Halloween Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Halloween is a super fun time to learn with little ones. Pumpkins, costumes, silly monsters, spiders, ghosts...there are so many easy ways to take the things kids already love about October and turn them into hands-on learning!
These Halloween activities for toddlers and preschoolers were created to help 2, 3, and 4 year olds practice important early learning skills through play and interaction.
No complicated lesson plans. No sitting at a table doing worksheets.
Just simple, hands-on activities you can pull out all month long at home, in your preschool classroom, or during your homeschool preschool time.
Hands-On Halloween Preschool Activities
This resource includes over 20 Halloween and pumpkin-themed activities designed around important preschool skills.
You can use many of the activities as traditional learning centers OR toss the pieces into a sensory bin to make practicing the same skill feel completely different and more like play.
And because little learners are all at different places developmentally, many of the activities can easily be simplified or made more challenging, depending on what your child needs.
Halloween Letter Activities
Toddlers and preschoolers can practice:
Uppercase letter matching
Lowercase letter matching
Uppercase and lowercase letter matching
Letter identification
Beginning sounds
These are easy activities to add to your homeschool preschool routine, literacy centers, morning bins, or sensory tables.
Halloween Counting + Number Activities
Numbers are WAY more fun when pumpkins and Halloween characters are involved. 😉 Bust out the candy corn and they’re sure to be HIGHLY engaged!
The math activities give little learners hands-on practice with:
Number recognition
Counting
Number matching
Number words
One-to-one correspondence
Add mini erasers, play dough, pom-poms or another favorite manipulative to sneak even more fine motor practice into your math time.
Colors, Shapes + Early Preschool Skills
Not every preschool activity needs to focus on letters and numbers. Fine motor skills are equally important for your learners.
Some of the most important learning happening at this age is learning to notice, compare, sort and describe the world around them.
Kids will practice skills like:
Colors
Shapes
Big and little
Same and different
Opposites
Sequencing
Matching
Emotions
Words vs. pictures
Fine Motor + Play Dough Activities
Those tiny hands need LOTS of opportunities to pinch, roll, trace, grab, build and play before they're expected to write.
You'll find Halloween-themed tracing and play dough activities that let kids strengthen those little hand muscles while they're learning.
And honestly? They just think they're playing….exactly how preschool should feel.
And THEN…turn them into Halloween Sensory Bins!
One of my favorite things about these activities is how SIMPLY you can turn them into sensory bins.
Add shredded paper, dry pasta, pom-poms or another simple sensory filler to a bin. Toss in the activity cards. Add kid-friendly tweezers, scoops or tongs if you have them.
DONE.
Same learning activity. Brand-new experience. WAY more playing and engagement.
More Halloween Fun for Preschoolers
I wanted this resource to give you more than printable centers, so you'll also find ideas for bringing a little extra Halloween fun into your preschool days!
There are ideas for:
Fine motor activities
Gross motor activities
Halloween and pumpkin snacks
Halloween and pumpkin books
Songs and videos
A scavenger hunt
Halloween vocabulary
You absolutely don't have to do it all.
Pick what works for YOUR little learner, skip what doesn't, and have fun learning together!
An Entire Month of Halloween Preschool Learning
Whether you're homeschooling your preschooler, planning October centers for your classroom, or just looking for fun Halloween activities to do with your toddler at home, you can pull from this resource again and again throughout the month.
Choose a few activities each week.
Put one into a sensory bin.
Leave another one at the table with some play dough.
Read a pumpkin book.
Go on a scavenger hunt.
That's preschool. ❤️
Simple activities. Lots of play. Lots of conversation. And lots of little opportunities to learn along the way.
Grab the Halloween Preschool Activities
Want all of the activities ready to print and use?
And if you love learning like this, you can also grab the Toddler + Preschool Activities Yearlong Bundle and have hands-on themed learning activities ready to go throughout the year.
Cheering you on,
