10 Easy and engaging Halloween Crafts for your toddler and preschooler

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We are rapidly approaching the end of summer here in Germany. Which on one hand makes me a little sad, I love the long days, the warmth and the sunshine. But on the other hand I am also getting so excited for the fall season. I am especially looking forward to Halloween time. My daughter LOVES Halloween. She is excited all month long and cannot wait to pick her costume and head out for trick-or-treating. This year my son is finally old enough to actively engage in the season too and I am so excited to see him experience this magical Holliday for the first time. Head over to my post about ‘Trick-or-Treating with Toddlers’ to learn how I have been succesfully preparing my children for trick-or-treating, so the entire family can enjoy a low stress and meltdown-free Halloween!

To make the days leading up to Halloween even more exciting for the kids, I love to engage them in various Halloween-themed activities, such as a Halloween Scavenger Hunt (read more and download your free template here), reading books about Halloween and lots of arts and crafts.

My 4 year old daughter enjoys crafts and would love to do nothing else for hours every day. This can sometimes be a bit tricky with her brother around, who just turned two.

Below, I have gathered 10 easy Halloween crafts that are enjoyed by toddlers and preschoolers and will make craft time a fun experience for the entire family!

Puffy Ghost Halloween Craft

This is a great and adorable craft for kids of any age and best of all, you will most likely have everything it requires at home already. All you need to do is cut out a ghost shape (you will find a template in the post linked above) and your kids can start glueing cotton balls on your template. I like to give the ghosts various facial expressions, for example a sad ghost, a happy ghost, an angry ghost, as it provides a great opportunity to talk about feelings and emotions with your children. And if you have a toddler at home (hello big emotions and meltdowns), you know how helpful it can be for them to learn to recognize and name feelings.

Witch’s Broomstick Fine Motor Activity

Are you looking to enjoy family crafts and simultaneously having your children practice their fine motor skills? Then this activity is for you! You need construction paper, pipe cleaners, scissors and beads. For younger toddlers I prefer to use larger beads, while my daughter works with smaller pony beads. And of course never leave your children unattended during this activity as beads can be a choking hazard. You can turn this activity into a math learning activity as well. Follow the link above for instructions.

Cute and easy pumpkin sun catcher

These Jack-O-Lantern sun catcher are completely mess free, since you will be using contact paper instead of glue. You can either have your children rip up tissue paper or let your older toddler practice their scissor cutting skills. Once completed, these Jack-O-Lanterns make a great Halloween decoration for your windows.

Craft Stick Spider craft

If your children love to use paints but you are afraid of the mess, this craft may be the perfect way to get started. It only requires one paint color (of course you can always use more and make colorful spiders) to paint the popsicle/craft sticks. This will allow your children to practice their painting skills without making a huge paint mess. Once you have painted the popsicle sticks and glued them together to form the spiders legs all that’s left to do is to add a circle cut out for a head and add some googly eyes.

tissue paper pumpkin craft

Completely paint free and very simple, this tissue paper pumpkin craft provides fun for even young toddlers. Cut out a pumpkin shape and let your children rip up, crumble and roll tissue paper before glueing it onto their pumpkin. Working the tissue paper will really get those little hands moving and strengthen their fine motor skills.

handprint witch

I understand, the thought of completely covering your child’s hand and then attempting to get a perfect handprint onto paper, without ruining your kids and your own clothes or even better getting paint all over their hair is a bit daunting. But hear me out.. Now that my daughter is almost five, I love having her handprint crafts from previous years to see how much she really has grown. It is SO worth it! Long story short, grab some finger-paints, colored paper and a sharpie and enjoy making these adorable witch handprints. And if your not quite ready for paint yet, just trace your kid’s hand on card stock, cut it out and then proceed as described in the link above. You may also want to check out these large finger ink pads that make handprint crafts a lot easier.

Easy ghost craft

This is yet another very simple Halloween craft suitable for even young toddlers. Your kids will use a pom pom dipped in white paint to fill a ghost shape. To minimize the mess you use clothing pins attached to the pom poms so your children can hold them without getting their hands all covered in paint. Not only is this activity very easy but your kids will also love it. I have never met a child who doesn’t get excited when they see pom poms.

no mess pumpkin art

For this craft you will put a pumpkin cutout (template available through the link above) into a large freezer zip log bag, add some yellow and red paint and seal everything very well. Your children will then use their fingers to move the paint around inside the bag mixing and spreading it all over the pumpkin without every touching any paint. Its the ultimate solution if you prefer mess free crafts. One tip, you should try it out too! Spreading and squishing the paint in the bag is actually quite relaxing.

pumpkin painting craft

We couldn’t talk about Halloween crafts without including a craft using real pumpkins/ gourds. Grab some small pumpkins, a couple of paints and brushes and get started. If you want to keep the pumpkins as keepsakes or reuse them to decorate the following year you can use fake pumpkins, such as these ones I found on Amazon. Another tip: when using real pumpkins, have your kids ‘clean’ them first with some water and small sponges to add another Halloween activity to your day. 

Ghost windsock toilet paper roll craft

I, personally love a good toilet paper roll craft. It is always great when we get to reuse items that would usually jus get thrown away. So next time you finish a toilet paper roll, safe the paper roll and turn it into a cute ghost windsock. Younger toddlers will require more help with this activity but I am certain they will love watching the ghosts dance in the wind when they are done and hung up.