Kids Halloween Games

The games you play at your Halloween party will depend to a certain extent on the ages of the children.  Little ones will respond better to simple, short games and it’s important that what you play isn’t too frightening for preschoolers.  That said, many games can be enjoyed by any age group, even adults.  They key to throwing a successful Halloween party is to have several games up your sleeve to keep everyone entertained.  If the kids seem to be enjoying a particular game, let them continue with it for as long as they want.  But if people don’t like something or find the rules hard to understand, move on to something else more fun!

Children love to win prizes, so make sure you’ve got some treats lined up to give to the winners in each game.  Candy, cupcakes or small toys are favourites.  Also, make sure you have some party favors for each child to take home with them at the end of the party, so that no one feels left out.

Here are some game ideas to help you plan your party:

The Memory Game

Place some Halloween related items on a tray ie. Small plastic toys such as spiders, bats, fangs, eyeballs.  Sit everyone in a circle on the floor and let them look at the items on the tray for a couple of minutes.  Then cover the tray with a cloth and ask all the kids to write down a list of all the items they saw.  The winner is the child who remembers the most correct items.

Apple Bobbing

This is a classic Halloween game.  You’ll need a tub full of water and lots of apples to float in it.  People take it in turns to get apples out of the tub, using just their mouths, no hands!  You can set a time limit and the winner is the one who gets the most apples.

Halloween Hunt

You could do this in various ways. You could do it like a Scavenger hunt around the house and yard, where you split the kids into teams and give each team a list of items they have to find.  The team that finds all their items first wins.  The items could be Halloween themed.  Or you could do it like an Easter Egg Hunt with pieces of candy or chocolate, where each player has to find as many treats individually as they can.

Pin the Nose on the Witch

This is a Halloween version of the classic game Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  You’ll need to draw a large witch and stick it on a wall or board.  Each child takes it in turns to pin the nose in the correct place on the witch, after being blindfolded and spun around.  The one who gets the nose nearest to where it should be wins.

Musical Monsters

This is essentially the same game as the traditional musical statues, where everyone dances together to some Halloween themed music and has to stand still as soon as the music stops.  The last player to stop dancing is “out”.  This carries on until there’s just one player remaining, who is the winner.

Touch and Feel

Kids will love getting their hands dirty in this yucky game.  You’ll need one or more large cardboard boxes, depending on how many different items you’re using.  Use card to divide the inside of each box into four.  Then cut holes above each section big enough for kids to put their hands through.  In each section place something that feels disgusting such as five baby carrots (witches fingers) or a peeled tomato (a heart or brain).  Give the kids a list of the gruesome items they’ve got to identify.  They can then take it in turns to put their hands in each hole and feel what’s inside.