Happy Halloween! Let’s keep celebrating this week with family-friendly crafts, snacks, and books for the best Halloween ever! Sourced from the wonders of the internet, there’s something for everyone this spooky season. Whether having a playdate, a party, or simply spending time together as a family, these activities are perfect for creating childhood memories that will last a lifetime. Let’s jump right in and have our best Halloween!
From household items to the season’s greatest vegetable canvas, these crafts are sure to be fun! Designed for different ages, there is something for every member of the family. Spooky pine cone bats, Halloween sun catchers, and more await as we enjoy our best Halloween with these creepy crafts!
This craft brings all the colors of the rainbow to your Halloween decor! Simply have kids pick their favorite colors, peel the crayons, and lay them around the stem of the pumpkin. Then, parents can take a hair dryer to heat the wax and melt the crayons. By changing the angle of the hairdryer, control the amount and direction of the wax for the best results! This craft can be completed with a real white pumpkin, or a plastic one that will allow you to keep it for years to come.
For a spooky good time, create these pinecone bats! A craft that encourages families to go for a hike to find some of the materials, this craft makes for great family fun time. Start by finding some pinecones. Then, upcycle some cardboard by cutting out wings, feet, ears, and a mouth. Parents can then help their kids with the glue gun to attach all of the features. Grab some googly eyes and cut out white felt teeth, and voilà – you have a pinecone bat!
Catch some autumn sunshine in these beautiful sun catchers! You’ll need some tissue paper, clear contact paper, and glue for this craft. Then, simply print or draw your ghoulish shapes on the contact paper and tear pieces of tissue paper to layer and glue! This craft let’s kids explore their creativity, and makes the cutest decorations to hang up every Halloween. Though the sun shines less in the autumn, these sun catchers will make those moments extra special!
For a craft that creates a cherishible piece of decor, check out this handprint keepsake! No matter their age, toddlers and children will love imprinting their hands in this timeless treasure. Grab some clay and paint to get started with this craft! Then, cut out a shape, help your child press their hand into the clay, and let it dry. Work together to paint it with ghosts, goblins, or any other creatures you love. Enjoy hanging this keepsake up for falls to come!
Stylish and simple, these little witches will be so fun to create together! Grab some wooden spoons, scraps of paper in any prints or patterns you want, and some markers and glue to get started. From there, these witches are yours to create! Cut out dresses, capes, hats, and hair for them to wear, and decorate with ribbons and beads. Kids will love making their own characters perfect for playing in dollhouses, puppet shows, or sticking on top of tasty treats.
Take a bite out of books this spooky season with this adorable craft! All you need is paper and some folding skills to create these vampires hungry for knowledge. Using any color, kids will love making this craft their own. With just a few simple folds of several pieces of paper and googly eyes, you can work together to transform simple sheets into these word-sucking creeps! Save your spot in all the bedtime books later in this article with a craft you made together.
Pick treats, not tricks this Halloween! These tasty bites are sweet and simple, with kid-friendly steps and ingredients. From colorful to cool, eerily easy to a bit more time consuming, these snacks have something for every skillset. They are perfect for the best Halloween party, after school snacks, or as treats to surprise kids in their lunchboxes. No matter when they’re eaten, they’re sure to have kids smiling all day long as they remember the fun time of making them!
These monster rice crispy treats are (almost) too good to eat! The simple rice crispy treat recipe gets a ghoulish update with the addition of colorful candy melts and googly eyes. Whip up some rice crispies by baking melted marshmallows and butter mixed with puffed rice cereal. Then, line up your cooled and cut rectangles on parchment paper and dip them in the melted candy melts. Add some googly eyes and you have monstrously magnificent marshmallow treats!
Candy melts are at it again in this creepy concoction! The fun of this treat is that it’s impossible to mess up, and kids can really go crazy making the designs. All you have to do is melt some dark chocolate and the colored candy melts of your choosing, then pour them together on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use a knife to further mixes the colors, and top with Halloween sprinkles and chocolates for the final touch. Let it cool, then break it apart and enjoy!
Creepy, crawly, and chocolatey good, these spooky spiders are sure to please parents and kids alike! Make your favorite batch of peanut butter cookies and let them cool, then melt some marshmallows. Pull apart the melted marshmallows with your fingers to create stretchy spider webs and lay them on top of the cookies. Melt some dark chocolate, put a drop on each cookie, and then top with mini peanut butter cups. Add eyes, some melted chocolate legs, and take a bite out of these arachnids!
Children will love making and eating this gooey treat! Marshmallows have their moment in this sweet and savory treat. Melt them and mix in some green food coloring, then pour over popped popcorn. Add some googly eyes to give the creation a mind of its own! This treat is great for the best Halloween parties, to send to school with kids, or to enjoy together as you watch a classic Halloween movie as a family.
This tasty treat will have kids asking all year long “Mommy, can we make mummy hot dogs?” The best part is that this snack only requires three ingredients: hot dogs, crescent rolls, and mustard! Roll out the crescent dough, cut it into rectangles, then wrap them around the hot dogs, leaving a tiny space between the top two for the eyes. Bake them, then dot on some mustard eyes and take a bite out of these tasty treats!
You have to turn on the classic Halloween song “Monster Mash” while you work together as a family to create these monster Oreos! They look amazing, and are super simple. You’ll need some more colorful candy melts, sprinkles, Oreos, and candy eyes for this treat. Melt the candy melts in separate bowls by color, set an Oreo on parchment paper, and pour some of the melted candy melt over it. Top with sprinkles, candy eyes, or any other toppings kids can dream of!
Send kids to sleep with these beautiful books perfect for this time of year. With beautiful illustrations, playful stories, and Halloween motifs, they help kids find the fun in ghosts and bats. Made for all ages, they offer age-appropriate ways to celebrate All Hallow’s Eve. Afterall, is there any better way to end a night of trick-or-treating than with a good bedtime story?
For the smallest ghouls and boys, check out this Halloween book! “Little Bat, What Can You See?” is made for 3 months to 3 year olds, giving babies and toddlers one of their first introductions to the spooky season. Using adorable illustrations and simple texts, this book explores all the wonders to be discovered. Join Little Bat and explore the joys of Halloween with your own little ones!
Written by the American comedian and “The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, this book is sure to have kids laughing as they count down the days until Halloween! A great way to practice their numbers, children will love this counting book. Fun to read all October or just the last 5 nights before the holiday, the book is full of beautiful illustrations. Made for little ones ages 3 through 6, the bright colors and cast of characters will get them excited to trick-or-treat!
Made for kids ages 4 through 8, this book is about a shy ghost that learns the secret to making friends. A spooky way to celebrate being yourself, this book is great for encouraging kids to push past their fears and introduce themselves. Offering a holiday spin that is playful and fun, the message can’t be missed that being yourself is the best way to make new friends. With sweet illustrations and soft colors, kids are sure to pick this book for a hauntingly good time.
Take children on a trip around the world with this bedtime book! From Nigeria to South Asia, Northern Europe to New Zealand, and everywhere in between, kids will love discovering the stories behind 21 spooky celebrations from around the world. Featuring stunning artwork and respectful descriptions, this book is made for ages 5 through 8. Celebrate and learn about other cultures in this book that encourages children to be curious and respectful of others in the world around them.
As kids get a bit older, those who love Halloween will want books like “Amelia Fang!” Written for ages 7 to 10, this book follows the adventures of the character Amelia Fang and her dark and gloomy friends that live in Nocturnia. When they have to go on a rescue mission to the Kingdom of Light where angel kittens are around every corner, they won’t know who to trust! Children will love to read this independently or together to enjoy a story of dark and light.
For children 12 through 18, the story of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” may already be familiar in film version, but they’ll love diving deeper into the story with the actual book! Following the adventures of the king of Halloween Town, Jack Skellington, this creative story is full of twists and turns, tricks and treats, as he explores other holiday towns and tries to take over Christmas and make it spooky! This is one of the best Halloween stories of all time, so don’t miss it this season!
We hope this guide has you ready for the best Halloween ever! Nothing is better than spending time together as a family at the holidays. Whether making crafts, cooking up snacks, or reading scary stories together, these activities are perfect. We hope you all have a hauntingly good holiday full of treats, laughter, and fun! If you need any last minute costume ideas, check out our favorite Halloween looks here!