Halloween is an exciting time for kids (and adults). And these Halloween activities can extend the fun beyond the pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating! I compiled a list of Halloween activities that have a little something for everyone. Just like when I plan parties, I focused on having a variety of challenges that appeal to a wide age range.
- Halloween Mad Libs
- Would you survive a zombie apocalypse? Quiz
- Candy Corn Structure Challenge
- Candy Corn Experiment
- Alternative Pumpkin Carving
In 2020, I assembled materials for all these activities and delivered them to friends and family. Most of them have kids that missed out on trick-or-treating, school Halloween parties, and other fall fun like corn mazes. So getting mail with challenges for the whole family was a welcomed treat. And who doesn’t like getting packages in the mail?
More Halloween ideas: Halloween Pumpkin Hunt or try Halloween Puzzles and Riddles
Halloween Mad Libs
Mad libs are always entertaining. I shared this free printable I found from a fellow blogger. I’m sure you can imagine the humorous entries you get for “body part” from 6 and 7 year olds!
Would you survive a zombie apocalypse? Quiz
This quiz to see if you would survive a zombie apocalypse is more like a “choose your own adventure” story than a quiz. It’s a funny story involving school that definitely appealed to younger kids – especially the part about farts. Kid humor… what can you say?
Candy Corn Structure Challenge
This STEM challenge is much harder than it looks! Using pumpkin shaped candy corn and toothpicks, create a tower structure. Adding some friendly competition, the instructions I provided said to measure your tower to see who’s is tallest.
What makes this difficult is the hardness of the candy corn. If they are hard, the toothpicks don’t go in easily and the pumpkin can split. If you warm them up too much though, the toothpicks will shift under the weight and fall out. Using a gummy pumpkin would be easier but I couldn’t find them in the grocery store. And as I always say, work with what you have!
Candy Corn Experiment
While you have that candy corn on hand, try this experiment! Find a variety of liquids to melt your candy corn in and observe the results. We’ve done this experiment with Candy Hearts for Valentine’s Day also. I provided a card with suggestions for liquids to try and a chart to fill out.
Candy corn is very waxy and didn’t dissolve well in some liquids. Hot water had an interesting effect as the outer layer of wax separated off. Carbonated water or soda is another interesting liquid because the bubbles cling to the candy corn.
Alternative Pumpkin Carving
Carving and painting pumpkins is great. But, we’ve all done that! What else is there? How about carving something that isn’t a pumpkin?
The task is simple – find something that isn’t a pumpkin or gourd and see if you can carve it!
My husband and I looked around the kitchen and jokingly said “I wonder if you could carve a clementine?” About 30 seconds later, there we were figuring out how to peel a clementine and leave the peel intact! It was surprisingly easy to do and carved nicely. I quite enjoyed how these little guys looked lit up too (with little tea lights inside). I’ll give my husband bonus points for adding the little clementine stem to the top of his… show off!
