At this time of year, my Halloween planning ideas start coming. I thought I'd share some Halloween carnival ideas with you. *I don't mind if you want to share these ideas, and I hope you'll try some out, but please don't just copy the whole list and post it elsewhere without asking first.*
The Witch’s Pot – Cauldron with toy lizards, bugs, tree bark, eye balls, etc. The witch asks kids to pull a specific item from her pot. The kids have to search in the pot without looking and pull it out.
Version 2. Have a second container with items in it and have kids search for items to put into the “brew.”
Version 1: Cauldron; witch costume, toy lizards, bugs, tree bark, eye balls, etc.
Version 2: Caldron; Bucket or specimen jars; witch costume, toy lizards, bugs, tree bark, eye balls, etc
Pumpkin Bowling – Bowling pins with fabric tied to them to look like ghosts. Kids roll a fake pumpkin to knock down the ghosts. Younger kids could use an orange ball (basketball).
Bowling pins; fabric; string; a fake pumpkin; orange ball (basketball).
Spider Catch – Fake spiders tied to a rolling bar. Bar rolls up and down and kids try to catch a spider. (Same idea as the duck/prize game) Kids win a prize corresponding to the spider they choose.
Fake spiders; string; rolling bar. (rolling bar can be as simple as a mailing tube suspended from a pvc frame)
The Mystery Witch –
Version 1. Paper with a witch hat and face circle drawn on it. Kids draw a face on the witch while blindfolded.
Version 2. As a group, kids each draw a different facial feature on the face while blindfolded.
Version 3. Velcro/felt pieces of eyes, nose, etc. Kids put the facial features on a felt face.
Version 1. Paper with a witch hat and face circle drawn on it; blindfolded; markers; easel/tape to attach to wall
Version 2. Paper with a witch hat and face circle drawn on it; blindfolded; markers; easel/tape to attach to wall
Version 3. Velcro/felt pieces of eyes, nose, etc. ; felt face; felt board/easel/curtain to pin it to.
Belfry of Bats – Felt bats are stuck to Velcro inside a belfry. Kids use a pole with Velcro on it to retrieve as many bats as possible.
Felt bats; Velcro; belfry. (a hollow pyramid shape with a shingle look.); pole with Velcro
5 Little Pumpkins – A sawhorse “gate” 5 pumpkins sit on. Kids pitch bean bags at the pumpkins to knock them down. (For older kids, you could let them knock the pumpkin head off the headless horseman.)
sawhorse “gate;” 5 pumpkins (stuffed fabric ones are best); bean bags.
Older kid version: stuffed body-possibly on a "horse"; platform for a pumpkin head to sit on; pumpkin; item to throw (bean bag, fake knife, fake torch, pitch fork, etc)
Vampire Fang Toss – A bowl dressed as a vampire. Kids toss vampire fangs into the bowl.
bowl; vampire costume for bowl (cape, etc); vampire fangs. (The bowl could be a wooden board with a hole cut out for a mouth to toss the teeth into.)
Rolling Eyeballs – How far can an eyeball be rolled along a “bridge” over a “crevasse?” (a beam over a construction paper pit) Tape or chalk can be used to mark distances.
eyeball balls; beam/2x4; tape or chalk; decor
Grave Hopping – Tombstones set up to hop or hopscotch on. Tombstones can be foam, rubber, carpet, or cardboard with Velcro or tape on the back so they don’t slip. Older kid version: make standing tombstones to hop over.
Tombstones - foam, rubber, carpet, or cardboard with Velcro or tape on the back so they don’t slip.
Older kid version: free standing tombstones out of styrofoam, foam blocks, cardboard, etc (something that won't hurt if it is fallen on. Be sure to have extras to replace broken ones.)
Mad Scientist Guess – Basically it’s the typical carnival game of a grid of cups and ball to toss into them, but with beakers and a ball or Halloween toy.
beakers; ball or Halloween toy. For fun, fill the beakers with colored liquid. Gatorade makes lots of fun colors. Or, use phosphorescent colors-break open light sticks & necklaces then dilute- and a black light to make it more dramatic and much more difficult. Put items into the beakers to win or to aim for or just for fun.
Bone Hunt – Fabric, newspapers, or leaves fill a coffin. Kids sift through the filler to find and extract the bones inside. They can see how many they can find in 10 seconds or they can see if they can find the parts to construct a whole skeleton. Can be played as a team or individually.
Fabric, newspapers, or leaves; coffin; bone. This is a good use of broken plastic skeletons. Can be done on any scale and bones can be for different types of creatures.
Halloween Tale(s) – A staff person starts writing a Halloween tale. Kids contribute a couple sentences a piece to the story to make a Halloween tale. If a kid ends the story, a new one can be started. The story can be hung for people to read through the week.
large paper; markers; tape; table or easel
Monster Drop – monster pictures or stickers and put on Popsicle sticks or decorated clothespins. The kids try to drop the "monsters" into a jar. The "jar" could be made to look like a jail cell, castle, grave, etc.
monster pictures or stickers; Popsicle sticks/clothespins; wide mouth jar.
Spider Toss – Put up fake spider webbing in a corner. Kids have try to pitch spiders into the web. Spiders can be plastic, rubber, or made from pipe cleaners.
spider webbing; spiders can be plastic, rubber, or made from pipe cleaners, tape/string to hang webbing.
Mousetrap Fishing – Set out mouse traps (yes, real mousetraps), lots of them. Give kids a fishing pole with a stuffed mouse/monster/scarecrow/rat/etc on the end. The object is to see how many traps can be caught in a single casting. The game can be played in a corner and a barrier put up for kids to not cross.
Version 2: Number the backs of the traps and have corresponding prizes. Allow the kids to only catch 1 trap.
Version 1: mouse traps, lots; "fishing pole"; stuffed mouse/monster/scarecrow/rat/etc; barrier (benches, yellow half walls, etc)
Version 2: mouse traps, lots; "fishing pole"; stuffed mouse/monster/scarecrow/rat/etc; marker to mark numbers; prizes in numbered containers; barrier (benches, yellow half walls, etc)
Photo Boo-th – Take pictures of kids in costume and make them available via a the website.
camera, decorations
