Celebrate Halloween with these outdoor party games for kids

Along with trick-or-treating, kids can also have a fabulous time on Halloween playing hauntingly fun outdoor games.

A lot of the traditional fun outdoor games for kids can be adjusted and turned into a Halloween-themed outdoor adventure for them.

Check out these five games that will give your kids a thrill on the spookiest evening of the year:

1) Skeleton hunt

The first thing you’ll need to do is take apart two sets of plastic skeleton bones. Next, hide the plastic bones in clever places around your outdoor play area. When it’s time to play, divide the children into two teams.

The first team that locates and reassembles their skeleton wins the skeleton hunt.

It’s a fun game that will teach kids how to work as a team while enhancing their puzzle-solving skills.

2) Hide the pumpkins

Hide a bunch of small plastic pumpkins in cool places around your backyard. Give kids a set amount of time to gather as many pumpkins as possible. The kid who collects the most pumpkins can be rewarded with a special treat. It’s a great activity for teaching kids how to compete in a healthy environment.

3) Scarecrow contest

Provide scarecrow making items like old clothes, straw, hats, shoes and pumpkins for each team. Divide the kids into teams, and give the players about 25 minutes to build a scarecrow. Hand out awards for the best, silliest and scariest scarecrow. Building a scarecrow is a fun activity that will allow the kids to showcase their creative side.

4) Halloween balloon burst

Divide kids into teams. One team will tie orange balloons around their ankles, and the other team will tie black balloons around their ankles. When you yell “go,” both teams have to try to keep their balloons “alive” as the other team tries to pop them. When a balloon is popped, the person who is wearing it is out.

The team with the last remaining unpopped balloons wins the game.

Not only is this game fun, it’s a great hand-eye coordination activity for kids.

5) Pumpkin golf

You’ll need a couple of jack-o-lanterns with extra-large carved out mouths to play pumpkin golf. Place the pumpkins on bricks, and lean a piece of sturdy cardboard below the mouth, which will be the ramp leading to it. You can also place a few bricks under the ramp to give it extra support. Divide the kids into teams. The players will use plastic golf clubs to hit balls into the pumpkin’s mouth. The first team to reach 10 points will win a prize. This game will also sharpen a kids’ concentration and hand-eye coordination skills.

Get creative, and add a fun Halloween twist to your kid’s favourite play equipment or outdoor party games.

Playing spooky-themed games is the perfect way to keep your kids entertained on Halloween.

Do you have any other fun games to add to this list? Please share in the comments below.

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26 Comments

- - Frankiielot said
  - 02 Oct 2022
    7:32 pm
Some great ideas but unfortunately the kids at our party are way too young to play these games.

- - meedee said
  - 10 Dec 2021
    1:30 pm
These will be great if you have a childs birthday party around halloween

- - mom81879 said
  - 27 Nov 2019
    10:10 am
These look like a lot of fun. We don’t celebrate or acknowledge Halloween though

- - mom134803 said
  - 30 Oct 2016
    1:56 am
We don’t celebrate Halloween, but these are great idea’s for birthday party’s as well !

- - ella12 said
  - 13 Sep 2016
    4:36 pm
Lots of fun to be had here.

- - Melissa89 said
  - 29 Jul 2016
    11:11 am
I haven’t heard of any of these before, very creative

- - june11 said
  - 15 Feb 2016
    9:26 am
If you are going to put them on the dirt, please make sure they wash their hands thoroughly……and what they pick up. Friends of mine had rats in their garden which they weren’t aware of until afterwards. Apparently there is a virus that comes from rats when they use the dirt as their toilet. Humans can catch it and effects your liver. It can make you quite ill. A friend of ours did this with Easter Eggs, but not on the dirt. You could also use knuckle bones instead of skeletons. It would be used as a Birthday or Christmas Party Game.

- - mom81879 said
  - 10 Nov 2015
    11:04 am
We don’t do Halloween. Don’t we have enough Americanisms here already? Someone please invent a new Aussie tradition…….but great tips here for those that do want to celebrate the day.

- - mom94378 said
  - 06 Nov 2015
    9:55 pm
Some great games here to create a load of laughs.

- - mom103920 said
  - 03 Nov 2015
    12:03 am
Gosh, I’ve never thought of Halloween in this way. We live too far out of town to think about Trick or Treating. I love your idea of dressing a scarecrow and pumpkin golf. Our Halloween fun is usually confined to decorating a cake and cupcakes for the occasion, sometimes a bit of face paint and dress up, and watching a family “spooky” movie. This year it was good old “Casper”.

- - mom153507 said
  - 01 Nov 2015
    10:54 pm
I don’t have any other games to add but these are fantastic!
We did have a lolly hunt & a costume competition but next year I will be trying these games.

- - Missey Grace said
  - 31 Oct 2015
    8:38 pm
No I can’t think of anything, but these suggestions are really great.

- - Melanie said
  - 31 Oct 2015
    2:49 pm
I love these games! I’ve never had a Halloween party, but I will save this for the future.

- - mom94125 said
  - 31 Oct 2015
    1:57 pm
the ideas are pretty good. certainly a good way to make halloween more fun. hope everyone enjoys their halloween tonight.

- - 4littlemunchkins said
  - 30 Oct 2015
    9:47 pm
These seem like a lot of fun and are great ideas for a Halloween party.

- - mom101628 said
  - 30 Oct 2015
    9:09 pm
These games could be used at any party. Thanks for the tips.

- - mom112217 said
  - 30 Oct 2015
    9:08 pm
Halloween is all about fun,great ideas to enjoy!
- mom93821 replied
  
  14 Nov 2015 , 7:05 pm
  Exactly! Fun and games regardless of the origin of Halloween!
- - Mum of 5 darlings :) said
  - 30 Oct 2015
    8:54 pm
Being a Mum of 5 this article will come in very handy

- - mom93821 said
  - 30 Oct 2015
    1:50 pm
Awesome ideas for a Halloween party – hours of fun! Thank you for sharing your games.

- - hopefullyheidi said
  - 30 Oct 2015
    7:50 am
Although I don’t celebrate Halloween there are some fantastic ideas here