Traditional Halloween Activity and Games Ideas

Halloween is just around the corner and if you are anything like me, you are looking for fun traditional Halloween activity and games ideas to keep the kiddos entertained.  While it has been a few years, I used to throw a big Halloween carnival for our neighborhood every Halloween, so I built up a pretty good list of fun Halloween games for all ages.  I thought I would share them with you incase you are struggling to find fun Halloween carnival game ideas for school, a Halloween classroom party, or traditional halloween games for a neighborhood block party.  Here are 10 of my favorite traditional Halloween activity and games ideas for all ages.  Affiliate links are included in this post.

TRADITIONAL HALLOWEEN ACTIVITY AND GAMES IDEAS

CAKE WALK

When I was a kid our elementary school would always host a Halloween Carnival.  It was SO much fun!  When you were a 6th grader you got to build and run the Haunted House.  That was the ultimate fun activity!  One Halloween game I always remember loving was the cake walk.  There were tons of cakes donated by families and local bakeries and we all got a chance to walk around the circle and have our number chosen to pick out a cake.  I only won once, but it was a memorable experience for sure!

The Rules of a Cake Walk

Cake Walks are super easy to put together, and if you are having a neighborhood or school party, all you need are a few families to decorate and donate a cake.  I also like to have cupcakes on hand for everyone, so that no one feels too sad that they didn’t win.  For the cake walk, simply number pieces of paper from 1-the number of participants you have.  If you have a large group (more than 20), you can run a few rounds of the cake walk, making sure everyone gets a turn.  There are a few different ways to run a cake walk, but this is how we run ours.  A cake walk works much like musical chairs. For the cake walk, simply number pieces of paper from 1-the number of participants you have.  Place those numbered pieces of paper around in a circle on the ground.  Mix up the numbers to make it more interesting.  If you have a large group (more than 20), you can run a few rounds of the cake walk, making sure everyone gets a turn.  Participants stand around the circle on a numbered piece of paper and you play music.  As you play the music, the participants walk and dance around the circle.  When the music stops, everyone runs and stands on a number.  The emcee of the cake walk has a bowl with slips of paper in it.  Each of the slips of paper is numbered to match the numbers on the papers that participants are standing on.  The emcee calls a number and the person standing on that numbered piece of paper wins the cake walk.  They get to choose a cake from the cake table as their prize.  If you have multiple cakes to give away for multiple rounds (which I highly recommend) then you remove that numbered piece of paper from the ground and that contestant is out of the competition and the game continues with another round of music.

WIZARD (OR WITCH’S) HAT TOSS

This easy traditional Halloween activity is perfect for all ages and a cinch to put together.

What You’ll Need for this Halloween Game:

• 3 inexpensive fabric Witch or Wizard hats (you can add more if you want)
• 3 full 2 liter soda bottles or water bottles that fit under the hats
• 3-5 Ring Toss Rings

To Play:

Set your soda bottles up in a triangle formation.  Cover each bottle with a witch hat.  Let each player take a turn tossing the rings onto the bottles to try and ring as many as possible.  They win a ticket/small prize for each bottle they ring.

SPOOKY SPIDER DROP TRADITIONAL HALLOWEEN GAME

What You Need for the Spooky Spider Drop

• Small Plastic Halloween Spiders
• A small jar or plastic cauldron
• A chair or step stool

How to Play the Spooky Spider Drop

Give each participant a set number of spiders (5-10).  When it is their turn to play, they step up on the step stool and try, one at a time, to drop as many spiders into the jar or cauldron that is sitting on the ground below them.  You can increase the difficulty for older kids by making them drop them with tweezers into a jar with a smaller opening, and make it easier for younger players and let them drop the plastic spiders, by hand, into something with a larger opening.  Award players one ticket per spider they successfully drop into the jar, or a small prize for playing.

BAT’S BEAN BAG TOSS

What You’ll Need for Bat’s Bean Bag Toss Halloween Game

• Bean Bags
• A Bean Bag Toss Board (you can make one out of a cardboard box or buy one)
• If you have a corn hole game, you can use this as well.  For extra fun decorate your board with halloween decorations to make it match the theme.

How to Play Bat’s Bean Bag Toss Halloween Game

Allow players, depending on age, to stand within a reasonable distance from the bean bag toss board and toss their bean bags into the holes.  Holes can have different point values depending on level of difficulty, or they can all be worth the same point value.  Players win tickets based on the number of points they score.

PUMPKIN BOWLING HALLOWEEN GAME FOR KIDS

WHAT YOU’LL NEED FOR PUMPKIN BOWLING

• Small pumpkin Pie sized round pumpkins
• 1 liter plastic water bottles about 1/3 full

How to Play Pumpkin Bowling

It’s just like regular bowling, only a little bit harder because your not quite round pumpkin will be a little less predictable about where it will roll.  Set up your water bottles like bowling pins on a sidewalk or hard surface where you have a “lane.”  Make sure there is nothing that can be hurt by flying pumpkins anywhere around incase one goes rogue. 😉  Let each player take two turns to knock down as many of the watter bottle pins as they can with the pumpkin bowling ball.  Award each player tickets or prizes based on the number of pins they knock down.

Ghost Pops Halloween Activity Idea for All Ages

This super simple craft makes a great booth at a school Halloween carnival or Halloween party.

What You Need to Make Halloween Ghost Pops Craft

• Tootsie Roll Lollipops or similar
• Kleenex, Paper Towel or White Tissue Paper cut into medium size squares
• Black Yarn
• Black Markers

How to Make Halloween Ghost Pops

Place one tootsie pop in the center of a Kleenex or square of tissue paper.  Tie the paper around the lollipop with a small piece of black yarn.  Draw ghost eyes and mouth on the paper with the black marker and you’re all set.

Haunter Hanging Donuts Halloween Game for All Ages

What You’ll Need to Play Haunted Hanging Donuts

• Airy Glazed Donuts…nothing too heavy or it will fall off of the string
• Long Pieces of Yarn
• A great tree

How to Play the Halloween Haunted Hanging Donuts Game

This game is ALWAYS a Halloween carnival favorite.  Not only because everybody wins and gets a donut, but it is just hilarious to watch.  We have done this game every year in our neighborhood just for kicks.  String up as many donuts in the tree as their are players.  Be sure to hang them at varying heights so that people of all ages can play, you want to make sure kids can reach them with their mouths and so can adults.  The trick to this game is to have everyone race to be the first to finish their donut but they can’t use their hands!  The donuts swing back and forth on their string while players try to grab them only with their mouths.  Be sure to get your camera out, because this is a fun one!

So there you have it!  7 Traditional Halloween games for all ages.  Here are a few more traditional Halloween activity and games ideas in case you are looking for a few more:

• Frankenstein’s Fishing Hole – set up a small kiddie pool full of small prizes that players can hook with a small fishing pole.  It helps to adhere/put a paper clip on each prize and create a fishing pole out of a stick and some twine with a magnet on the end.  The magnet and paper clip will allow the player to “hook” their own prize.
• Casper’s Can Toss – Just like any other good can toss game only with a ghostly theme

For our Halloween Carnival Games I also had two purchased games.

• Dracula’s Disc Drop
• Spooky Spin

If you aren’t in the mood to DIY anything for your halloween party games you can definitely purchase most of these traditional halloween games ready to go…they may not be halloween themed though, that was just my own twist. 😉

Here are some great ready-made traditional carnival games:

Carnival Can Toss Game

Ring Toss Game

Halloween Dart Board Game

Outdoor Bowling Set

I hope you are feeling excited and ready to host your very own Halloween carnival or party with these fun traditional Halloween Game ideas for all ages!  It is SO fun and I just love creating memories for the kids like this.  Get your neighborhood or school involved and get everyone to pitch in getting the supplies together for and running one booth.  It makes it easy for everyone.  Let the older kids get involved by having them design and run a haunted house or be in charge of the ticket redemption/prize table. There is something for everyone to do.

We have TONS of Halloween ideas and free printables — everything from food and crafts to costumes and party ideas — here on the site.  Be sure to check out our DIY Gallery  and some of our favorite Halloween party ideas here.

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Happy entertaining!

tammy