With Halloween just around the corner I’ve started making a few preparations for the big day. Firstly, I have made a start on the decorating which will be both inside and outside of the house, Paul has also collected two large pumpkins whilst out shopping which I hope to carve with the kids tomorrow evening.
As with every year I have also selected a range of Halloween themed books and stories for the children which have been placed into the sling shelf for easy selection, that and I’ve put aside a small pile of ‘spooky films‘ for the kids to enjoy in the run up to All Hallows Eve.
I’ve dusted off the Halloween costumes ready for the big day, the black nail varnish is at the ready and finally I have purchased a shed load of sweets for the trick or treaters should they come knocking.
Along with the decorations, outfits, books, films and such-like I have also come up a list of games for the children to take part in after they have finished frightening the neighbours whilst out and about trick or treating. I thought I ought to share these ideas the big day should you fancy playing these games with your little ones.
Touch, Taste & Smell
Prior to playing setup three (or more) items to taste, to touch and to smell for your opponent to identify. In total there should be nine items to identify which your victim must do whilst blindfolded. Create a tick sheet to record how many of these items they correctly identify and the winner is the person who is able to identify the most.
You can add further ‘spooky’ elements to this game by suggesting that the items may be something sinister such as ‘zombie brains’ or ‘ghouls guts’. Be sure to keep the game safe, suitable and not too terrifying as otherwise you may be in for a sleepless night!
Bobbing For Apples
This is a traditional Halloween game which requires a large washing up bowl filled with water (you may add red food dye should you wish it to appear as blood). Apples are then placed in the bowl which float to the surface, children should kneel by the bowl with their hands behind their backs and try to pick the apple up using only their mouths/ teeth.
This game can get very messy, I advise you to have at least two or three towels at the ready and to further challenge your children you can ask them to wear a blindfold whilst bobbing for the apples.
Hanging Apple
Core an apple and tie a piece of string through its centre. Now tie this string to a light fitting or something high up which should ideally place the hanging apple at ‘head height’. Children are then to place their hands behind their backs and to take hold of the apple using only their mouth or teeth, the winner is the first person to do so.
This game is far less messy than ‘Bobbing For Apples’ but it uses the same skills and concepts required.
Mystery Bags
Using small fabric bags (which can easily be sewn on a sewing machine or by hand) create five-ten spooky blind bags or alternatively you may wish to use small draw string bags. The bags will need to be numbered so that you are able to identify the contents without children seeing. The children must then feel the bags and guess the contents.
Children must write down or verbalise what they think may be in each bag, the winner is the person whom guesses the most correctly.
Self Raising Sweets
Using a large, flat plate bury a smartie sweet into a pile of flour. Children must place their hands behind their backs and remove the smartie from the flour using only their mouth.
This can get quite messy but is heaps of fun and definitely possible to do as my son demonstrated last year as he won the Halloween children’s contest!
Winking Murderer
Dependent upon the number of children within your household (you will require at least five or more children to play this game) this game is a classic ‘classroom’ favourite. Sit the children in a circle and ask them to close their eyes, whilst they have their eyes closed tap one child on the back once (to signify that they are the murderer) and another child on the back twice (to signify that they are the detective).
The murderer must ‘wink’ at the other children to ‘kill them’, those who are winked at should die a very loud and dramatic death to signify their exit from the game. The murderer must try to conceal their winking to prevent the unknown detective from guessing whom the murderer is.
Adults must remind children that only the selected murderer should wink and anyone else found winking will be removed from the game as otherwise it’s an entirely pointless exercise.
The detective must try to identify whom the murderer within the circle is in order to win the game.
Pass It Along Ghost Stories
We’ve all heard a ghost story or two in our time and what better way to create further fiction than to combine these? Sit the children around in a circle and give them a starting line from which they must begin the story, each child must then add a line of their own to in order to create a story, as each child takes a turn the story will develop.
Chinese Whispers
This game requires a few children in order to play properly. Sit the children in a circle and whisper something spooky into the first child’s ear. They must then pass this message by whispering around the circle. Once the message has made a full circuit of the circle the message will have often changed, this is half the fun of the game!
Why not make this a little more challenging and send one message in one direction and another in the opposite direction, at some point somebody will need to pass two messages in two directions simultaneously. This can be rather confusing but is certainly fun to have a go at.
Zombie Freeze
Using background Music (which could be Halloween themed should you fancy) ask children to dance along until the Music stops. Once the Music stops children must pose as either a Zombie, a monster, a witch, a wizard, a ghoul, a ghost or whatever you may have instructed.
Children must stand as still as possible, each round one child is selected to leave the game (anyone caught moving or not completely still) and the winner is the last person left standing.
Costume Relay Race
Should you be like me and have a heap of dressing up costumes for your children to wear, why not create a ‘dress up relay race’ around the house which children can either compete against one or other or work in teams.
Wrap The Mummy Race
Split the children into teams, hand each team a toilet roll and upon the whistle children should begin wrapping their Mummy (this may not necessarily be their Mother but may be their brother, sister, a friend or member of the family) in toilet roll to appear as a Mummy. The first person to complete wrapping their Mummy wins.
Newspaper Costumes
Split the children into teams and hand each team a roll of sellotape and a pile of newspapers. Upon the whistle children are given three-five minutes to create a costume for one person to wear. The winner is the team with the best costume.
I hope some of the ideas above may have inspired you with some frightening and fun games which you can play with your little ones this Halloween.