Are you looking for some fun Halloween activities for children? Halloween doesn’t just have to be one night of trick-or-treating, you can make several days of fun!
Note: As an Amazon Affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases made through affiliate links, at no extra cost to you. Read my full disclosure for more information.
Why Halloween Activities for Children?
Trick or Treating is great but we really like to have a more robust celebration of the holiday since our kids are always so excited about it! We like to make pumpkin based baked goods, do activities with stickers and coloring, read Halloween books, Halloween crafts, and of course Halloween theme food!
Table of Contents
Pumpkin Baked Goods
My boys love the taste of pumpkin so today I decided to make a couple pumpkin recipes and they could eat them for lunch. Though they do enjoy helping, it involves step stools and being rather calm/behaved which I knew wouldn’t happen today with all the excitement so I decided to bake on my own, with a bunch of interruptions from them of course but that’s to be expected.
I made these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Donut Holes from the Enjoy Life website. They turned out really well and are allergen friendly!
I had a lot of pumpkin puree left so I decided to make these Pumpkin Spice Muffins as well.
My boys had a very pumpkin lunch and loved it! They don’t normally eat this well, maybe I should find the time to bake more often!
Below is a picture of me with a baked muffin, I honestly wanted to show off my Halloween Dress. Haha! I don’t wear dresses often even though I do love them, but I bought this Halloween dress a while back and love wearing it on Halloween. I also actually have eye make up on and my hair down, all things that don’t happen often!
Of course, while baking, I also had an apron over it. For once I really felt like “Susie Homemaker” ha! Don’t worry, tomorrow I’ll go back to normal.
Halloween Sticker Books
We bought some Halloween sticker books a while back that we bring out every year and the kids love to do just a little more.
The stickers on the right are great to be able to decorate your own characters!!
Halloween Coloring Books
My boys aren’t all that into coloring for some reason that I’ll never understand because I love coloring. We do have some Halloween coloring books for each of them just in case they change their minds though. One of these days, I’m just going to start coloring them – LOL!
Don’t want to wait for shipping? Grab my Printable Halloween Coloring book that you can instantly download once you complete your purchase!
This Halloween Coloring book features pictures of pumpkins, skeletons, brooms, bales of straw with faces, cats, ghosts, and more!
Halloween Books to Read
Our kids are still young so we don’t read anything spooky. Heck, they think Finding Nemo is scary. All that to say, our selection of Halloween books are quite tame.
We love the ‘If You Give a Mouse a Cookie’ series and ‘It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse!‘ I think was the first one we had! It’s great as a board book and is a fun way to talk about emotions and how our faces look during them as well, without being too boring and in depth.
Llama Llama Trick or Treat is another one we love! We have several Llama Llama books and love the TV show as well!
Paw Patrol Pup-Tastic Halloween Lift the Flap book is another one of our favorites for Halloween!
Halloween Crafts
In addition to the sticker books and other Halloween books, there are a lot of great crafts and other activities we love doing each year.
Halloween Stampers
I don’t know what it is but I love stampers and so do my kids. As long as caps are put on tight, they last for years and have endless possibilities! We’ve decorated Halloween cards to give each other and send to family members, as well as making “art” for around the house.
Halloween Foam Masks
These masks are so fun whether you’re just hanging out at home or they’re part of a bigger costume. We have these and also some animal ones that they love to wear.
These come in a 12 pack with two of each design.
Halloween Building Set
This is a really fun set where you can make a ghost, witch, and cat! It’s fun to be able to sit and build something instead of just gobble candy.
Oriental Trading for Crafts, Handouts, and Costumes
We love Oriental Trading for crafts throughout the year, including Halloween. They have easy crafts for younger kids and more complicated ones for older kids. They also have games, candy, small trinkets to hand out for Halloween, and costumes. We love how low the prices are and how great their products are. Seriously, if I knew about Oriental Trading when I was a kid I would have tried to buy the whole catalog!
Click the banner below to see all they have to offer!
Halloween Food
In addition to the baked goods I mentioned above, we also had Little Smokies in the crockpot with optional dipping sauces, gluten free crackers and dairy-free cheese, and we made some gluten free dirt cups for dessert.
For the dirt cups we used gluten free Oreos and mashed them up in the bottom of a small bowl then add the Albanese brand of mini gummi worms (we have food allergies in the family, hence the substitutions).
Trick or Treating at Home
Some years we have trick or treated at home, which is so much more relaxed and fun. It started in 2020 during the beginning of the pandemic and we did again when there was a surge of COVID, RSV, and Influenza all at the same time.
It was nice to have an Easter egg hunt type Trick or Treating experience, inside where it’s warm (we live in snowy MN), and during the day instead of trekking out in the cold, darkness, setting off their sleep schedules.
In addition to hiding treats and small toys for them to find, we also hid a treasure box that had some special little stuffed animals they had been wanting. They were so excited!! These boys LOVE any type of scavenger hunts, geocaching, treasure hunts, etc.!
Depending on the weather and the costumes they choose, we decide whether to go trick-or-treating indoors or out with others. It’s generally left up to the kids.
As a mom of identical twins and a son two years older, I have gained invaluable experience in the realm, and chaos, of parenting. With a Master's Degree and Education Specialist Degree in School Psychology, I spent years as a school psychologist, helping children navigate through their educational and emotional challenges. Now as a stay at home mom and professional blogger, I combine my areas of expertise to help you in your parenting journey.
I love these activities! I can’t wait to try one with the kiddos.