The scariest time of the year is upon us: half term. If the thought sends shivers down your spine, don’t fear – we’ve got a whole bunch of activities to keep your little ghouls busy over Halloween weekend. Gather up your family and get set for a spooktacular time!
1. Get crafty with your printer
There are tons of Halloween crafts online, and you can print them for free with a HP+ subscription. Get your house trick-or-treat ready with these skeleton decorations or flying bats. Or, sit down with some hair-raising colouring pages of haunted houses, monsters and witches. Kids will have fun (and you’ll have some quiet!).
For older kids, printable stencils are brilliant for mastering pumpkin carving. Either print a ready-made pumpkin stencil or trace something onto paper. Then, tape it onto your pumpkin and let the carving begin! It makes it way easier to keep designs nice and neat.
2. Set the mood with your smart speaker
Got a Google Nest? Then you’re sorted for spooky music to go along with your seasonal activities. Just say ‘Hey Google, play some Halloween music’ and Google will search for an appropriately scary soundtrack for you.
Another party trick is to get the kids to ask Google what different monsters sound like. Google will play back the right sound effect, from howling werewolves to chuckling vampires. Spooky.
Want to keep your little one in charge of the tunes? The Vtech Kidi DJ Mix could be just the thing. It’s a set of DJ decks designed to boost kids’ music skills and let them mix their favourite songs. It’s simple to use and comes pre-loaded with fun tracks and sound effects.
3. Whip up some ghoulish snacks
You could spend ages constructing the perfect Halloween banquet – but there’s no time for that on a half-term weekend! Here are some of our favourite speedy snacks that are sure to go down a treat:
Finger sandwiches in spooky shapes. Think: cookie cutters.
Strawberries dipped in white chocolate to look like little ghosts.
Draw a pumpkin-style face on a clementine.
Bake these Halloween pinata biscuits with a popping candy centre.
Or leave it up to kids to make their own snacks. Whip up some ghost-shaped sugar cookies, sit your kids down with an assortment of icing pens and sprinkles, and let the ghostly decorating begin.
4. Gather round a monstrous movie
Streaming sites have made it easier than ever to find the perfect kids’ Halloween movie. Netflix has its own ‘children’ section when you log in. Choose that, go to ‘films’ and scroll down to the Halloween category for a bunch of freaky(ish) films. No sweat!
Is any Halloween complete without Disney? Disney+ have a whole load of classic films like Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Halloweentown ready and waiting for a movie afternoon. You could even follow some of our movie night tips on stuff like smart lighting to really set the spooky scene.
5. Create their own Halloween goody bags or spooky sock puppets
Heading out for trick-or-treating? Why not help them decorate little tote bags to match their costume (and fill with all those tasty sweets)? Let them unleash their creativity with stickers, pipe cleaners, fabric pens, glitter, googly eyes and pipe cleaners.
If you’d rather keep your little ones indoors, no worries. Make an evening out of creating Halloween-themed sock puppets with all the crafty kit mentioned above. They get a new toy, and you get rid of all those single socks you’ve got lying around. Winner.
Wait – what about the rest of the week?!
There you have it – everything you need to keep your kids happy this Halloween! But what about the rest of half term? Don’t worry – we’ve got tons more ideas to get creative with the kids and ways to keep them safe while they’re doing it.