts of yummy treats will you and your kids cook together?

Peekaboo Brownies

With my babies being so little (3yo and 1 yo), I like to keep it simple! Bake a batch of brownies and let the kids sprinkle them with googely eyes and sprinkles. You could also melt marshmallows and let them drizzle on top like spider webs!

3. Bat Sensory Slime

Is slime still all the rage for kids? I don’t know, but I think my son will love this! Sensory slime is soft and gooey and you can toss in some Halloween confetti to make it festive!

Here is what you need…

• Liquid starch
• Elmer’s clear washable glue (5oz)
• Water
• Bat confetti or other Halloween confetti
• Bowls, spoons

How to make sensory slime:

1. In a bowl combine ½ cup of water with the Elmer’s glue.
2. Add the bat confetti.
3. Add in the ¼ cup of liquid starch. Stir until liquid is gone.
4. Knead the slime until it is no longer stringy. Done!

4. Ghost Bowling

Simple, cheap and I know my kids will just get a kick out of tossing a pumpkin at objects to knock them down!

Materials:

• White cups
• Black markers, crayons or paper to cut out for faces (you would also need glue then)
• Small pumpkins

Decorate your cups and pumpkins as you’d like. Now roll (although I know my son will throw) the pumpkin at a stack/tower of “bowling pins”. This game will be a great option as the weather starts to turn cold and rainy. I can see my kids playing this game while I shower!

5. Matching Games

Another activity that is age-appropriate and easy to set up! You could do a variety of figures—monsters, owls, jack-o-lanters, etc.

Materials:

• Figures printed out
• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Markers

Or, click this link for free printable Halloween images.

After you print your monster/owl/jack-o-lantern design, cut it out and use it as a template to cut out 2 or 4 of the same figures on construction paper. Scatter the figures on the floor and let your kids find the ones that match!

Which of these activities are you excited to share with your children? Let me know in the comments!