Halloween is such a fun time of year, but the spooky pumpkins and ghoulish decor can often be a bit too frightening for younger kids. If you are planning a Halloween party this year, or are just looking for some fun ways to entertain your little ghosts and witches, here are 12 Not So Scary Halloween Games for Younger Kids.

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These games are all suitable for smaller kids (and older ones too!). Hopefully they will give you plenty of ideas for your Halloween party.

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Halloween Games Perfect for Younger Kids

#1. Snap Apple/Donut

This is an easy one that everyone knows and remembers! Suspend an apple or donut from a string and hang it from a height where the children can reach it. The children then try take bites out of the apple with their hands behind their backs. The most bites wins. For younger kids, a donut on a string can often be easier to manage.

#2. Halloween Bingo

A fun Halloween Game for all ages, but ideal for younger kids, who might be too small/scared to go trick or treating but would enjoy playing a game with the spooky visitors to the house!

Download and print out our free Halloween Bingo Game.

#3. Mummy Wrap

This is a fun party game for any time of year, and suits kids of all ages. You will need a large supply of toilet rolls/kitchen towels.

How to Play

• Divide the ghoulish gang into teams, and one person in the team is the designated “Mummy”.
• Start the music/timer. The other members in the team must race to “dress the Mummy” using toilet rolls.
• The winning team is the one that has the most wrapped/the best Mummy, in the given time.

#4. Halloween Graveyard Hunt

Similar to a treasure hunt, all you need for this ghoulish game are some plastic spiders, bats or wrapped Halloween sweets like eyeballs etc. Then hide them around the garden (for older kids) or the house (for younger kids).

Give each child/team a torch, and with the house in semi-darkness, let the hunt begin. The child/team who finds the most creepy things wins!

#5. What’s the Time Mrs. Witch

For this Halloween version of “What’s the time Mr. Wolf”, you will need a spacious room/hallway or you could play it outside if the weather permits.

How to Play

• For Mrs. Witch you will need a witch’s hat and broom
• Someone is designated Mrs. Witch – they put on the witch’s hat and hold the broom, then stand with their backs to the rest of the group.
• Assemble the rest of the children at a start line, and they call out “What’s the time Mrs Witch?
• If Mrs. Witch says 7 o’clock, they take 7 steps closer to her, and so on.
• Once they get close enough, the witch can answer “Midnight”, and turn around and chase them.
• The person she first catches is Mrs. Witch for the next game.

#6. Pin the Wart on the Witch

A Halloween version of pin the tail on the donkey. This game needs a little preparation in advance, so enlist the kids to help you prepare the witch.

How to Play

1. Draw the outline of a witch on black card, cut it out and stick to a piece of white cardboard. Stick this to the wall.
2. Roll up bits of green paper into what should look like little witch nose warts (yuk!) and attach some sticky bluetack or double-sided sellotape. Or you could make green slime or playdough for extra grossness!
3. Once ready to play, each child takes turns blindfolded to pin the wart on the witch! The person who gets closest to the nose wins!

#7. Spooky Ghost Bowling

Make this spooky bowling game for some rattlingly good fun!

How to Play

1. If you have bowling pins already, paint them with ghost faces. Alternatively, draw some spooky faces, cut out and stick them on your pins.
2. If you don’t have pins you can easily make your own by painting empty plastic mineral bottles white. Then draw ghost faces with a black marker.
3. Fill the empty bottles with some sand or pebbles so that they won’t fall over easily.
4. Divide into teams and using small pumpkins, or a small ball, try to bowl the “ghosts” over.

#8. Popping Pumpkin Balloons

Simple fun, so long as the kids don’t mind the noise of bursting balloons, which they probably won’t when they find out there are treats inside!

How to Play

1. You will need some orange balloons. Pop some sweets into them and then blow them up and tie each one.
2. Draw pumpkin faces on each balloon with a green or black marker.
3. Have the gang at the ready and let them loose to pop the balloon and find the sweets inside.

So much fun on the one day of the year when they get to eat as many sweets as they want!

#9. Zombie Musical Statues

Young kids love musical statues – this is just a Halloween version, with the kids all dressed up in their best halloween costumes.

Play some Halloween songs and let the kids do their best ‘zombie stomp’.  When the music stops they have to freeze! Any kids found to have moved are out, until the last child remaining is the winner

#10. Eyeball Bounce

Super simple – just decorate some ping pong balls to resemble eyeballs and then get the kids to try and bounce them into cups/bowls. The kid/team with the most eyeballs in their bowl at the end wins.

#11. Halloween Musical Chairs

Another classic kids party game, with a Halloween twist!

How to Play

1. Get the kids to draw a picture of a witch, spider, ghost, Frankenstein or any other scary Halloween character they want. Or for ease, you could print out some blank versions of these and get the kids to decorate or colour them.
2. Stick a different picture to the back of each chair.
3. Start the music and have them walk around the chairs.
4. Turn off the music and once everyone is seated, call out one of the spooky characters. Whoever’s sitting on the chair with that character is out, and on it goes until there is a winner!

#12. Frankenstein Relay Race

Divide the kids into two teams, and have then complete a Halloween relay race where they must walk like Frankenstein! The team with the fastest Frankensteins win!

Have your say! Have you any other fun Halloween games that younger kids can enjoy? Let us know in the comments below.