No need to get spooked by Halloween activities that cost an arm and a leg or take hours to prep. These Halloween ideas for toddlers are easy, cheap, and most importantly super fun for your favorite little monsters!
Easy Witch’s Brew
From Toddler Approved
If you’ve ever made “Nature Soup” in your backyard, you know how oddly entertained toddlers are by adding random objects to buckets of water and stirring away. All you need to turn that “soup” into a spooky witch’s brew is a few inexpensive Halloween-themed objects. This version uses eyeball “ice cubes,” plastic spiders, and fake cockroaches, but anything you have on hand works! If you have any witches’ hats and cauldrons around, be sure to use them to add to the fun!
Pumpkin Bath
From Busy Toddler
Do pumpkins need a bath? Nope. Will that stop your toddler from absolutely loving the responsibility of bathing the pumpkins? Nope. They’ll love it. Just fill up your sink with some water and suds, toss in a few small pumpkins and hand the kiddos a few scrub brushes or rags.
Jack-o-Lantern Sensory Squish Bags
From Fantastic Fun and Learning
Sensory activities are great for toddler engagement. The only major downside is they tend to be… messy. Like sometimes really, really messy. But not these easy jack-o-latern sensory bags. All you’ll need is some yellow or orange food coloring, corn syrup or cheap hair gel, and black felt for the jack-o-lantern face. We like the approach of taping it to a window, so the light can shine through as they squish the orange “pumpkin” gel and rearrange the jack-o-lantern’s face. And the best part? All the mess is contained in the bag, so you can get a few things done while they play!
Spider Stamping
From Crafty Morning
Is there anything better than activities that are free and ridiculously easy? As long as you have some paint and paper somewhere (and what toddler parent doesn’t?), you can make these easy spider stamps with almost no prep or extra cost. Just cut a few slits into an old toilet paper roll, dip it into the paint, and let your little ones stamp away as they create their spiders. Googly eyes add an extra layer of fun...especially if they want to add 8 eyes to each spider!
Pumpkin Hammering
From Montessori Dad’s Way
This activity has been popping up all over Insta for good reason. It’s endlessly entertaining and helps develop strength and fine motor coordination. Poke some golf tees into a pumpkin (you can use a real one or a foam one), provide some wooden hammers, and let your toddler hammer them into the pumpkin. You can adjust it to their level depending on how deep you make the holes for them. Little ones may need you to push the tees all the way in and then pull them back out.
Pour Painted Pumpkins
From Homegrown Friends
Kids already love pouring and painting, so just add a pumpkin, and you’ve got a Halloween toddler activity that yields surprisingly pretty results. Use white pumpkins and colors that blend well together, and you just may end up with something front-porch worthy.
The Switch Witch
Part activity, part brilliant way to prevent your toddler from eating 5 lbs of candy on Halloween. Just like Santa and the Easter Bunny, the Switch Witch brings kids special surprises on her favorite holiday. The only catch? She’ll want to “switch” that surprise out for a big bucket of candy! Kids are pumped about their new toy (maybe go for something they’ve had their eye on for a while), and the Switch Witch always leaves a few pieces of candy for the littles to enjoy. You can give the kiddos some control by letting them decide what candy they really want to keep and how much they’ll leave out for the Switch Witch. Turn it into an all-October activity by building up the Switch Witch, drawing your own Switch Witch pictures, or reading a Switch Witch book together.