Halloween doesn’t have to mean costumes, candy and a house full of plastic decorations.
Some of the loveliest Halloween memories are much simpler: making something together at the kitchen table, turning the living room into a tiny haunted house, baking something slightly wonky, or giving children an afternoon to use their imagination.
If you’re looking for easy Halloween activities for kids, we’ve gathered 25 ideas that are simple enough for a regular afternoon at home but still feel a little bit special.
Most of them need very little preparation, and many are completely screen-free.
So grab some paper, a few pumpkins and whatever craft supplies you already have—and let’s make Halloween a little more magical. 🎃
1. Make a Halloween Treasure Hunt
Hide small Halloween-themed objects around the house and give children a list of things to find.
Think:
• a little pumpkin
• something orange
• a spider
• a black cat
• a witch’s hat
• something sparkly
For younger children, use pictures instead of words so they can play independently.
Make it extra special: leave a tiny treat or sticker at the end of the hunt.
2. Set Up a Little Halloween Shop
Turn a corner of your playroom into a tiny Halloween shop.
Children can “sell” pumpkins, pretend sweets, costumes, spooky potions or anything else they can imagine.
Our Glimmies printable play money is perfect for this kind of pretend play:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/4570238337
Give your shop a name, make a little sign and let the children take turns being the shopkeeper and customer.
It is a wonderfully simple way to encourage imaginative play, counting and storytelling without a screen.
3. Decorate Halloween Cookies
You don’t need to make complicated Halloween biscuits.
Bake simple cookies and put out icing, sprinkles and edible decorations.
Let the children create ghosts, pumpkins, spiders and monsters.
The less perfect they look, the better.
4. Make Paper Plate Ghosts
One of those wonderfully old-fashioned crafts that requires almost nothing.
You’ll need:
• paper plates
• white paper
• scissors
• glue
• a black marker
Cut strips of paper for the ghost’s body, add two eyes and a spooky little face, and hang the ghosts around the house.
5. Create a Halloween Sensory Bin
Fill a tray or large container with something simple such as dried pasta, rice, shredded paper, pom-poms, plastic spiders and little pumpkins.
Add cups, spoons and containers so children can scoop, pour and sort.
For younger children, make sure all materials are age-appropriate and supervised.
6. Have a Halloween Dance Party
Put on some music, turn off the lights and add a few battery-operated lights or lanterns.
Then introduce silly challenges:
• Dance like a skeleton.
• Dance like a witch.
• Dance like a tiny monster.
• Freeze like a statue!
This one requires almost no preparation and is guaranteed to burn off some Halloween excitement.
7. Make a Pumpkin Face Gallery
Instead of carving pumpkins, give children paper pumpkins to decorate.
They can draw different faces: happy, scared, sleepy, mischievous or spooky.
Display all the pumpkins together to create a little Halloween gallery.
8. Create Your Own Monster
Give each child a blank sheet of paper and ask them to invent a monster.
Give them a few prompts: How many eyes does it have? What does it eat? Where does it live? What is its name? Is it friendly or scary?
Then let them tell you the monster’s story.
This turns a simple drawing activity into a little storytelling game.
You can also find a monster making kit with pom pons on Amazon: https://link.amazon/B03Fj6m5W
9. Make a Halloween Potion Station
This can be as simple as a tray with cups, water and safe kitchen ingredients.
Children can pretend to be witches or scientists creating magical potions.
Give each potion a name: Moonlight Potion, Witch’s Brew, Spider Potion or Pumpkin Magic.
Use only child-safe materials and supervise closely.
Or buy this on Amazon, perfect kit for potion making: https://link.amazon/B00vEDnPd
10. Go on a Halloween Colour Hunt
Choose three or four Halloween colours: orange, black, purple and green.
Ask children to find objects around the house in each colour.
For older children, turn it into a timed challenge.
For younger children, simply make a little colour collection together.
11. Make Halloween Garlands
Cut out simple shapes from coloured paper: pumpkins, ghosts, bats, stars and cats.
String them together to make a Halloween garland.
You don’t need a perfect template—the slightly wonky shapes are part of the charm.
12. Have a Halloween Storytelling Afternoon
Turn off the television, make some hot chocolate and invent a Halloween story together.
Start with: “One Halloween evening, a little girl found a mysterious door…”
Then let everyone add one sentence.
You can even write the story down afterwards and illustrate it together.
13. Create a Spooky Obstacle Course
Use cushions, chairs and blankets to create a tiny indoor obstacle course.
Children can crawl through a haunted tunnel, jump over imaginary spiders, balance across a bridge and sneak past the sleeping monster.
Give the course a dramatic name such as The Haunted Castle Challenge.
14. Paint Mini Pumpkins
Small pumpkins are perfect for little hands.
Instead of carving them, use washable paint to create faces, stripes, dots, stars or little ghosts.
Or give each child one pumpkin and let them design it however they like.
15. Make Halloween Shadow Puppets
Cut simple shapes from black paper and shine a flashlight behind them.
Try bats, cats, ghosts, witches and monsters. Then make up a story using the shadows.
This is particularly lovely just before bedtime.
16. Have a Halloween Movie Night
Make an ordinary movie night feel like an event.
Create The Halloween Movie Club.
Then make tickets, prepare popcorn and let the children choose the film.
Add blankets and a few Halloween decorations.
You could even make a little movie-night menu with popcorn, fruit and a Halloween treat.
17. Make a Halloween Bingo Game
Create simple bingo cards using pictures rather than words.
Possible pictures: pumpkin, ghost, spider, bat, black cat, witch and candy.
Children can mark each image when they see it.
This is particularly good for younger children.
18. Have a Halloween Baking Afternoon
Choose one easy recipe and let the children help.
It could be pumpkin muffins, Halloween cookies, banana ghosts, monster cupcakes or chocolate brownies.
Give children small jobs they can actually manage: stirring, decorating, sprinkling or arranging.
19. Make a “Trick or Treat” Pretend Game
You don’t need to wait until Halloween night.
Have children knock on doors around the house and pretend to trick or treat.
One person can be the homeowner while the others dress up and visit.
Add pretend sweets, a little basket and some play money for an even bigger imaginative-play setup.
20. Create a Halloween Dress-Up Box
Put together a basket with things you already have: scarves, hats, old sunglasses, tutus, capes, cardboard boxes and face paint.
Then let children create their own costumes.
The best part is letting them invent a character rather than giving them a finished costume.
You can also find nice Halloween tattoos on Amazon: https://link.amazon/B08P6GOy3
21. Make a Halloween Kindness Challenge
Halloween can be about more than sweets.
Create a little list of kind things children can do: make a drawing for someone, help set the table, give someone a compliment, help a sibling, share a treat or make a Halloween card.
Call it the Spooky Kindness Challenge.
22. Create a Halloween Photo Booth
Hang a simple backdrop and provide silly props.
Try witch hats, paper glasses, cardboard pumpkins, monster masks and spooky signs.
Let children take turns posing.
You don’t need professional photographs—the silly ones will probably become the favourites.
23. Make a Halloween Memory Jar
Throughout October, write down funny or memorable moments on small pieces of paper.
At the end of Halloween, read them together.
You could save the jar and add to it every year.
24. Start a Halloween Tradition
Choose one tiny thing that you repeat every Halloween.
Maybe it is Halloween pancakes, a special bedtime story, a family movie, decorating cookies, a morning treasure hunt or hot chocolate after trick-or-treating.
The tradition doesn’t need to be elaborate.
The repetition is what makes it special.
25. Have a “Little Halloween Afternoon”
Put several of these ideas together.
No big party. No complicated preparation.
Just an afternoon dedicated to Halloween.
Make cookies.
Play a game.
Make something.
Put on music.
Have a little pretend shop.
Finish with a movie and popcorn.
Because sometimes the simplest traditions become the ones children remember.
Make Halloween Magical
You don’t need an elaborate Halloween party or a house covered in decorations to make October memorable for children.
A few simple activities, a little imagination and some time together can be enough.
And the best part?
You can create most of these activities with things you already have at home.
Save this list for October and come back whenever you need an easy Halloween idea for a rainy afternoon, a playdate or a little bit of screen-free fun.
