14 Halloween Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Trick-or-treating is not the only way to celebrate Halloween with your toddler or preschooler! Whether your child is into crafts, cooking, or games, here are 14 fun, silly, sweet, and not-so-scary Halloween activities to keep every toddler, preschooler—and big kid—in the spooky spirit!

Eyeball Spoon Race Halloween Activity

Image: Amazon / The Moon Boat Store

Give the classic egg-and-spoon race a creepy twist by trading boring ol’ eggs for some ghoulish eyeballs. Here, kids race across the backyard, the living room, wherever, while balancing a fake eyeball in a spoon. The tot (or team) who gets to the finish line first, wins! Shop for glow in the dark bouncy ball eyeballs, candy eyeballs, or even get an eyes-and-spoon set.

Stuffy Costume Halloween Activity
Rumour has it that your tot’s stuffed animal collection is itching for a Halloween parade! To help get them ready, gather supplies to make mini costumes. Cut solo socks to make masks, hats, and clothes. Bend pipe cleaners into halos, glasses, spider legs, and more. Use scraps of fabric to craft capes. Cut construction paper into witch hats, butterfly wings, and more!  The options are endless!
Spooky Storytime Halloween Activity for Kids

Spooky storytime is like regular storytime but way creepier…and fun! Select a few age-appropriate Halloween books (here are a bunch of not-so-spooky Halloween books to choose from). Then hand out flashlights and glow sticks—and turn off the lights! Finally, snuggle up and get reading!
Casper Dancing Halloween Activity for Kids

Image & activity from Children’s Museum of Sonoma County 
Get into the “spirit” of Halloween with a ghost dance party that teaches children all about static electricity. Draw a ghost shape onto a piece of facial tissue, carefully cut it out, and lay it on a flat surface. Next, blow up the balloon, tie it, and have your tyke rub the balloon really, really fast through their hair for about 15 seconds. Once the balloon is “charged,” have your bub move the balloon ever so slowly over the tissue ghost—and watch as the Casper wannabe magically rises up and dance! Talk about weird science!
Monster Halloween Treat

Image & Activity: One Little Project
Rice cereal treats are always a hit—and something even the littlest of goblins can help make. (They can use their big muscles to help stir the cereal into the melted butter and marshmallow.) Once the treats are ready, sliced, and dipped into colourful melted candy—task your kiddo to push in the monsters’ eyeballs—the more the scarier!
Black Cat Halloween Craft for Kids

Image & activity: Crafts By Amanda
Is it even a holiday with kids without a paper plate craft?! To make this frightening feline, paint the backside of a paper plate black, let it dry, then cut out the kitty’s body, tail, head, and whiskers. (Here is the free template.) Next, have your tot use a glue stick to assemble the cat, and add googly eyes, and a pink pom-pom nose. It is purrrrrfect, right?! (If you can find black paper plates, you can skip the painting part.)
Pumpkin Golf Halloween Activity

Image & activity: A Girl And a Glue Gun
Spooky mini golf—and you do not have to go to brave the local putt-putt? Yes, please! To do it, order a kid-size golf set or buy one at a local big box store. Next, use a utility or X-acto knife to carve some big-mouth faces into a variety of carvable fake pumpkins for you and your family to tee golf balls into. Consider laying out a red felt “tongue” to make putting a bit easier for littles. And for a glow-tastic after-dark game, use poster putty to secure flameless candles to the upper inside of the pumpkins. (Not a golf fan? Use the pumpkins for a ghoulish bean bag toss!)

Pipe Cleaner Spider Halloween Craft

Image & activity: Busy Blooming Joy
Billed as a “no prep, no mess” activity, this could be the ultimate Halloween craft! All you need are various coloured pipe cleaners, playdough, and googly eyes. You or your bub can cut two pipe cleaners into four equal pieces each for eight spider legs. Next, your toddler or preschooler can roll the playdough into a rounded spider’s body and stick in the spider legs. Feel free to count out loud to eight, making sure they are all in there! Finally, add some googly eyes and let the creepy crawly play unfold.
Dig for Eyeballs Halloween Game

Image & activity: Kid Friendly Things To Do
Here is a gross-out sensory Halloween activity that delivers oodles of fun for all ages. And it could not be easier! Cook at least 1,000 grams of spaghetti (aka: brains), let it cool, then pour it into a large bowl. Push at least a dozen fake eyeballs (and some spiders, too) into the wet noodles. Next, blindfold your tot, set a one minute timer, and challenge them to find as many eyes and spiders as they can. For something more competitive, set up side-by-side brain bowls for a timed challenge! Either way, be sure to keep a cup of water nearby to moisten the brains when they start to dry out.
Mini Mummy Piñata Halloween Craft

Image & activity: DIY Candy
This wee mummy piñata is ideal for Halloween party favours and as a fun “Boo” gift for your neighbors! (To “Boo” is when you leave an anonymous treat at your friend’s front door for Halloween.) All you need to do is apply a strip of double-sided tape to one end of an empty toilet paper tube and gently place a piece of white crepe paper on top. Next, stuff a handful of candy and small trinkets (stickers, temporary tattoos, spider rings, etc.) inside the roll. Once you are done, place another piece of double-sided tape on the other end of the tube—and secure a stringed gift tag there. (Write “Pull Me” on it.) Then, stick a piece of crepe paper over the string. Finally, wrap more crepe paper around the tube until covered and secure with double-sided tape. Pry open a teeny section of crepe paper for the googly eyes and—voila!—your mini mummy piñata is ready to delight! 
Thumbprint Spider Halloween Activity

Image & activity: One Simple Party
Who has two thumbs and loves an easy Halloween craft? Your kiddo! For this Halloween activity, have your little one roll their thumb in a washable, black ink pad and “stamp” some paper. Add googly eyes, legs, and a web and you got yourself an adorable arachnid ready to be hung on the fridge or turned into a Happy Halloween card for pals. (If you get an orange ink pad, too, and you can add pumpkins to the Halloween scene!)
Pumpkin Tic-Tac-Toe Halloween Game

Image & activity: Toddler Approved
Pick up five small orange pumpkins and five white pumpkins, draw a classic tic-tac-toe board on craft paper, cardboard, or a dry erase board—and then get playing! If you can not find mini white pumpkins, you can simply paint orange ones any colour or mark five any-colour pumpkins with Xs and five pumpkins with Os. Score!
Candy Bark Halloween Activity

Image & activity: Just a Taste
Did you get carried away shopping for Halloween candy? No problem! Gather the tots to help you make Halloween candy bark, a deliciously spooky addition to any Halloween party. Simply melt some bittersweet chocolate, spread it on a lined cookie sheet, then have the kids press bite-size pieces of candy (plus edible eyeballs, of course) into the chocolate. After 30 to 45 minutes in the refrigerator, it is good for your ghosts to gobble!
Fizz Pumpkin Painting Activity

Image & activity: Toddler Approved
Part science experiment, part art project, this fizzing pumpkin painting activity is all fun! In a bowl, mix one part tempera paint with three parts baking soda. (Do a few different colours in separate bowls.) Next, have your toddler or preschooler cover a pumpkin with lots and lots of colourful paint. When they are done, use an eye dropper (or straw) to squirt some white vinegar onto the pumpkin and watch in amazement as the paint fizzles and bubbles! Keep it going until the masterpiece is complete.