Since Halloween falls on October 31st, I thought I’d put together a list of 31 super fun Halloween activities to do in Preschool!
My favorite part about Halloween is it makes for the BEST preschool (and kindergarten) activities! If you’re looking for easy, silly, creepy-crawly, (kinda) gross, or last-minute Halloween activities to do with your preschoolers and kindergarteners, these are some of the best of the best.
The spooky-cool thing about homeschooling is having the flexibility to do activities your kiddos might not get to do in a traditional classroom. These Halloween activities incorporate playtime and learning in a way that is fun, engaging, and fully hands-on.
We’ve personally done every activity on this list and I guarantee your little ghouls and goblins are going to love them!
You don’t even need to be a teacher or homeschool parent to do any of these. Use them for Halloween themed playtime at home. Yay, you’re the FUN witch!
Add some decorations and costumes to your Halloween themed day, week, or month and you’re sure to get a ton of laughs and some awesome photos!
Before we start, here’s a QUICK TIP: Invest in a few plastic, rectangular tablecloths from your local dollar or party store and use them to put down on the floor for any “potential” messy activity you are doing. They work great under tables, chairs, and on the ground to sit on.
Let’s check them out!
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31 Super Fun Halloween Activities to do in Preschool
At any time you can click on the activity name from the list below to go directly to that activity!
- Spaghetti and Eyeballs Sensory Bin
- Pumpkin Name Practice Sensory Bin
- Halloween Sensory Bag
- Feed the Monster – Colors
- Feed the Monster – Letters
- Build-a-Monster
- M is for Monster Craft
- Monster Cookie Board Game
- Monster Teeth Counting
- Spider Eyes Counting
- Witch Number Matching Math Game
- Halloween Candy Name Practice
- Jack-O-Lantern Face Match Puzzles
- Frankenstein Shape Matching Mats
- Simple Mini Pumpkin Volcano Science
- Simple Candy Corn Science
- Spider Web STEM Activity
- Ghost Zip Line STEM Activity
- Tower of Bones STEM Activity
- Monster Rock Painting
- Pumpkin Picasso
- Carve or Paint Pumpkins and Dramatic Play
- Spookley the Square Pumpkin Shape Craft
- Paper Bag Ghost Craft
- Paper Plate Monster Face Craft and Photo Prop
- Roll-A-Character: Pumpkin/Monster/Witch/Ghost
- Build-A-Skeleton
- The Best Halloween Themed Picture Books
- Eyeball Hunt
- Creepy-Crawly PB & J Spider Sandwich
- Host a “BOO” Brunch
1. Halloween Spaghetti and Eyeballs Sensory Bin
Kids can’t resist putting their hands in slimy, sticky, kinda weird stuff! They also can’t help themselves from playing with their food. When you combine all of these things, you get the Halloween Spaghetti and Eyeballs Sensory Bin! And I promise your kiddo is gonna love you for it. Get all the details on how to put this sensory bin together, and some fun things to do with it, HERE.
2. Fall Pumpkin Name Practice Sensory Bin
Kids love seeing and learning their names, especially when there’s a theme to it! This Pumpkin Name Practice activity is perfect for Halloween and Fall. It doubles as name practice and a sensory activity. It helps with name recognition, letter matching, and motor skills. And it’s pretty relaxing too! Get the FREE download and instructions for this name practice activity, HERE!
3. Simple Halloween Sensory Bag
A few ingredients are all you need for this easy sensory activity that your kids will love! A cool, squishy, glittery bag of slime-like gel that they can’t make a mess with but will enjoy for days. Sensory activities are so important for development and are a huge part of learning time in our house. This Simple Halloween Sensory Bag will surely be a spooktacular experience for your little one. Get the full directions HERE!
4. Feed the Monster – Colors
OK. I say this a lot in my Fun School-Preschool activity posts but for real, THIS particular Feed the Monster activity is my most favorite of all. My daughter had a blast with it and it is ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE! I don’t know if it’s the colorfulness of it, or the cute monster faces. Or the way my kiddo talked to each monster like it was alive, asking it if it was “ready for a treat”. But it will forever be my fav!
This activity comes from Planning Playtime and is available on Teacher’s Pay Teachers which you can get HERE. It’s part of an entire monster theme (which is also up there with my most favorite themes of all time) and it’s perfect for Halloween!
This activity focuses on color recognition, sorting, and fine motor skills. We used colored pom poms that you can get from the dollar store or purchase this multi-color / multi-size pom pom bundle on Amazon so you can be sure to get all of the colors you need. We also used colored beads.
To add some challenge to the activity, cut different sized holes in the monsters’ mouths to fit small / medium / large colored poms or beads. Then attach each monster face to boxes or any large-ish container you have.
For even more challenge, you can have your preschooler use fine motor tweezers to feed the monsters. We have this set of Learning Resources Fine Motor Tools that we use often.
If you plan to reuse this activity, I suggest laminating the monster faces as they do take a little beating from hands trying to shove things into it’s mouth. If you need a great laminating machine, this Scotch Laminator is the one I have used for years. . I’m also a huge fan of these Self-Adhesive Laminating Sheets if you don’t want to invest in a laminating machine.
Curious about the other activities in the monster theme bundle? Keep reading because I share quite a few that we loved from this pack!
5. Feed the Monster – Letters
This idea also came from Planning Playtime’s Monster Theme Bundle, however instead of crafting our own monster face to feed, I used one of the monster faces from the “Feed the Monster Colors” activity. I had my daughter pick the color monster she wanted to feed and then I cut the area of its mouth out, before attaching it to a bowl.
You can have your child practice feeding the letters of the alphabet *or* the letters of their name! You can also write numbers on the back side of the letters and use them to practice counting and number recognition. Or a phone number or birthdate!
I recommend laminating the cookies and monster face for better durability or if you plan to reuse them.
6. Build a Monster
Build-A-Monster is another activity from the Planning Playtime Monster Theme Bundle from Teachers Pay Teachers. This is a very quick and simple one that works on fine motor skills and brings out your child’s imagination!
The supplies we used were googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and play doh. But there are tons of other craft supplies you could use to help make these cute monsters come to life.
The cards need to be laminated *or* put into these super awesome Reusable Dry Erase Sleeves to keep the play doh from sticking. We constantly use the reusable dry erase sleeves, they may have been my best homeschool investment, but these Self-Adhesive Laminating Sheets work great too.
7. M is for Monster Craft
This one is also from the Planning Playtime Monster Theme Bundle from Teachers Pay Teachers. All pieces needed for the craft are included in the bundle. They can be printed on different colored paper *or* on white paper and have your kiddo color it themselves. I ended up laminating Emily’s finished craft, attached a couple magnets to the back, and hung it on the fridge for Halloween.
8. Monster Cookie Board Game
We LOVE games in our house and use them a LOT in our school days. This cute and colorful board game comes from the Planning Playtime Monster Theme Bundle from Teachers Pay Teachers. This game is great for number recognition and counting!
I recommend printing everything on cardstock paper and laminating the monster pieces and game board. For the game board, one of these Reusable Dry Erase Sleeves would work too. It makes the playing surface of the game more stable to move the pieces around.
For the monster game pieces, attach them to water bottle caps to make them easier to move around!
And if you’re looking for the wonderful large yellow die shown in the photo, the set is Colorful Jumbo Dice – 4 pack. These dice are made of foam and make games really fun. Plus when they get thrown they won’t hurt anybody or break anything!
Oh, and please ignore all the pet fur in the picture. There aren’t many things in my house that don’t come with dog or cat fur. I realize now a black rug might not have been the best choice for our school room, but…it’s cute!
9. Monster Teeth Counting
My preschooler had a ton of fun making silly formations of teeth in her monster’s mouth with this activity from the Planning Playtime Monster Theme Bundle from Teacher’s Pay Teachers! This activity works on counting, number recognition from 1-10, and creativity.
I laminated the monster face and the teeth, but it would work better printed on cardstock and not laminating them, especially the teeth. For us, the laminated teeth were hard to pick up. Using a thick cardstock paper would make it easier for little hands to grasp.
I would recommend laminating just the monster faces or putting them in these Reusable Dry Erase Sleeves though.
10. Spider Eyes Counting
Similar to Monster Teeth Counting, the Spider Eye Counting activity helps with number recognition from 1-10, counting, and creativity! Emily wanted to use a variety of googly eyes for this one. Some counting cards she used all the same colored eyes, some all of the same sized eyes, some all different sizes, and some all different colors and sizes.
After we finished this activity, we researched how many eyes a spider has (do you know???) and what species have more eyes and less eyes. Then we read the silly book There Was An Old Mummy Who Swallowed a Spider.
You can get this math activity, along with a few others, from the Planning Playtime – October Morning Tubs on Teachers Pay Teachers.
11. Witch Number Matching Math Game
Teach your preschooler how much fun math can be with this witchy Halloween Number Matching game! They’ll learn how to count, read dice, and recognize numbers all while getting some fine motor practice in too. You can get the Number Matching Math Game HERE!
12. Halloween Candy Name Practice
This is probably the easiest of easy activities that helps with name spelling and recognition, and fine motor skills too. It’s a lot of fun for kids because they know they might end up with a treat at the end!
The only supplies you’ll need are a large piece of paper, a black marker, and some small Halloween candy like candy corn, candy corn pumpkins, M&Ms, skittles, etc…
On the piece of paper, write your child’s name in LARGE print with the first letter a capital letter and the rest lowercase. Leave some space in between each letter. Then have them use the candy to outline their name.
Depending on the length of your child’s name, the longer the piece of paper you have the better. I recommend this for two reasons:
- You can write large letters and space them out a bit, which makes them a little easier to outline.
- And the most important reason, the larger the letters are the longer it will take to outline them which means you are keeping your kiddo BUSY for more than a few minutes! Yaaaaas! Go ahead mama, re-heat that cup of coffee!
Need a candy substitution?
If you are food dye-free in your house and need an alternative candy to use, check out YumEarth candy. It’s become our go-to candy because it is SO good!!! It’s organic and made without artificial dyes. They have their own version of Skittles called Giggles, Starburst called Chewys, M&Ms called Choco Yums, and Lollipops. There are even dye-free Yum Earth Candy Canes which bring a whole new Christmas joy to our house!
This activity can be done using many things other than candy too! Try it with cereal, googly eyes, stickers, dot markers, or an ink pad and small stamp!
13. Jack-O-Lantern Face Match Puzzles
Preschoolers love puzzles! And they love silly and scary pumpkin faces! So, we combined the two with these Jack-O-Lantern Face Match Up Puzzles. The set comes with 8 different pumpkin face cards. All you have to do is PRINT, CUT, and GO! Download your free Jack-O-Lantern Face Match Puzzles HERE!
14. Frankenstein Shape Matching Mats
Halloween is a great time to practice shape recognition! From round pumpkins, to triangle witch hats, to squares and rectangles used to draw a haunted house, shapes are everywhere this time of year. These adorable shape matching mats will make learning shapes creepy fun. The mats come with the following shapes: triangle, square, circle, oval, rectangle, rhombus, star, heart, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon, and octagon. Download your free copy of the Frankenstein Shape Matching Mats HERE.
15. Simple Mini Pumpkin Volcano Science
My little witch loves pretending like she is making potions while doing the Simple Mini Pumpkin Volcano. The pumpkin becomes her little pot of bubbling, fizzing, excitement which makes this science activity perfect for Halloween or fall. It’s so easy to do and requires little prep time. A few simple ingredients and abracadabra…. an hour of fun! Just make sure you have enough ingredients to let them keep mixing and experimenting. Get the full instructions HERE.
16. Simple Candy Corn Science
Kids love this easy science experiment because it involves candy and… MAGIC! Two things perfect for a Halloween theme. It takes minimal supplies, most of which you likely already have in your house, and I really enjoy it because it introduces the process of observation to young children. The excitement when they begin to notice changes in the candy and what happens as the end result, is so fun to watch! We’ve done this experiment using candy corn pumpkins instead of candy corn and it’s come out the same. So if you’re using candy pumpkins for the Halloween Candy Name Practice activity, they can double as an ingredient for this experiment!
You can get the full instructions to do this experiment, and the science behind the magic of it, at Little Bins Little Hands Candy Corn Experiment
17. Spider Web STEM Activity
A paper plate, string or dental floss, a hole puncher, tape and some plastic spiders are all you need to do this STEM activity! It’s part of multiple engaging Halloween STEM Activity Cards you can get from Science Demo Guy STEM on Teachers Pay Teachers. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (aka S.T.E.M.) activities are important for preschool and grade school because it sparks curiosity and gets little minds thinking about early engineering, before they even know what engineering means. This Spider Web STEM activity teaches fine motor skills, and introduces the motions of sewing and weaving. Finding out how many spiders the web can hold, and how many will fall off, make for a fun and silly STEM lesson!
Also try the Ghost Zip Line and Tower of Bones STEM activities!
18. Ghost Zip Line STEM Activity
Like the Spider Web and Tower of Bones activities, this zip line engineering idea is included in the Halloween STEM Activity Cards from Teachers Pay Teachers. Our entire family had fun with this one! We ended up with multiple zip lines and held races! Our ghosts even had names so we could cheer them on. It was a ton of fun watching my daughter think of design ideas for her ghost, and what a great moment for her when her design was the best and won race after race.
There are plenty of places to set up a zipline. If you don’t have the ability to make one at home, this is a GREAT park idea! It gets other kids involved too and is a perfect way to make new friends.
Our Paper Bag Ghost Craft works well for this zipline activity too!
19. Tower of Bones STEM Activity
All you need for this STEM activity are cotton swabs (like Q-Tips) and a little concentration. See how high you can stack up the “bones”…and it’s not as easy as you might think! This activity provides young children with practice of hand-eye coordination and focus. It makes a great game too: set a timer for one-minute and see who can stack up the tallest pile of bones. Try it out with the kids at your Boo Brunch!
Try the Spider Web and Ghost Zip Line STEM activities too!
20. Monster Rock Painting
Halloween is a perfect time to paint some rocks! Kids of all ages will love Monster Rock Painting. They bring some scary fun to your yard, your neighbor’s yard, or even a nearby park. You can get as artistic and creative as you want. But for the little kids, finger painting on a rock and adding a few googly eyes, make an awesome monster! Acrylic paint works best if you plan to keep your monster rocks, however preschoolers and acrylic paint are often not the best combination. I used Crayola washable paint and regular Elmer’s glue for our rocks – ironically it lasted a few rains before it came off. One monster rock ended up losing most of it’s color but kept all it’s eyeballs!
21. Pumpkin Picasso
Halloween might be the easiest holiday for a preschooler to be an artist. Roll out a long piece of easel paper, attach it to an easel, back of a chair, or taped down to the floor, provide some washable paint and paint brushes, and ask your kiddo to paint you a picture of a pumpkin. Or ghost, monster, witch, witch’s hat, Frankenstein, a black cat, and so on. Most preschoolers are familiar enough with some basic shapes to be able to turn them into something creative. And let them get messy with it! Afterall, it is Halloween time. If they dress up in full body paint, it totally goes!
QUICK TIP: If possible, do this activity outside. If outside is not an option, tape one of those plastic tablecloths (my favorite!) to the wall or a hard floor (or BOTH) and put the easel paper on top of it. Taping the paper to the wall of the bathtub works great too; makes for extra easy clean-up of the paint, and kid.
22. Carve or Paint Pumpkins and Dramatic Play
I know this sounds like a pretty traditional Halloween activity, however if you’ve never let your preschooler actually design the pumpkin for carving, give it a try! You can do the actual cutting parts but give them a sharpie and let them draw a face or design for you to carve. Even if it’s not a face at all, it will look pretty cool at night! And if it doesn’t end up coming out as anything, you can do the Mini Pumpkin Volcano Science activity with it.
My preschooler also likes to paint the opposite side of the pumpkin. That way there is a “daytime” side and a “nighttime” side.
Although they think it’s gross, kids are curious about the pumpkin guts and some will want to play with it (like mine does). Give them a cupcake tray, pie tin, or other type of small foil pan to make pumpkin “pies” with.
The seeds can also be used to practice counting and grouping. Motor skills, art, and math all in one!
23. Spookley the Square Pumpkin Shape Craft
One of the books on our list of 31 Halloween Themed Picture Books for Kids is an inspiring one called Spookley the Square Pumpkin. Spookley is not round like the other pumpkins in his patch; he’s a square pumpkin! This craft offers a fun way to focus on a particular shape, and being different, just like Spookley. Get the full instructions for how to do this adorable craft HERE.
24. Paper Bag Ghost Craft
These ghosts are so simple to put together and they make the most adorable decorations for the house, hallway, or school room!
The only supplies you need are:
- White Paper Lunch Bag – you could also paint brown lunch bags white
- Black Construction Paper
- Scissors
- Glue
- Fishing Line
- Tape
To make the ghosts:
- Cut shapes and lines for eyes and mouths out of the black construction paper.
- Lay the bag flat with the smooth side up (not the side that has the flap to open the bag). Have your kiddo glue on the shapes to create a face.
- Flip the bag over to the side with the flap. Attach a 3-inch piece of fishing line to the middle of the bag flap, using a piece of tape on each end of the fishing line. This flap will be the top of your ghost and will create a loop for you to hang it.
- Open the bag and hang it by the loop of fishing line. Booooo!
TRY THIS: These paper bag ghosts are perfect for the Ghost Zipline STEM activity! Add a little weight to the front of your ghost: a couple of small magnets attached to the inside of the bag (behind the eyes) worked well. Then hook a small paperclip to the fishing line loop, and send them on down the zipline! Check out our Instagram reels for a short video of this in action!
25. Paper Plate Monster Face Craft and Photo Prop
If there is anything I love doing in our homeschool, it’s having a photo shoot! These Paper Plate Monster Faces make for the perfect photo opportunity, especially with friends! The pieces for the monster faces came from this Halloween Stations and Boo Breakfast from Teacher’s Pay Teachers. They are actually meant for another cute activity in the set but I thought they would make perfect photo props!
I printed the pieces on different colors of Astrobrights Paper, then cut them out. To make the paper plate faces, I used 10-inch white plates and glued one end of a large craft stick to the bottom of the plate, for a handle. Then we glued the colorful face pieces to our plates to design our silly monsters and had a blast taking a ton of selfies!
This activity also adds a lot of laughs to a Boo Brunch!
26. Roll a Pumpkin/Monster/Witch/Ghost
Roll-A-Character activities are a favorite in our house. We do them at every holiday. Sometimes we do them in our arts and crafts block during school, but we often do them as a family at dinnertime! All you need are some dice and this Roll-A-Character bundle from Teacher’s Pay Teachers. It’s funny to see how each of our characters come out, especially with me not knowing how to draw at all and my husband being a wonderful artist! I also love seeing my daughter’s drawing and coloring skills improve year after year.
You can turn this into a game by giving each person a character page and a die, then see who can complete their character first!
27. Build-A-Skeleton
This Skeleton craft makes a cute Halloween decoration and also provides a simple health lesson on the bones in our body! Choose a skeleton template and have your preschooler color and decorate it. Use a brad fastener to attach the bones at the joint areas so they are moveable. Then take turns making the skeleton do a dance!
The skeleton template we are using in the photo is one from HERE.
This one HERE is another cute option if you want a few different faces to pick from, or for a Dia de los Muertos celebration!
28. The Best Halloween Themed Picture Books
It can’t be Halloween without a spooky, gross, or silly ghost story, can it? Here we’ve compiled a list of 31 of the best Halloween themed picture books for kids! From witches, mummies, and ghosts, to spiders, cats, and bats you’ll find an entertaining, funny, or even inspiring book to read this Halloween season. And don’t worry, they really aren’t that spooky- kids of all ages will enjoy the stories (and a few songs) on the list. See the full lineup of 31 Halloween Themed Picture Books for Kids.
29. Eyeball Hunt
My kid LOVES scavenger hunts! And what’s better for Halloween than hunting Eyeballs! All you need for this activity are some eyeball ping pong balls and places to hide them. The prep time for this is only as long as it will take you to hide the eyeballs. But your kids will be busy with it for a WHILE!
Hiding places will depend on the age of your child, but hide them all around your school room, or here a few ideas for places to hide them around the house: the kitchen cabinets and drawers, refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, pantry, fruit bowl, living room, dining room, bathroom, bedrooms, closets, on the floor behind doors, on shelves, on windowsills, taped to windows, in toys or toy bins, or in the dog’s bowl.
Some outside hiding ideas are: in rocks of landscaping, in bushes, plants or by plant pots/holders, on patio furniture, in or with toys, on play structures, the grass, the hose holder, with the gardening tools, in the rims of the wheels on a vehicle or bicycle, on the front porch, anywhere they won’t roll away.
Buy a set of Glow In The Dark Eyeballs, and do a nighttime hunt!
And if you don’t have great hiding places around your house (or you have pets that keep stealing the eyeballs) take them to the park! When all else fails we end up with an activity at the park; you will make it the best day EVER for other kids and their parents too!
Once all of the eyeballs have been found, use them in the Spaghetti and Eyeballs Sensory Bin!
30. Creepy-Crawly PB&J Spider Sandwich
You can’t have a Halloween theme without a Halloween themed snack! This Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich that looks like a spider makes lunch time fun! Try it with seed butter if you have a little one with a nut allergy.
Make a regular PB and J sandwich. Cut it into a circle. Put 4 pretzel sticks into opposite sides of the sandwich to look like legs. Put a few candy eyeballs on top. Serve. Watch the excitement!
Also try these other ideas for making a fun Halloween breakfast, lunch, or snack:
Halloween Mini Silicone Baking Mold – I use molds like these to make pancakes in the oven! They come out like mini cakes. Sometimes I will decorate them with a little whipped cream, dye-free sprinkles, or candy eyes.
Shape Sandwich Cutters (to make Uncrustable type sandwiches) – these come in a basic square, triangle, and circle. Use the square and triangles to make a haunted house sandwich! I use them for PB&J sandwiches, but also to cut bread, deli meat, and cheese, and let my daughter construct them as she wants. We also have this set in fun shapes like a heart, star, or Mickey Mouse, too. The shape cutters are easy to clean and are dishwasher safe too!
Snack picks – I’ve been seeing these all over social media and decided to purchase some. My kid uses them to eat just about EVERYTHING. Even the things she can’t even use a pick for, she still tries. I have this set of picks because is has many different styles, and I liked the black cats and eyeballs for Halloween. This other set has ghosts, a witch, Frankenstein and a werewolf.
31. Host a “BOO” Brunch!
Get some of your kids’ friends (and parents) together and host an entertaining BOO Breakfast or Brunch! This is also a perfect idea if you are looking to have a Halloween party with your homeschool co-op!
The Boo Breakfast Bundle from Teachers Pay Teachers comes with everything you need for a morning of spooktacular fun: a detailed outline on what to do, adorable decorations, engaging activities and stations, and a full menu with recipes for a super yummy breakfast!
For the brunch part I use the tasty breakfast casserole recipe that’s included but I also make either French toast sticks *or* my favorite French Toast Casserole from Lil Luna (link will take you right to the recipe). Oh, and not technically on the menu (but much appreciated), were some special mimosas for the grown-ups, because brunch isn’t really brunch without a mimosa is it?
Decorations add so much extra to a party and they don’t have to be extensive! For our Boo Brunches I hang this Halloween photo backdrop, lay out a couple of spooky tablecloths (these are also to keep my table clean from the activities), hang a few paper lanterns from the dollar store, and make some ghost face balloons using white balloons and a Sharpie pen!
In addition to the activities and stations from the packet, we make our silly Paper Plate Monster Face Craft photo props, and do our Mini Pumpkin Volcano Science Experiment! I purchase multiple mini pumpkins so each kid can have their own. They have fun playing with the experiment, then have races to see who can get their pumpkin to bubble up first!
The STEM activity cards from Halloween STEM Activity Cards on Teachers Pay Teachers make awesome team building activities too!
I held our first Boo Brunch the morning of Halloween, which happened to be on a Sunday, so it was a great start to a long day of festivities! Our guests always have a great time and ask me year after year when Boo Brunch will be!
To wrap up our Halloween theme (like a mummy)…
We always visit a pumpkin patch! They usually have some sort of children’s activity or story time which help me decide what day of the week we go. If you have a homeschool co-op or pod of people, pumpkin patch farms will sometimes offer a field trip discount! And often times, you don’t need a huge group either. So be sure to check around your area before making your plans.
Happy Halloween!
