Oh, Halloween. Your googly eyes, spider webs, and outdoor Halloween decorations get me every year. Seriously. I walk into Target, and the Halloween mini-erasers start calling my name. But wouldn’t it be nice to have someone point you in the right direction on what to buy and pass by? Welp, that’s where I come in. I am a Halloween activity connoisseur (yep, I gave myself that title). I created these Halloween Supplies for activities and games to accompany toddlers’ and preschoolers’ low-prep activities.
RELATED: Want more ideas than these five? Here are 31 Halloween activities for kids.
When is the best time to do an activity?
I like to think about the times in my day that could use a little love. For us, mornings with a baby, toddler, and preschooler needed a little inspiration for play.
This is why we created Breakfast Invitations to start the day with play. They are simple learning games for kids to play at breakfast, leading to independent play. Read What is a Breakfast Invitation to learn more.
The best times for at-home Halloween activities here are:
- Morning – as a morning activity
- After nap – walking up with a snacktivity
- After preschool – sensory bins work well for this time
- Dinner prep – cook dinner as your child plays
RELATED: We created a daily routine with three young children.
Seasonal Activity Cards
Better than a spice latte, you’ll love these 20 low-prep activities for the changing seasons.
- 5 fall activities
- 5 Halloween activities
- 5 winter activities
- 5 celebration ideas (Hello, New Year!)
Plus, a PDF calendar that has everything organized.
Halloween Activity Supply List
The best part about Halloween supplies for activities and games is that you can use them year after year. Nothing beats reopening the container of plastic eyeballs and immediately wanting to put them in a bucket of water for Eyeball Soup.
I chose these Halloween fun supplies for activities and games because they have many uses. We can purchase them once and use them for the next few years. (Unlike candy corn that gobbled right up.)
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Plastic Eyeballs
Halloween Stickers
Mini Erasers
Sensory Bin Beans
Mini Buckets
Halloween Bucket
Eye Stickers
Fall Paper
Plastic Pumpkins
Five Halloween At-home Activities for Kids
No Halloween activity supply list is complete without the actual activities!
How can you use these terrific Halloween supplies? You know I am so happy you asked! Let’s use the googly eyes, small pumpkins, and spider webs with these fun ideas for little learners. I chose these five activities to share in this post, but you can also find 31 of my favorite Halloween activities.
Sticker Shirts
Let’s start with perhaps the most effortless at-home Halloween activity. Prep time is less than three minutes, and the skill level works well for toddlers and preschoolers.
But don’t let this simple idea fool you! Stickers are a great way to strengthen fine motor skills and work on future pencil grip. Halloween season is one of my favorite collections of activities for fine motor development.
Halloween sticker shirts are a superb activity if you need a quick and entertaining idea.
Pumpkin Balance Relay Race
I love the fall weather. Yes, even here in the Southeast, we get a little glimpse of cooler weather. We may not be in flannel or oversized sweaters, but we begin to enjoy some outdoor activities with the kids, which is a welcome breeze.
This pumpkin race relay is a fun way to practice balance, similar to this pumpkin balance activity. Here, we used tennis rackets to balance the mini pumpkins from one end to another to see who could fill the bucket first.
If you have one child, try playing with a timer. Predict how many pumpkins can reach the other side without falling in three minutes. Many children enjoy being timed!
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RELATED: Here is why balance is essential for reading development.
Fine Motor Pumpkin Patch
When you add these Halloween mini erasers into your life, you also add many ideas to follow. You can freeze the skeletons, pumpkins, and bats and save them too!
I created a simple pumpkin patch for this morning’s at-home Halloween activity. My preschooler grabbed the pumpkins out of the field and collected them in the bucket. If your child prefers to use their hands, that is okay too! Both ways help strengthen the small hand muscles.
How can you use these pumpkin erasers again?
Make a Halloween eraser graph or freeze it for your next ice sensory bin.
RELATED: Looking for more fall activities than Halloween? Here are 50 fall activities for toddlers and preschoolers.
Fill the Skeleton Heads Sensory Bin
Coming up with a name for this at-home Halloween idea threw me a little loop.
Call it what you will, but sensory play after preschool gets a solid go at my house. It is the perfect wind-down transition from school to playtime.
I used four bags of dried black beans and will leave this in my office for the next few weeks so the boys can bop in and out as they visit.
And sadly, the skeleton heads are no longer available at Target. But that doesn’t make it a no-go! The best ideas have multiple uses. Mix the black beans with mini cauldrons or the mini buckets listed in the supply list above.
RELATED: Here are 40 must-try sensory bins for kids.
Spider Dots
No fall roundup would be complete without this winning idea. (This Halloween activity put Days with Grey on the map years ago, and its legacy will continue!)
Draw a simple web with colored dots on your spider web. Invite your children to add the spiders. Adding eight eyes to each sticker is another welcomed bonus!
VARIATIONS: There are many different ways to play Spider Dots. Use at home as an individual Breakfast Invitation or on a larger scale for a small group at school.
Ready? Which of the five at-home Halloween activities will you try first?
Additional Halloween activities
Okay, it wasn’t easy to highlight only five ideas here. Halloween crafts are fun, too! (Especially Pumpkin Crafts for Kids.)
This post wouldn’t be complete without adding these other seasonal favorite activities:
- Messy Halloween sensory play with plastic eyes
- Peanut-Free Halloween Party
- Room on the Broom activity
- Spooky Halloween Track
It was hard to choose from these 50 Halloween activities for preschoolers, but my favorite is making pumpkin faces from the book It’s Pumpkin Day Mouse by Laura Numeroff.
Our favorite Halloween book is Room on the Broom. We created two Halloween activities featuring this book. They are Room on the Broom Paint by Number, which is an easy way to retell the story.
Read Halloween books and closely examine what interests and scares your child. Think about Halloween from their lens and help them navigate trick-or-treating by practicing beforehand. Many children feel overwhelmed by Halloween or do not want to leave the house. Encourage your child to do what feels comfortable.
