A Selection of the Best Halloween Activities for Toddlers.
I ran an Instagram competition to collate a selection of the best Halloween activities for toddlers. There are so many creative people developing all kinds of super fun educational activities that your child will enjoy. Thank you to everyone who continues to share their ideas with me and my followers. Please visit their accounts to see the original post with the full range of photos and caption.
Jack-o-lantern Water Play
This is a popular and one of the best Halloween activities for toddlers. It is simple to set up and requires few resources. Water play allows children to practice those practical life skills like pouring, scooping and transferring.
Preparation is key for water play. Ensure you have a spill zone, a change of clothes and towels handy.
Materials:
Containers of varying sizes, water, food colouring, Halloween-themed play items and cornstarch.
Instructions:
- Dye some water with a little food coloring and add some corn starch.
- Add some containers of varying sizes and any Halloween-themed play items that are waterproof.
Halloween Ghost Counting
This is a fun and interactive Halloween dice game. It is a wonderful way to seamlessly infuse a little math into a child´s play.
Materials:
Recycled cardboard, playdough, dice, white cardboard and chalk markers to colour the windows and door.
Step-by-step:
- Cut out a haunted house shape from cardboard.
- Cut some ghosts shapes out of the white cardboard.
- Use chalk markers to add windows and door features.
- Cover it with black and orange playdough.
To play:
Roll the dice and count how many ghosts can go inside the haunted house.
Upcycled Ghosts / Fantasmas
Monster Match, Sensory Bag
Halloween Playdough Witch
This activity explores some two-dimensional shapes. It also gives your child the opportunity to be creative, develop their fine motor skills and enjoy some Halloween craft. Below is a guide only. If you do not wish to use loose parts like beads or googly eyes, use playdough instead. It is one of the cutest and best Halloween activities for toddlers.
´Acornstein´ Activities for Toddlers.
“It’s funny where you can find inspiration – this time it was at a local farm stand. I picked up an acorn squash & saw the face of Frankenstein.”
I believe children should use real life items where possible in play. The moment I saw this activity I fell in love with it. What an awesome way to use screws in play!
Materials: acorn squash, chalk pens or markers, screws, screwdriver, cardboard, yarn & paint
Step-by-step:
- Draw on some facial details.
- Add a bit of yarn & paint to the hair, pupils & stitches.
- Paint some cardboard and glue it to the sides of the acorn squash for the ears.
- Cut a hole in the top of the acorn squash.
To play:
Kids love practicing with the screwdriver to turn screws into the sides of his head. I also cut a hole out of the top so they could perform “brain surgery”.
Challenging Spider Web Fun
Is your child fascinated with spider webs too? Then try this activity with them! It appears super simple, but to master “loop over the stick and under”, is surprisingly a huge challenge for a 3-year-old. You can pair it with a book, Web Opposites by Rob Hodgson or another ´spider´book of your choice.
Materials: 3 twigs/small branches, hot glue and yarn.
Step-by-step:
- Create the base of the web with 2 twigs to make an X and then then the third one in the middle of those.
- Use hot glue to stick the 3 twigs together,
- Start adding yarn by tying one piece towards the middle and make a knot.
- Make sure you are working your way from the middle out.
- Wrap the yarn around each stick over, under, over, under until complete.
- Secure with a knot.
Halloween Fizzy Fun for Toddlers
Have you tried fizzy play? This is a fun frozen witches hat fizzy play.
The chemical reaction between carbonic acid and sodium acetate is always popular with kids. It creates the bubbles and foam when they mix baking soda and vinegar.
- Mix some water, food colouring and baking soda then place it in a mould and freeze it.
- Once frozen, place into a tray.
- You can add some other Halloween-themed decorations that are waterproof.
- Your child uses a dropper to add vinegar to to frozen witch´s hats.
Candy Corn CVC Words Slider Board
DIY Halloween-themed Candy corn CVC words slider board using cardboard. CVC words are those constructed using consonant /vowel /consonant. For example, words such as cat or dog. CVC words are just the beginning of the phonics skills they will need to decode those tough words they will start to see as they dive further into books.
Multiple activity ideas:
1. Spell CVC words.
2. Letter hunt.
3. Image or toy hunt.
4. Find the books with images of selected words.
5. With older kids, you can compete using a timer.
Materials: Cardboard, construction paper, markers, Stanley knife, cut-outs of images/toys, and Velcro dots.
Step-by-step:
- Cut out a candy corn shape in cardboard and decorate.
- Make a slit in the middle of each third of the candy corn.
- Cut strips of paper to slide though the candy corn slider board.
- On strips of paper, write vowels (A E I O U) leaving space in between each one.
- Attach Velcro dots on either side of the slit on the candy corn.
- Write consonants on construction paper and individually cut them out.
- Attach the other side of the Velcro dot to a consonant.
- Thread a strip of paper into the slit on the candy corn. Thread from the back, then slide it into the top slit from the front.
- Begin making CVC words! Use cut outs of images for inspiration.
Halloween Sensory Cards
Play using the senses aids in developing and enhancing memory. I love these sensory cards as they can double as Halloween decorations.
Materials: Cardboard, pencil, marker, scissors, glue, colour threads/yarn, black beans, coloured rice, vermicelli, and barley.
(These sensory items are optional, you can use sensory items of your choice , like coloured rice or small coloured stones).
Note: You can use my coloured rice recipe found here.
Step-by-step:
1. Cut the cardboard into 4 pieces (you can make one single object also).
2. Draw the pictures of a pumpkin, bat, ghost and a leaf.
3. Glue a different colour of thread/yarn on each one of the pictures according to their colour and let it dry.
4. Begin to glue sensory items inside of each picture. For example, spread vermicelli onto the pumpkin, black beans onto the bat, barley onto the ghost and green rice onto the leaf.
Halloween Sensory Puzzle
- Cut out a flat square out of cardboard for the backing of the puzzle.
- Use a pencil to draw a pumpkin picture. Make a simple line drawing, leaving enough space between the lines to fill with sensory materials.
- Using a ruler, cut 2-3cm strips out of flexible cardboard.
- Apply hot glue to your line drawing and attach your strip of flexible cardboard vertically. Work on one small section at a time so that the glue doesn’t dry too quickly.
- Hold each piece for a few seconds while the glue dries. You may need to trim or overlap your strips of paper to fit your drawing.
Prep for play:
Halloween Popsicle Stick Puzzle
Popsicle stick puzzles are a classic activity idea because they are affordable, quick to make, sturdy and compact. You can easily make them for any theme your child is currently interested in.
- Line up your popsicle sticks and tape them in place.
- Draw your design with a pencil and trace over with a marker.
- Paint your designs the desired colour.
- Number the popsicle sticks in order to complete the design.
- Remove the tap and they are ready for play.