Taken from guest blog by Charlotte – Calderdale Mumbler
It’s the spookiest time of the year – and the best excuse to eat sweets that was ever invented! There are plenty of ideas below to help your little monsters have lots of scary fun.
Spooky scavenger trail: you can have some fun inventing scary clues and have a spooky prize to uncover at the end, or for younger kids this picture scavenger hunt is ideal, with pics to stick up or hide around the house and an answer sheet.
Find decorated houses: if you know an area nearby that always makes an effort at Halloween, take a walk (or drive) to spot different decorations. You could take along a scavenger hunt sheet to fill in as well.
Sweetie hunt: hide sweets in your garden or around your house, play some spooky tunes while the kids are searching to set the mood, and give them flashlights or head torches if you want to do it in the dark!
Pumpkin Trail: ask your child to draw and colour a pumpkin (with a funny or scary face) and stick it up in your window, then families can walk around the neighbourhood trying to spot them all. You can find templates here to print out and colour in, and coloured prints outs here. You can also join the ARTventurers group The Big Neighbourhood Pumpkin Trail! for extra templates, spooky crafts and more.
Pumpkin carving: carve a fun face then put it in your window as part of your neighbourhood Pumpkin Trail. You could even hold a pumpkin carving contest with family or friends – great for the kids to show off their hard work, and you could make it a fancy dress contest too.
Paint pumpkins or rocks: decorate some Halloween-themed rocks. You could even paint pumpkins instead of carving them. You can find lots of designs for pumpkins on Pinterest.
Spooky movie night: try some of these top recommendations for family-friendly spooky films from tots to teens, or you can find a printable version here to keep handy and to add your favourites. Don’t forget to check the age advice before viewing to avoid more frights than you bargained for!
Halloween Tik Tok video: everyone can have fun with this one – even the dog can join in! Make a Halloween Tik Tok video in Fancy Dress, why not choreograph a dance to Thriller, or your favourite spooky song?
Halloween Games: you could put up some decorations (or get the kids to make some!), invite a few friends or family, serve spooky snacks and have a mini party. Our favourite games are:
Wrap the Mummy – gather some toilet rolls and have teams wrapping up a volunteer.
Halloween Bean Bag Toss – throw them into pumpkins or cardboard ghosts/monsters with wide mouths.
Halloween Bingo – instead of numbers use a pumpkin, skeleton, black cat etc on the cards.
Guess what’s in the Pumpkin – put on a blindfold and stick your hand in the pumpkin to guess what’s inside (jelly, toy rats, etc).
Glow stick dancing: turn out the lights, snap some glow sticks and get grooving. You could even wear black then stick the glow sticks to your clothes like skeleton bones! You can play Halloween-themed tunes or just your favourites, but turn down the light and set some atmospheric lighting.
Spooky science experiments: how about some Halloween-themed slime? There’s a slime recipe here and you could add Halloween colours and small spider or bat decorations. Or, make a pumpkin erupt like a volcano! Simply carve a pumpkin and put a bowl inside. Add some bicarbonate of soda, some washing up liquid and some food colouring (it’s best to do this outside for an easy clean up). Add some vinegar and watch the foamy liquid ooze out of the pumpkin’s mouth! You can find lots more Halloween science ideas here.
Halloween Afternoon Tea: everything looks better served on tiered trays! There are lots of food ideas on Pinterest, our favourite easy recipes are:
Banana ghosts – chop a banana in half and add chocolate chips for eyes and a mouth.
Oreo spiders – stick two Oreo cookies together with melted chocolate, and put some strawberry laces in between them for the spider legs. Coat the top with melted chocolate and make scary spider faces with icing pens.
Sausage mummies – wrap strips of puff pastry around sausages then bake and add black icing eyes.
Tell ghost stories! snuggle up on some beanbags or throw a pile of cushions and duvets onto the floor, light some battery-operated candles and tell some good old spooky tales. Funny Bones is always a good one for young children. We like Llama Llama Halloween too.
Spooky chalk drawings: get the kids to draw some monsters on the pavement outside your house or your wall.
You can find plenty of ideas here for fab events in & around Gateshead, with pumpkins, potions, mega monsters and more fun free activities that don’t need to be pre-booked!
Have a brilliant Halloween!
Thanks so much to our guest blogger Charlotte. If you have family or friends in Halifax or Calderdale be sure to let them know about the Calderdale Mumbler site.
There’s plenty on Gateshead Mumbler to help keep little ones (and big ones!) busy, check here for more ideas and info for playgroups, classes and fun days out from tots to teens!
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