30 Awesome Halloween Games for Kids

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and even as my kids are getting older (I can’t believe two of them are high school students – eek!), I’m still finding ways to make the spooky season special. Sometimes this might mean that I’m helping with a Halloween activity for their whole class, I’m decorating the entire house in spider webs, or it might mean that I’m coming up with fun Halloween activities for them to do instead of trick-or-treating.

Kids in costumes at a Halloween party holding carved pumpkins in front of their faces.

If you’re in charge of planning the Halloween party games for the classroom Halloween party, you’re trying to make Halloween fun for older kids or you just want to play some fun Halloween games yourself, I have you covered! These fun games are perfect for kids of all ages (yes, even preschoolers, kids in middle school and even high schoolers)!

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HOW TO PLAY MINUTE TO WIN IT GAMES
OUR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN PARTY GAMES
LOOKING FOR MORE HALLOWEEN INSPIRATION?
LOOKING FOR MROE FUN MINUTE TO WIN IT GAMES?
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HOW TO PLAY MINUTE TO WIN IT GAMES

There are quite a few ways to play Minute to Win It Games, and most of these classic games can be played as minute to win it games. There are a few different ways you can play, and you can adapt each game based on how many party guests you have.

Hand holding stopwatch on blue background

MAN VS CLOCK

If you only have a few players, this is most likely the style you’ll want to play. In this version, one player will be competing individually in an attempt to complete a challenge within a one minute time limit. If they do it, they win a point (more on scoring later). If they don’t, then they get no points.

Players can take turns competing each challenge, or you can have multiple challenges taking place at the same time – with players rotating to a different challenge each round. If you have enough supplies, you can also have several people doing the same challenge at the same time.

This version works really well with classroom parties. You can have supplies for 5 kids to compete at the same time for every game, and have kids rotate from game to game in stations.

FOR TEAMS

When you have a larger group, you may want to divide the group into teams. You can have as many teams as you want. For each game, you can have the team choose one player to compete head-to-head with the other team representatives. For example, one person from each team will be given the game supplies, and they all compete at the same time. The first person to finish the challenge wins for their team. The team that wins the most challenges wins the entire game night.

This is a great way to get everyone involved when you have a larger group and encourages a lot of cheering.

HYBRID OPTION

Our favorite way to play Minute to Win It games is to do a hybrid of the individual and team options. This allows you to play a variety of games, have people compete in pairs and groups and also individually. It also gives everyone a chance to play most (or all) of the games.

For individual games, everyone who completes the challenge in one minute gets a point. For team efforts, anyone on the winning team gets one point. Each individual tallies their own points throughout the party. The individual with the most points at the end of the party wins.

OUR FAVORITE HALLOWEEN PARTY GAMES

Cupcake with green frosting. Candy that looks like witches legs are sticking out of the top. Purple background.

PUMPKIN RELAY

You will need:

One pumpkin for each player (or one per team). This can be a small pumpkin or a large one.
Tape

How to play:
Tape a line at one end of your room to create a finish line. Have players line up at the opposite end of the room. They will roll their pumpkin to the finish line using only their head. The first one to the finish line wins. This also makes a great relay game.

MINUTE TO WIN IT BOO

You will need:

One Halloween Costume
Blindfold

How to play:
Players will compete one at a time. Set timer for 60 seconds. The player must put on the entire Halloween costume while blindfolded. After each person tries, the winner is the person who did it the fastest (or who did it within 60 seconds). You can make this as hard or as easy as you want based on the costume you choose.

TP MUMMIES

You will need:

One roll of toilet paper for each participant

How to play:

Have participants choose a partner. When you say go, they have one roll of toilet paper to wrap their partner from head to toe to become a Halloween mummy. First one finished wins. Partners can then switch places for the other person to become a mummy. You can also use a roll of streamers instead of toilet paper.

KA-BROOM

You will need:

1 broom
1 plastic plate
1 marshmallow
1 large plastic cup
Timer

How to play:

Place the plate at the end of the table so that it’s hanging off. Place a large marshmallow on the side of the plastic plate that is resting on the table. When it is their turn, each player is given a plastic cup and a broom. Using the handle of the broom, the player hits the edge of the plate, flipping the marshmallow into the air. The object of the game is to catch the marshmallow in the plastic cup! Repeat and catch as many marshmallows as possible in the 1 minute allowed! The player that catches the most, wins. If you need an easier version, allow players to flip the plate with their hand instead of a broom handle.

HALLOWEEN CHARADES

Divide your group into two teams. One person from each team acts out a phrase without speaking, while the other members of the team try to guess the phrase. The
objective is for your team to guess the phrase as quickly as possible, typically within one minute.

CHARADES PHRASES

Jack-o-Lantern
Witch on a broom
Trick or treat
Carving pumpkins
Apple bobbing
Boo
Friday the 13th
Scream
Haunted house
Halloween costume
Headless Horseman
Scary stories

Halloween frosted cookies on black background. Ghosts, pumpkins, skeletons and bats

HALLOWEEN PICTIONARY

Divide your group into two teams. One person from each team draws a phrase without speaking, while the other members of the team try to guess what is being drawn. The objective is for your team to guess the phrase as quickly as possible, typically within one minute.

PICTIONARY CLUES

Ghost
Skeleton
Candy
Trick or treat
Flashlight
Scared of the dark
Blood
Graveyard
Shadow
Spiderweb
Pumpkin patch

SKELETON SAYS

You will need:
No supplies needed

How to play:
This game is played just like Simon Says, only it’s called Skeleton Says. One person starts as Skeleton. This person stands at the front of the room and gives commands. If the command starts with SKELETON SAYS, then the players have to perform that
command. If the command DOESN’T start with SKELETON SAYS, then the players should NOT do the command. Anyone who breaks one of these two rules is eliminated from the remainder of the game. The last person still in the game wins
and then becomes Skeleton for the next round.

Sample commands: Jump up and down, touch your toes, bark like a dog, stick out your tongue, etc.

SPELL IT OUT RELAY

You will need:

4 sets of alphabet letters, divided into two baskets (2 full sets per basket)
Halloween-themed words (like pumpkin, candy, witch, etc.)

How to play:

Divide your players into two relay teams. Select one of your Halloween-themed words. One person from each team will run to the basket of alphabet letters and find the first letter of the word. As soon as they find it, they’ll lay it on the ground next to the basket and run back to tag the next person in line. The next person will find the next letter and so on until the entire word is spelled out. The first team to spell out the full word wins.

CANDY STACKER

You will need:

Any type of flat candy.
Tongue depressors or jumbo craft sticks (one per player)

How to play:
Set a timer for one minute. Each player should hold their tongue depressor in their mouth and stack as many pieces of candy on top as possible. If they fall off, they must start over. At the end of one minute, the player with the most candy in a stack wins.

Bats and pumpkins against white backdrop with a post it note that says BOO!

M&M STRAWS

You will need:

Straws (one for each player)
Paper plates (two for each player)
M&Ms

How to play:

Put all of the candy on one plate. Participants must suck an M&M into the bottom of the straw and blow it onto the other plate. Their goal is to move all the M&Ms from one plate to the other in 60 seconds or less. Vary your amount of candy based on the age of the participant.

GLOW STICK SCAVENGER HUNT

You will need:

At least 20 glow sticks (the more the better)
Stopwatch

How to play:

One person hides the glowsticks all throughout the yard or house. Everyone else divides into two teams. When the timer starts, everyone has one minute to find and collect as many glow sticks as possible. When the minute is up, each team counts how many glow sticks they found. The team with the most glow sticks wins.

Hint: Give the game a spooky twist by gluing googly eyes on each glow stick.

WITCHY WADDLE

You will need:

One balloon for each participant. (Ideally these would be black balloons or orange balloons.)

How to play:

Participants line up on one side of the room, blow up their balloon and tie it. They then race to the finish line with their balloon held between their legs (like a witch’s broom). No hands allowed! This also makes a great relay race.

WHERE’S MY CANDY?

You will need:

Metal pie tins or paper plates (one for each player)
Candy corn
Whipped cream (spray cans work best)

How to play:

Place 5 – 10 pieces of candy corn in each pie tin. (Make sure you use the same amount in each tin.) Cover with whipped cream. Each player sits with their hands behind their backs and has to find the candy corn and move them out of the pie tin using only their mouth. The first one to find all of their candy corn wins.

CANDY TOES

You will need:

Two bags of individually wrapped pieces of Halloween candy
Two empty containers

How to play:

Divide players into two teams. In a relay race, each person runs to their team’s container of candy and removes one piece of candy from the container and puts it in the empty container. THEY ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO USE THEIR TOES. They then run back to their team and tag the next person. The first team to move all of their candy from one container to the other wins.

HALLOWEEN WRITE PASS DRAW

You will need:

Pencils (one for each player)
One piece of paper

How to play:
The first player writes a spooky sentence at the top of the paper and passes it to the person on their right. That person draws the spooky sentence and folds the paper down so that the sentence is hidden and only the picture can be seen. The paper is passed to the right and the third person must write a sentence describing the spooky drawing. They then fold the paper down to cover the drawing so only the sentence they wrote is visible, and they pass it to the right. This continues until the piece of paper is back where it started. There is no winner, but there are sure to be lots of laughs.

Halloween frosted cookies on a plate. Includes pumpkins, spiders, mummies and dracula.

CHOCOLATE CHALLENGE

You will need:

One mini candy bar per person

How to play:

How to play:
Unwrap the chocolate bar and place it on your forehead. Using only your face, move the chocolate bar from your forehead and into your mouth. The player who does it first, wins. If the chocolate bar falls off your face, you must start over with it on your forehead.

JACK-O-LANTERN SHOOT OUT

You will need:

Carved pumpkins (as many as you want)
Candles (one for each pumpkin)
Matches
Squirt gun

How to play:

Light the candle in each pumpkin. Players will participate one at a time. Set a timer for one minute. Players will shoot out the flames using a squirt gun. Players receive one point for each candle that is no longer lit when the minute is up. Make it harder by adjusting the distance from the pumpkins or by blindfolding participants.

Note: A fun way to turn this game into an entire Halloween party is to have the kids come over for pumpkin carving first. After they’ve carved their pumpkins, then they can play this game with their finished results and have a great time!

LOOKING FOR MORE HALLOWEEN INSPIRATION?

You’re in the right place! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, and I love to decorate, create costumes and host parties! Click the links below for more Halloween tips and ideas.