Family & Social Child Developement

Fun Halloween Activities for Toddlers

Halloween can be a sensory feast for little kids! These non-spooky Halloween sensory play ideas are the perfect way to spend an October afternoon with your kiddos! We suggest you make your Halloween celebration even more fun by including history, family bonding and traditions into this exciting fall holiday. Here are 3 easy and fun activity ideas to get your toddlers excited for Halloween!

Pumpkin Sensory Squish Bag

Pumpkin sensory bag is the perfect sensory activity for toddlers and older children. This sensory play is easy, can be quickly set up, plus, it aids your little ones to develop fine motor skills.

What you will need

Pumpkin
Ziplock bag
Sellotape

To prepare this mess-free sensory bags, scoop out the gut or the inside of a pumpkin and place it in a gallon-sized Ziploc bag. Tape up the seal to ensure that your baby can't get into the bag. You can tape this sensory bag on the highchair so that they can use their fingers to squeeze and squash the contents of the sensory bag or tape it on a window for a vertical light-table effect and let your little one have a blast.

Image source: icanteachmychild.com

Paint the Pumpkins

Carving a pumpkin is a more common way to decorate pumpkins, but your toddlers can’t be really engaged with that process. A safer way to include pumpkin decorating and toddlers into your Halloween celebration is to let them grab a paintbrush and paint the pumpkins. This activity is something toddlers can totally get into using paint and brushes or hands. And older kids enjoy it as well.

What you will need

Washable tempera paint
Brush
Pumpkins
Glue

Make sure you use tempera paint or any kid's washable paint. You can make a 50/50 mixture of kid-safe school glue and paint. So when the paint dries, it does not flake off. Let your toddler finger paint or try a less messy version with paintbrushes.

It's messy but lots of fun while stimulating your child’s senses. This activity also helps your child explore colors, patterns, creativity and exploration.

Halloween Themed I Spy

Here’s a not-so-spooky way to get your toddlers excited about Halloween! Have your toddlers search and count up all the different Halloween items. This activity requires toddlers to scan through the objects and find ones that are the same.

I Spy games are activities that help strengthen children’s memory and visual learning. It’s also a great way to improve toddlers’ speech, vocabulary, language and comprehension skills.

What you will need

Halloween themed items

After gathering all your supplies, lay them out on a table. Give them simple clues and ask to find out objects “I Spy with my little eye, 5 pumpkins.” Visually looking at all of these little items is a great exercise to develop your child for word searches and puzzles.

Halloween is an exciting season for kids, and these activities will allow the little trick-or-treaters to join in this time of year in a way that feels fun and useful.