Halloween is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate and do activities for, but let’s be honest, toddlers can get scared easily. This doesn’t mean they have to miss out on the fun! they can have not-so-scary Halloween-themed activities.
Here is a collection of Halloween activities I did this year with my two year old.
I loved doing them because for the first time Manu knew exactly what we were talking about. He had a concept of what Halloween was so adding each of the elements of Halloween into activities made it extra fun.
How do I introduce my toddler to Halloween?
When I first knew that Halloween was coming on this year I got prepared! I wanted to introduce this concept in a fun way.
Introduce your toddler to hallooween with
- Halloween Books
- Halloween Songs
- Halloween Movies and Shows
- Halloween Activities
Right before October hit, I got a few top-rated Halloween books (Amazon list) featuring pumpkins, bats, costumes, and all things Halloween. Nothing scary or concepts to hard to grasp at this age.
We also found a few shows on Youtube and PBS featuring this Holiday. We love the Halloween song from Blippi, we saw a Peppa Pig Halloween episode that featured carving a pumpkin and making a Jack-O-lantern, but what really brought the whole thing together was the Curius George BooFest Movie (available on Amazon). I mean I have watched that movie about 15 times already.
Halloween activities for Two Year Olds
And of course, the part where I have enjoyed the most is with some Halloween-themed activities. Here are the 12 activities we have done so far.
#1 Melted pumpkin goop
Making Oobleck or goop is one of our favorite sensory activities. I don’t do it often because it can get very messy! (Manu get’s too excited)
Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid; it has properties of both liquids and solids. You can slowly dip your hand into it like a liquid, but if you squeeze the oobleck or punch it, it will feel solid.
This activity was set up using cornstarch and water with orange food coloring. I also used a pumpkin decorating kit to present the activity. It was a melted pumpkin after all! To enhance the activity, you can make it smell like pumpkin spice by sprinkling some of pumpkin spice over it.
Learn how to set up this Melted Pumpkin Sensory Bin
#2 Ghost slime
Slime is another super fun activity to do with two year olds. I always advise to use fluffly slime as it is easier to handle than thinner more loose type of slime. I made a batch of white fluffy slime and provided Manu with a few googly eyes to create ghosts monsters.
We had an awesome time hiding the eyes into the slime and then stretching it out to find them. Do not get the self-adhesive googly eyes, get the regular ones instead.
#3 Witches Brew
Ok! who doesn’t like to make potions! Although Manu doesn’t really graps what a witch is (and I haven’t introduced it yet) we still had fun making these potions.
I feel toddlers are too realistic and can’t differentiate from fantasy to real life so I’m holding off from introducing the witches for now. Instead, I focused on working and mixing colors, pouring vinegar (mixed with water to make it last longer) onto the caulders fill with baking soda.
Learn how to set up this witches brew experiment here.
Did you know you can do science experiments like this with your two years old? Check out these 9 experiments that are totally awesome!
#4 Spider playdough
Playdough is essential for toddlers to develop fine motor skills and strengthen their hands. This activity was all about spiders. I created both of our softest play dough recipes, divided it in two, and added black food coloring to the second part to create two-color playdough.
With the white Playdough I created a spider web and with the black playdough I created created two balls that together we can build a spider. I added a toy spider to reference when building our spider, and some straws and pipe cleaners to create the legs. Oh and lots of googly eyes!
This activity was part of a full week of Itsy Bitsy Spider activities we did to learn about our favorite spider! check out the Itsy Bitsy Spider Lesson Plan
#5 Ghost felt Craft
Let’s be honest, crafts are a new to this age group. They can definitely start doing them now and can hold their attention to do some of them but they still need to do quick crafts with instant gratification.
Make this felt craft ghost using some styrofoam, pipe cleaner and self-adhesive googly eyes. This quick craft can be used as a toy after and does not use any glue. (But I do advise to glue the eyes with hot glue because our ghosts are down to one eye)
Learn how to make this ghost felt crafts with the step by step, tips and tricks tutorial here
#6 Glow in the dark Skeleton bottle
I remember as a child how much fun glow in the dark products were! It was magical, mesmerizing, and just fun! They still are! I loved it when we did the glow in the dark bouncy balls (Tutorial on our Youtube channel here)
What I love about this sensory bottle is that he did it almost completely on his own. He poured the gel into the mason jar, added the food coloring and mixed it around. What he had the most fun, was placing the glow in the dark skeleton hands in the bottle.
What I liked the most? was watching him be amazed how the color green got bright and he could still see the hands while in the dark. It’s awesome to see their little brains creating new connections and learning new things.
Get the step by step tutorial and tips here
#7 Spooky spider sensory bottle
Keeping with the sensory bottle theme, I absolutely love this spooky spider sensory bottle. Tip the bottle upside down and watch the spider crawl. It is so much fun!
Sensory bottles are a great tool for toddlers to encourage vocabulary and be a tool for calming down those terrible two’s emotions that come along with being a toddler.
Spooky spider Halloween sensory bottle Learn how to make the perfect spooky sensory bottle here
#8 Spider basket
Hiding some spiders in a DIY spiderweb is a great game! this is perfect if you have kids of different ages.- even babies! they all can take advantage of this activity.
Get the full tutorial and tips to make the best of this activity as well as to customize your basket for different age groups.
#9 Pumpkin spice playdough
Again, playdough is fun and works on fine motor skills, but this pumpkin spice playdough also works with the sense of smell! Use our recipe to create this seasonal playdough and use pumpkin cookie cutters to create different size pumpkins.
Because at two years old it is great to work on scissor skills, we also used non-sharped scissors to practice.
Click Hre and Get The Easy Pumpkin Spice Playdough Recipe (no-cook) for Fall
#10 Halloween slime
This Halloween is very thin and bright. Because if this, I advise to do a very small batch to keep it more manageable. I used the cauldron as our focus game for this slime and some monster eyes.
As you can see the slime did stick a little to his arm, I then learned that you can use more liquid start to avoid this. I’ll have been adding some extra and it has improved a lot.
Mom tip: I now give him some liquid starch to rub on his hands when playing and this avoids the slime to stick. (I should have him cover his arms with it lol)
Get the tutorial to make this Witches Brew Halloween Slime
#11 Halloween stamps
Cookie cutters are one of my favorite tools to use when doing painting projects. Last year we did this exact activity using Christmas cookie cutters and red and green paint to make Holiday wrapping paper.
Well, this year, we are doing this fun activity for Halloween. Using our regular paint pallet, we added a dab of brown to our paints to create fall colors. We made a gorgeous fall pallet to and had fun stamping Halloween activities using our moon, ghost and pumpkin cookie cutters.
Remember, art at this age is more about the exploration of different materials, creating new colors and exploring the art of creativity.
Check out my favorite art supplies for two year old toddlers
#12 Pumpkin paper plate craft
One thing I have realized is that Manu (currently 2.5 years old) can really handle simple crafts using paper plates. Paper plate activities are quick, they have clear steps and most important simple ones.
To create a pumpkin craft, we started by stamping orange paint all over the paper plate. I have him different sponge brushes options and he chose the larger one.
The second step was to cut up 3 triangles and a U shape. I kept the shapes simple and familiar to what we have been working on (learning shapes). Of course, he didn’t cut the triangles are the U shape exactly, but it gave him a visual guide to follow. It gave him a goal. The U shape actually ripped as I was trying to hold the paper and he was trying to cut it.
Third and final step was to glue the face pieces. I think creating a guide like the one I drew on the black paper it would have helped guide where the glue was supposed to go. But , we used what he did (and squeezing the bottle is part of development of fine motor skills so let them do that… don’t do it for them)
Once he pour the glue (and I had to tell him he had enough) we placed the triangles and mouth to create a jack-o-lantern design.
He was so proud! he did it all by himself and he even wanted a photo! Oh and he did ran to dad to tell him he made him a pumpkin. It was the cutest thing! This was a first for us! Now, I can’t wait until he says he has made something for me 😉
#13 Frozen Shaving Cream Sensory Bin
Looking for a super messy activity? Then this frozen shaving cream Halloween sensory bin is the perfect line for you! you have to do this one! It is so easy to set up and my son spent 40minutes playing!
Use the foam shaving cream and fill up your sensory in tub. I used a small tub as I didn’t want to use the whole bottle!
Add a few drops of food coloring and spread them around using a popsicle stick. Add in your Halloween embellishments and set it overnight in the freezer.
I provided a bin with soapy water during playtime to wash our hands during play. Manu enjoyed seeing the shaving cream blocks dissolve in the water and changing the color of the water.
#15 Ghost Sensory Bin with free Printable
If messy play is not your jam, then this back bean ghost is perfect. Practice transferring skills, pouring and scooping with this bin.
I love this bin because if you have two toilet paper tubes around the ghost printable is all you need! Print, wrap and play!
Check out the post and download the free ghost printable
#16 jack-O-Lantern Sensory Bottle
Are you going trick or treating this year? Make this fun jack-o-lantern and light up your road as you go house to house asking for candy.
To make this sensory bottle all you need is a bottle, duct tape, orange colored rice and glow sticks
Get the Jack-O-Lantern Tutorial
Last Thoughts
Halloween can be scary but it doesn’t have to be. It can also be cute and full of learning opportunities to practice different developmental skills at two years old. Have fun, Get Messy and take photos!
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