Pumpkins, witches, ghosts and ghouls, Halloween is here! This season of trick-or-treating doesn’t have to be scary but rather fun for kids of all ages. From dressing up as their favorite character to heading out to all the fall festivals, this time of year is full of pumpkin spice, fun, and family.
While fall for many means getting outdoors and on-the-go during this beautiful season of change, having a few fun toddler and kid-friendly activities up your sleeve for those indoor days is always a good idea. Here are 10 of our favorite Halloween indoor activities for toddlers and kids.
Indoor Halloween Activities for Kids
Step 2 My 1st Jack-O-Lantern
“5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate, the first one said oh my it’s getting late, the 2nd one said there are witches in the air, the 3rd one said but we don’t care…”
Move over Mr. Potato Head and make way for the perfect Halloween themed educational toy for toddlers with My 1st Jack-O-Lantern from Step 2. Don’t let all of the pumpkin decorating fun be left up to the adults, let the kids join in with their very own jack-o-lantern this Halloween. Let your little ones work on their fine motor skills while they design their own Halloween pumpkin, again and again!
With a variety of mix and match pieces to design their very own silly faces and a stem that places various not so spooky Halloween sounds, kids will love this mess-free jack-o-lantern. What jack-o-lantern would be complete without a candle? Don’t worry, My 1st Jack-O-Lantern comes with its very own interior light so your kids can light up the night with their own pumpkin this year. Finally, store all of the pieces inside the pumpkin at cleanup time for easy and organized play.
Playmobil Take Along Haunted House
“Old Gus Goblin had a haunted house Eerie-Eerie-Ohhhh…”
Everyone loves a scary haunted house, but even more so if you can take it and play everywhere you go this holiday season. Perfect for imaginative and fine motor play on the go, Playmobil’s take and play sets allow kids to easily pack up all their pieces to either take-along for fun or even just for easy and organized clean up at home.
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This not so scary Haunted House includes a mad scientist’s lab, a vampire, a moving coffin, spiders, rats, bats and more for plenty of Halloween fun this year. Provide hours of play with this durable, holiday-themed play set that kids everywhere are sure to love at Halloween and really all year long.
Learning Resources Skeleton Foam Floor Puzzle
“The foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone, the ankle bone’s connected to the leg bone…”
Skeletons may be popular for Halloween fun, but with the Skeleton Foam Floor Puzzle from Learning Resources, they are also educational. Not only will children practice learn where the bones in the body belong by putting this extra-large 3D skeleton puzzle together, but they will also learn the names of all the bones in the body as the back of the pieces are labeled accordingly. Use in the classroom or at home for year-round anatomy lessons, or pull out for some spooky (albeit educational) Halloween fun!
Plus Plus Blocks
Perfect for Halloween play, the tube of Halloween inspired construction blocks from Plus Plus is a fabulous indoor fall activity for kids. Guaranteeing hours of open-ended, fine motor play, these bricks easily connect allowing children to make flat or 3D designs. The Halloween tube includes black, orange and yellow pieces along with instructions that can easily be designed into a Jack-O-Lantern, bat, or anything else your child’s creative mind imagines. Further, they can be easily added to a collection of Plus Plus blocks giving children hours of open-ended play both at home and on-the-go with these easily transportable, STEM-inspired building blocks.
Hand2Mind Stem BONES! Dissect Owl Pellets Kit
If you having a budding scientist on your hands, or even a kid who just loves to explore the outdoors this Halloween the perfect activity for one of those long days indoors is the Hand2Mind Stem BONES! Owl Pellet Dissection Kit. Complete with gloves, tweezers, a magnifying glass, three owl pellets and a book of bones, this educational activity will entertain him or her ALL DAY. Each pellet is full of bones, fur and the remains of an owl’s meal leaving it up to your serious explorer to separate out the skeletons and use the handy guide to identify just what the owl might have eaten last!
Highlights Halloween Tales Activity Book
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Take a bit of Halloween fun with you on the go this month whether you’re headed out to a family dinner, church, or just a day around town. Kids will love the zany characters they can seek, find, and create in this activity book with stickers. Witches, skeletons, ghosts, goblins, and Jack-O-Lanterns dominate the pages of this fun and simple puzzle book perfect for entertaining kids on the move while also teaching them important skills and lessons.
Orange and Black DIY Play-Doh Recipe
Easy to make on your own, non-toxic, and safe for little hands, DIY playdough is a great indoor fall activity for toddlers and even older kids this season. Not only will they spend hours playing with the finished product, but this easy DIY recipe also allows the kids to help out in the process too.
DIY Playdough Recipe:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup salt
- 4 teaspoons cream of tartar
- 2 cups lukewarm water
- 2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil (coconut oil works too)
- Food coloring, optional
With the ability to measure and add the necessary ingredients, DIY playdough is a great arts and crafts project that also teaches your child science and math skills right in the kitchen. One of the best parts of DIY playdough is that you can also create your own colors by adding in the food coloring at the end! When it’s done, pull out the Halloween cookie cutters and enjoy hours worth of indoor play.
If you’re short on time, or simply don’t have the extra energy to make your own playdough, pick up Primo’s Halloween playdough pack with all the colors and scents of the season!
Montessori Pumpkin Washing
Montessori inspired practical life washing lessons are perfect indoor activities for children this fall and winter. As all parents know, toddlers and young children love water, playing in water, and even helping out around the house with chores. This fall give them the opportunity to both play and learn with water in a constructive and educational way with a Montessori pumpkin scrubbing activity.
Materials List:
- Children’s Apron
- Dishpan
- Small Pitcher
- Small Bucket or Access to a Low Sink
- Vegetable Scrub Brush
- Drying Cloth or Kitchen Towel
- Placemat
- Natural Sponge
- Small Pie Pumpkin
Easy to DIY at home, you need only a few materials you likely already have and of course, a small pie pumpkin. Additionally, the majority of the materials are multi-purpose and can later be used for something else around the house, or converted to a different style washing lesson, keeping this activity in your indoor rotation and keeping your little one engaged and entertained.
DIY Cheesecloth Ghosts
If you and the kids are up for a day of messy fun this Halloween, then these DIY Cheesecloth Ghosts are simple to make resulting in cute and spooky decorations for your home. Materials you need for your boo-tiful decorations include:
- Scissors
- Cheesecloth
- Black felt or Googly Eyes
- Balloons
- Tin Cans/Coffee Cans/Oatmeal Containers
- White School Glue
Directions for DIY Cheesecloth Ghosts:
- Lay plastic wrap or trash bags on your table for an easier cleanup as this does get messy.
- Cut your cheesecloth into large sections.
- Blow up your balloons and set them in the tops of your cans or containers.
- Pour the white school glue into a bowl or bucket and dilute with water by half.
Dip your cheesecloth into the bowl and saturate it with the glue/water mixture. - Pull it out of the bowl and stretch the cheesecloth over your balloon. Try not to let it touch the can so it doesn’t stick.
Let it dry overnight, then pop the balloon and remove it from the cheesecloth. - You can then use felt or googly eyes to create eyes and a mouth for your ghost.
- Finally, using a thin thread, string or line, you can hang your spooky ghosts around the house.
Design Your Own Costume Kit
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Forget the store-bought costumes this Halloween, and even ditch the notion of mom staying up all night sewing a costume the kids are going to wear one time. Instead, let your little one contribute to their very own costume creation with a design your own costume kit. This takes the costume “process” and makes it more than a one-day affair. Kids will spend time creating and designing their own outfit which will also give them a sense of pride upon completion. Parents, this is a Halloween costume, not a symbol of your successful parenting so it doesn’t have to e perfect! With several options out there to choose from, we love the kits from Seedling as they provide all the necessary materials and are fun for the kids to use. Some of this year’s selections include:
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Halloween doesn’t need to be spooky and scary in order to be fun, plus it’s not all about the candy. The holidays are a perfect time to put a seasonal spin on all of the activities your child loves to do making them educational and engaging all at the same time. Learning isn’t supposed to be boring and with these 10 Halloween activities for kids, there is plenty to do, spanning the educational spectrum of language, manipulatives, fine and gross motor skills, arts, crafts, math, science and more. Happy Haunting!
WANT TO READ MORE?
Check out this article on how to be green this Halloween.
