15 Spectacularly Spooky Halloween Activities for Kids at Home
No need to leave home for Halloween fun! Discover 15 backyard Halloween activities for kids in 2024 that will make your spooky day the most memorable yet.
min read
The spooking season is upon us!
Houses are decked out with petrifying pumpkins, scary skeletons and ghoulish gravestones. It's time to get in on the spooky fun!
At Springfree Trampoline, we know all about providing joyful, everlasting moments for children across the globe.
We typically do it through the joy of jumping on the world’s safest trampolines, but today, we’ll be changing our tune to trick-or-treat.
If you’re looking for children’s Halloween activities, but don’t want to leave home to seek out haunted houses and corn mazes, we’ve got suggestions for bringing the spirit of spook right to your backyard.
15 Halloween Activities for Kids at Home
Here is a list of Halloween Activities for kids (and adults!) to make this Halloween the most memorable one yet:
1. Scary Movie Night on the Trampoline
Watching scary movies is a Halloween tradition, and this last idea is a great option for older kids.
Turn your trampoline in a DIY movie theater and put on a scary movie marathon!
For inspiration, check out how this friend group set up their trampoline for movie night:
2. Back Patio Pumpkin Carving
The jack-o-lantern is a classic children’s Halloween activity for a reason: it’s a fun, seasonal, and inexpensive way to decorate.
The only problem is the mess after carving, but that’s no problem if you set up a jack-o-lantern workshop in your backyard.
Supervise carefully, especially during the carving and lighting steps. Younger children might be better suited to tasks like scooping out pumpkin goo and using a marker to draw the face to be carved.
For easy cleanup, lay down some old newspaper or cardboard and scoop up any remaining debris and put it in the trash.
That way, a bear won’t make its way into your backyard and jump on your trampoline like it did to this family!
Video courtesy of CBC News.
3. Turn Your Backyard Into a Haunted House
The next way to have Halloween fun for kids is by using your very own Springfree Trampoline.
You can hang up sheets to partition off the inside of your Springfree or use sheets on the laundry line to divide the backyard into different areas for haunted house activity stations for neighbourhood kids.
4. Candy Corn Ring-Toss
Candy corn ring-toss is one of the super fun outside games for Halloween.
To start, pick up some white and yellow paint, orange pylons and glow rings from the local craft store.
Get the kids to help paint the pylons’ tips white and the bases yellow to imitate the color banding on candy corn.
Then, when it gets dark, crack open the glow rings and try to toss them over the pylons from across the yard. Put some battery-operated lights under the pylons to increase visibility at night.
5. Decorate the Trampoline and Backyard for Halloween
Your Springfree Trampoline can become part of your spooky decor as you deck out the yard in decorations sourced from the dollar store or Halloween crafts designed yourself. These can include:
- Spider Webs: With some Elmer’s glue, glitter and a few sheets of wax paper, these webs are easy to make. Using the glue, draw out the shape of the web and sprinkle it with glitter. Let it sit overnight and shake off the excess glitter, allowing it to sit and harden for another two days.
- Bloody Handprints: While you might not want to use your best guest towels for this, your kids will definitely love this craft. Get them to help by dipping their hands in red paint and leaving their “bloody” handprints on a towel or craft paper.
- Hanging Bats: Using black craft foam and some googly eyes, these hanging bats can be hung outside on your Springfree Trampoline or attached to staircases or walls.
- Halloween Lanterns: Snagging some orange & purple lights or pumpkin lanterns from your local Halloween store are sure to light up your Halloween party and set the ghostly mood! Be sure to hang some lights on your Springfree!
Get the kids involved in putting up the decorations to make sure everyone is a part of the excitement!
Photo courtesy of @nicolealyshaa_
6. Bobbing for Apples
Apple-bobbing is one of the classic Halloween games. It’s a time-honored tradition that’s easy to set up and guarantees fun for everyone.
Buy a bag of apples from your local market or grocery store and fill a bucket or tub with water from the hose.
See who can use only their mouth to get a floating apple out of the tub.
Bonus: the apples make for a healthy snack to balance out all the Halloween candy!
7. Make Witch’s Brew!
Making Witch’s Brew is a fun group activity for making a no-mess slime that the little ones can play with afterward.
Mix shaving cream, food colouring, white glue, baking soda, and saline solution in a bowl, and you’ll have a fluffy dough-like substance you can knead, smoosh and play with.
8. Ghost Stories on the Trampoline
Practice your favourite scary story and wait until nightfall to congregate on your Halloween-decorated Springfree Trampoline. Then pass around the flashlight and take turns telling ghost stories in the dark.
9. Whip-Up Some Halloween Food
A Halloween party wouldn’t be complete without spooky snacks! These Halloween food ideas are sure to be a hit:
- Finger Dogs: With a few strategic cuts and some ketchup on hot dogs, they'll make your guests think you’re serving fingers for appetizers!
- Mummy Pizzas: Mummy pizzas are simple to make with just a few slices of bread, pizza sauce and some strategically placed slices of mozzarella cheese and olives. Place them in the oven for a few minutes for the cheese to melt, and you’ve got a simple and easy kid-friendly treat.
- Apple Teeth: Apples, marshmallows and some peanut butter are all it takes to make these scary-looking teeth. Cut the apples into slices and use the peanut butter to stick the mini marshmallows between the two slices.
- Party Favours: Use latex gloves and fill them with your favourite candy and chocolate, then tie them with a ribbon. These make for great party favours for your guests!
10. Make a Halloween Tic-Tac-Toe Board
If you have a square-tiled patio, use black and orange chalk to color a 3x3 grid of squares in a clear area or set up a grid using yellow Halloween caution tape on your Springfree Trampoline mat.
You can also use chalk and choose fun Halloween-themed items for your game pieces.
11. Costume-Crafting Party
Pull out the costume trunk and gather up your costume crafting supplies for a day of designing Halloween costumes on the back patio. Pick a sunny day and get to work snipping, gluing, sewing and modeling your best costume ideas.
Tip: If you want to enjoy the decorations for the season (and not just Halloween), you can design a scarecrow to live on or near the trampoline!
12. Pin the Spider on the Web!
Have the kids use a black marker to draw small spiders on construction paper and a giant spiderweb on mural paper.
Cut out the spiders and put the spiderweb up on the wall. Take turns getting blindfolded, spun around, and trying to stick the spider on the centre of the web with a pin or tape. Whoever’s closest wins a candy prize!
13. High-Flying Costume Photo Shoot on the Trampoline
Show off both your new costume and your Halloween decorations by going for a bounce on your decked-out Springfree Trampoline and taking some action shots of bouncing mummies, ghosts, and whatever else you’ve dressed up as.
Just remember to have a station to leave any costume pieces that could be a bouncing hazard.
14. Dead Man Trampoline Game
Instructions: In this game, select one person to be "the sitter" or "the dead man."
The sitter sits in the centre of the trampoline and starts counting to 10. While the sitter counts, the remaining participants must use stealthy moves such as crawling, rolling, or quiet hopping to conceal themselves from the sitter's view.
Once the sitter reaches the count of 10, they roll over and, with eyes closed, begin to crawl in an attempt to tag one of the other participants.
While the sitter is searching, the participants can move around on the trampoline but are prohibited from jumping over the sitter. The sitter cannot stand up at any point during the game.
For more exciting trampoline game ideas, be sure to check out our list of the "16 Best Trampoline Games!"
15. Swing Set Costume Party
Kids love playing on swing sets, so why not bring the spooky Halloween fun to your backyard swing set this year?
Gather up your friends, put your best costumes on and enjoying some flying fun!
Photo courtesy of gobaplay.
Our sister brand, gobaplay, sells a selection of high-quality swing sets and outdoor climbing structures if you're in the market for a new backyard addition this Season.
Which Halloween Activities Do You Enjoy?
We have lots of fun Halloween Activities for the kids above, but don’t forget the classic Halloween games, like having blindfolded people put their hands in brains (wet spaghetti), or eyeballs (a bowl of grapes) or guts (leftover pumpkin goo)!
Have any Halloween activities that your kids love? Reach out to us on our Springfree Trampoline Instagram Page or tag us in your post and let us know!
Happy haunting!
