This year Halloween will look a little different for most of us. Instead of going trick or treating we might be spending more time at home with our family. Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you have to skip Halloween. We’ve come up with a few ways to get you into the spooky season spirit. 

Try these 5 activities to celebrate Halloween at home or from your backyard!

Play Backyard Games

Grab some orange safety cones and paint them so they look like candy corn. Since they’re already orange, you just need white and yellow paint. Paint the cones and let dry. Then grab some rings — pool rings, rope rings, whatever kind of rings you’ve got work — and play ring toss. Put them at different distances in your yard and assign different cones different points. You can play first person to any number or just play until you’re bored. 

Check out Happy Camper Live for other fun outdoor activities. 

 

Make Slime

Slime is sticky and oozy and a little creepy too, making it perfect for Halloween fun. It’s a good sensory activity for kids of all ages. Pick up food dye in Halloween colors like orange, purple, green and black. You can even add glitter to it for some extra fun. 

Once you make the slime, it’s time to play with it! Hide Halloween toys like plastic bugs or bats in the slime and then take turns searching them out.

Visit our Eco Science Camp for videos on how to make magnetic slime or fluffy snow slime.

 

Carve Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins is a fun family friendly activity to do at home. It’s a traditional Halloween activity that allows kids to be creative and get their hands messy.

Draw or trace a pattern onto your pumpkin using a thick marker you can see. Cut the top of the pumpkin off and scoop out all of the seeds and goop inside. Then grab your carving tools and cut out the pattern you drew, making sure you cut on the lines so they don’t show when you’re done.

Put flameless LED light candles in your finished pumpkin and put the top back on. Place them around your yard, porch or home to add a spooky effect.

 

Paint Spooky Rocks

This is an easy way to spread spooky Halloween cheer. Paint rocks to look like zombies, spiders, bats, skeletons and monsters. Once the rocks are dry you can put them around your neighborhood to share some of the Halloween spirit with your friends and neighbors. Just make sure you don’t put them where someone could trip on them. All you need for this activity is paint and a paintbrush. You can find some smooth rocks outside. Look for a variety of sizes. 

Camper Matt shows you how to bring your pet rock to life through painting in our Painting Camp video.

 

Make A Costume

Even if trick or treating is canceled this year, there’s nothing to prevent you from making and wearing an awesome costume that you can keep in your collection for years to come.

A superhero is an easy costume you can customize to match your personal style and colors. Grab fabric in whatever color you choose and cut out a cape. Decorate it and sew on straps to tie around your neck, or get fancy and add Velcro to the straps. Sew yourself an eye mask and your identity will be protected. Other activities you could do while wearing your superhero costume at home include drawing your own comic book featuring your adventures, saving your parents from having to do the dishes and helping your siblings with their costumes. 

Some other easy costume ideas include: witches, ghosts and monsters, animals, decades outfits. Pull out your sewing machine, scissors and fabric and get to creating something fabulous. Happy Camper Live’s Sewing Camp will teach you all the basics of sewing, and you can use the power of the internet to help you with specific questions.  

If sewing isn’t your thing, you can make a lot of costumes using hot glue, just take proper precautions to avoid a burn!
Have a spooky fun Halloween and share your activities to the Campfire!