Halloween Activities for Kids

By Jeanne Benedict

Two Little Witches Brewing Up Fun!

Gear up for ghoulishly good fun at a kids' Halloween party! Roll out the pumpkins for an easy toss game and bring on the skulls and bones for a lawn bowl.

Hunt for witches and play Bingo with spiders to keep the kids busy before trick-or-treating or on an autumn afternoon before the holiday.

Pumpkin Games

Here’s how to have a blast with pumpkins:

More fun Halloween ideas from our experts!

Toss it in a Pumpkin

Hollow out a large pumpkin.
Set the pumpkin in your yard or home.
Establish a tossing zone about 6 feet away from the pumpkin where kids will stand and toss.
Have kids toss silly stuff into the pumpkin like glowing eyeballs, beanbags or Halloween candy and trinkets.

Mini Pumpkin Petanque

Create 2 teams of no more than 3 people per team.
Give each team 3 mini pumpkins or sugar pumpkins.
Select a starting place in the yard and mark an 18-inch diameter circle.
Toss a coin to determine the starting team.
The first player on the starting team stands in the circle and throws a 1-inch diameter ball about 6 feet away, which becomes the “target.”
Then, the first player must stand in the circle and throw his or her pumpkin trying to get it as close as possible to the target.
Next, a player on the opposing team stands in the circle and throws a pumpkin trying to get it closer to the target or knock the first pumpkin away.
Players continue throwing pumpkins until they are done.
A point is given for each pumpkin that is closer to the target ball than the opposing teams' pumpkins.
The team that earns 13 points first wins the game.

Check out this Petanque website to find out more about the game and read the official rules and player guidelines.

Silly Skulls

Here’s how to mix it up with skulls:

Skulls from Plum Party

Skull Bowl

Choose an area in your yard or home as the bowling lane.
Pick up some plastic skulls to use as bowling balls.
Set up craft bowling pins or plastic pins from a kid’s bowling game.
Roll the skulls and try to knock down the pins.

Bone Relay

Have teams line up behind a starting point.
Determine a “run to” point that is a straight shot from the starting point.
Give each team a plastic bone as a relay baton.
On “go,” the first player from each team races to the “run to” point, then back to the starting point.
The bone is handed off to the next player on the team who races to the “run to” point and back, handing off the bone to the next runner and so on.
The team who completes the relay first wins.

Witchy Ways

Here’s how to get into the witching hour:

Witch Medallion Beads for a Hunt

Witch Hunt

Purchase witch-themed items such as witch medallion beads, glitter witch sayings bracelets, witch pop-ups and witchy candy.
Hide the witch items in your yard or home.
Hand out bags so the kids can hunt for the witches and collect their loot.

Witchy Horseshoes