You do not need a party bag, a giant budget or a big group to have a good time on Halloween. A few well-chosen Halloween games for kids at home can fill a rainy afternoon, a small party or the wait before trick-or-treating, and most of them are made from things already in the kitchen or recycling bin.
The twelve games below are grouped by the kind of play: moving, aiming, thinking and sitting quietly. Each one has a short set-up, a way to make it easier or harder, and a note about safety where it matters. If you are also looking for crafts, sensory play and printable ideas, our Halloween activities for kids at home hub covers those.
How to choose the right game
Children of different ages enjoy Halloween in very different ways. Use this as a rough guide rather than a rule:
| Age (roughly) | What tends to work | Good starting games |
|---|---|---|
| 3 to 4 | Short, silly games with no losers, lots of movement | Monster freeze dance, pumpkin bowling, feed the monster |
| 5 to 7 | Simple rules, turn-taking, gentle competition | Mummy wrap, ring toss, ghost, ghost, pumpkin, memory match |
| 8 to 10 | Teams, timers, scores and puzzles | Relay races, charades, Halloween bingo, monster drawing game |
Moving games
1. Mummy wrap. Give each pair a roll of toilet paper and a one-minute timer. One player is the “mummy” and the other wraps them from shoulders to ankles. Ask for loose wrapping that stays well away from faces and necks. For a calmer version, wrap a stuffed animal instead. Older children can turn it into a relay where each team member wraps one part of the mummy.
2. Monster freeze dance. Play music and let everyone dance like a monster, a ghost or a silly skeleton. When the music stops, everyone freezes in their best pose. For younger children, skip the “out” rule and simply cheer for the funniest freeze. Older children can be given a new challenge each round, such as “freeze like a bat” or “freeze on one foot”.
3. Witch’s broom relay. Use a cardboard tube, a wooden spoon or a soft broom as the “broom”. Players walk, hop or skip around a chair and back, then pass the broom to the next person. Indoors, keep it to walking or tiptoeing so nobody trips.
4. Ghost, ghost, pumpkin. This is a version of duck, duck, goose. Players sit in a circle while one child walks around tapping heads and saying “ghost”, then chooses someone to be the “pumpkin” and chase them back to the empty seat. It works best with four or more children.
Aiming games
5. Pumpkin bowling. Line up ten paper cups or empty plastic bottles as pins and roll a small pumpkin, or a ball painted orange, to knock them down. Draw a face on each cup to make them “ghosts”. Move the starting line back to make it harder.
6. Witch hat ring toss. Make a cone from black paper or cardboard and tape it to a base. Cut the middles out of paper plates to make rings and see how many each child can land on the hat. Cardboard rings are light and safe indoors.
7. Feed the monster. Cut a large mouth in the side of a cardboard box and decorate it as a hungry monster. Players toss rolled-up socks or crumpled paper “snacks” into the mouth from different distances. It is a good game for younger children because everyone scores sooner or later.
Thinking and searching games
8. Flashlight ghost hunt. Tape paper ghosts low on the walls, dim the lights and let children search with a flashlight. Give younger children a picture list, and ask older children to find a set number in the shortest time. Keep the lights on for children who feel uneasy in the dark; the hunt works well in a dim, not dark, room.
9. Halloween charades. Write or draw ideas such as bat, pumpkin, ghost, witch stirring a pot and spider on slips of paper. Players act them out without speaking. Younger children can act out an animal or a costume they know, and older children can play in teams.
10. Monster drawing game. Fold a sheet of paper into three parts. The first player draws a head, folds the paper so it cannot be seen and passes it on; the next draws a body, and the third draws legs. Unfold to reveal the monster. It is silly, quiet and needs only paper and pencils.
Quiet, seated games
11. Spooky memory match. Draw or print pairs of simple Halloween pictures such as a pumpkin, a bat, a ghost, a moon and a cat. Turn them face down and take turns flipping two at a time to find a match. Use fewer pairs for younger children and more pairs for older ones.
12. Halloween bingo. Make a grid of simple pictures or words for each player and call out items from a bag. Use paper scraps or dry cereal pieces as markers, keeping the cereal away from children who still put things in their mouths. Bingo is a helpful calm-down game after a lot of movement.
Turning the games into a mini party
If you are hosting a few friends, keep the schedule simple:
- Arrival game (10 minutes): the monster drawing game or a quiet memory match gives early arrivals something to do.
- Movement games (20 to 30 minutes): freeze dance, then pumpkin bowling or feed the monster.
- Mystery or search game (10 to 15 minutes): flashlight ghost hunt or charades.
- Calm-down time (10 minutes): bingo, a story or a coloring page while snacks are served.
Give every child a small prize such as a sticker, a pencil or a mini notebook, so that nobody leaves empty-handed and nobody has to lose. Keep numbers small, since a group of four to six children is much easier to supervise than a large crowd. For more ideas that work with no equipment at all, see games to play at home with kids, no equipment needed.
Keeping Halloween games friendly, not frightening
Young children often cannot tell pretend scary from real fear, and something an adult finds mild can stay with a child at bedtime. A few habits help:
- Use silly ghosts, friendly monsters and cartoon pumpkins for children under about seven.
- Tell your child what is about to happen (“we’ll dim the lights for two minutes, then turn them back on”).
- Let any child sit out and watch. Joining in later is usually easier than being pushed to start.
- Avoid sound effects, masks and jump scares. Laughter is a better goal than screams.
If a child gets upset, pause the game and use one of the ideas in our calm-down activities guide.
Quiet Halloween pages for between games
Not every child wants to play all afternoon, and a quiet corner helps everyone recover. If you prefer printable pages for that corner, Halloween Activity Book for Kids is a 25-page printable PDF for ages 4 to 8 with coloring, a maze, hidden pictures, word games, counting and tracing pages. For year-round puzzles and screen-free games, The Ultimate Kids’ Activity Book is a printable workbook for ages 4 to 8 that includes mazes, matching games, spot-the-difference and logic puzzles.
Safety notes
- Choking hazards: small items such as ping-pong balls, googly eyes, dry cereal and beans are unsafe for many toddlers, so choose larger, soft alternatives for the youngest players.
- Running and tripping: costumes, masks and long capes can block vision or trip children. Play in socks or bare feet only if the floor is not slippery, and check that costumes allow easy walking.
- Toilet paper and string: keep it away from necks and faces, and never leave a child wrapped or tied up alone.
- Lights: use LED tea lights in pumpkins and keep any real flame away from costumes and paper decorations.
- Allergies: check for food allergies before using cereal, popcorn or candy in any game, and offer non-food prizes.
Bringing it together
The best Halloween games at home are short, silly and easy to reset. Pick one moving game, one aiming game and one quiet game, gather a few cups, some paper and a roll of toilet paper, and let your child choose the first one. If it works, you can make a mini tournament out of it the following weekend. For paper decorations that double as props for these games, browse our easy Halloween crafts for kids, and for rainy days beyond Halloween, our rainy day activities for kids list has more ideas that need no special supplies.
