Badge: Halloween Games

Explore vintage Halloween games and activities. Check online for some new ones. You might want to join these ideas together to make unique Halloween activities for your participants to enjoy.

Steps

1. Vintage — 1912.

Check out the minibook Vintage Halloween Games for vintage games from 1912 before Halloween became popular for the kids. Try one or more of the games. If you want to share it with others, adapt it if necessary.

2. Today.

Review the minibook Today’s Halloween Games for games that we play today. You’ll notice the games are centered around children. You can also go online to find games to play. Try one or more. If you’re having adults participate, how might you adjust a game to make it fun for more ages?

3. Add twist.

Many everyday games can add a twist so they work better for a Halloween theme. This includes scavenger hunts, hide and go seek and puzzles. Play tag while IT is on a broomstick, make home base a pumpkin, hide glow-in-the-dark spiders to find and more. Some are in the specific play section below. Think of your favorite non-Halloween game. How can you adjust it to fit with the holiday?

4. Location.

Depending on where you will be playing, you may need to adjust the size and / or materials of the games. For example, if you want to play Pumpkin Tic-Tac-Toe, you’ll want to use small decorative pumpkins inside while full-sized ones will work fine outdoors.

Specific Play

5. BINGO.

Change up the cards and play a game of BINGO — Halloween style. Check out the supplements for some cards listed below.

6. Silhouette play.

Play with silhouettes to tell a story. Use a story you already know or make one up. Fairy tales are a great option for stories as you can find both the originals as well as politically correct versions. You can be funny or scary, but stick to a Halloween theme.

7. Cemetery hunt.

Create a cemetery in an empty lot or even your back yard. Add the scare with spiders, snakes, lanterns, music, etc. Hide prizes for everyone to find. Be sure to make and enforce a limit so one kid doesn’t end up with ten prizes while another has none.

8. Costume relay.

Instead of having everyone come in costume, use them for your games. You might pack a couple suitcases with the same items in them and let the teams race down, dress in the costume, do something silly (perhaps take a photo too), undress, replace everything in the trunk and then let the next member of their team do it. You also might treat it like a scavenger hunt and the teams have to find pieces of a costume from clues with the first team that returns with everyone wearing a piece of the costume winning. What other costume relays can you imagine?

9. Bob for apples.

Put apples in a tub of water and try to bite one. If you don’t like the water (or it’s too cold), tie them to string and hang them in a doorway instead.

10. Sensory game.

Create one or more touch sensations. Make it a game by:

Guess what each item is by touch or what it represents
Hide items in the food that link to prizes or points
“Fear Factor” by blindfolding people and have them eat different items (touch plus taste)

11. Piñata.

Make or purchase a piñata for a Halloween party would be great fun. Instead of handing out filled treat bags, just hand out the bags and let everyone work for the treats.

12. Printables.

Check out the supplements for more games or find some online. You can also find games on sites like Ravensblight. After exploring these options, see what else you can print and use.

Supplements

SUPP_ Halloween Games_2in_12up_larajla

Avery 2” round label printable, 12 up

SUPP_ Halloween Games_Checklist_larajla

Badge checklist

SUPP_Play Fun_BINGO_Black_larajla

BLACK cards for a Halloween version of BINGO

SUPP_Play Fun_BINGO_Ghost_larajla

GHOST cards for a Halloween version of BINGO

SUPP_Play Fun_BINGO_Witch_larajla

WITCH cards for a Halloween version of BINGO

SUPP_Play Fun_TTT_Hats Masks_larajla

Halloween designed Tic-Tac-Toe board with Witch Hat and Mask markers

SUPP_Play Fun_TTT_JoL_larajla

Halloween designed Tic-Tac-Toe board with Jack-o-Lantern markers

SUPP_Printable_MB_Halloween Today_larajla

Current games you can play with a Halloween theme

SUPP_Printable_MB_Halloween Vintage_larajla

1912 Halloween games

SUPP_Printable_SILH_Graveyard Background_larajla

Silhouette graveyard for craft and play

SUPP_Printable_SILH_Halloween Characters_larajla

Silhouette Halloween characters for craft and play

SUPP_Printable_SILH_Tree Background_larajla

Silhouette bare tree background for craft and play

SUPP_Recipe Fun_Sensory Foods_larajla

Items you can use to simulate body parts and more for touch

SUPP_Puzzle Fun_WF_Grimm Wessen_larajla

Word Find: Grimm creatures

SUPP_Puzzle Fun_WF_Halloween_larajla

Word Find: Halloween items

SUPP_Puzzle Fun_WF_Supernatural_larajla

Word Find: Supernatural creatures

SUPP_Puzzle Fun_WORD_Ghoul Scouts_larajla

Make words from “Ghoul Scouts”

SUPP_Puzzle Fun_WORD_Happy Halloween_larajla

Make words from “Happy Halloween”

SUPP_Puzzle Fun_WORD_Trick-or-Treat_larajla

Make words from “Trick-or-Treat”

Sites to Explore

Get the infographic here > larajla blog post

Get the PDFs of the badge program / supplements here > Full badge PDFs