Creative Halloween Treats & Fall Activities for Preschoolers & Toddlers

Festivities may feel different this year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate this pumpkin-lovin’ period, a season that traditionally inspires a ton of great at-home activities. We reached out to our community of caregivers, teachers, creatives, and sensory play pros to find you some fresh ideas for fall fun with your littles! And they delivered! 

Check out this stellar lineup of Halloween and fall-inspired recipes, DIY crafts, and sensory play activities:  

Halloween Treats & Fall Recipes

Healthier Chocolate Cookies

When she’s not designing ethical and luxurious occasion-wear for moms and daughters, @me.and.maevegrace is cooking up imaginative recipes like this healthy spin on googly-eyed Halloween cookies! 

I wanted to make these Halloween recipes as easy and as healthy as possible. I don't mind Maeve having treats, but I want them to not have loads of butter, refined sugars, and other nasties. This is easily Maeve's favourite Halloween recipe this year!

Find her quick summary below, then head over to her fabulous blog for the full recipe (+ a snazzy printable version!) and detailed ways you can incorporate sensory development while making these festive cookies with littles!

𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦:

🍪 2/3 cup coconut sugar

🍪 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

🍪 1 cup of nut butter

🍪 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder

🍪 1 teaspoon flax seed (optional)

🍪 1 teaspoon chia seeds (optional)

🍪 1 teaspoon baking soda

🍪 1 free-range egg (large)

🍪 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗢𝗗

1. Beat together the nut butter, coconut sugar, and vanilla extract until combined (don't overbeat).
2. Add in the cocoa powder, baking soda, and flax; chia seeds if using. Mix together. Again, only until just combined.
3. Add the chocolate chips and mix together by hand.
4. Roll into balls and place onto the prepared baking trays.
5. Place into the oven and bake for 6 minutes only!
6. Let them cool and then press eyes in
7. Enjoy and please tag us in any pictures - it really helps a small brand like mine! Plus, it gives you a chance to be featured on our (ME & MAEVE GRACE ™) page!!!

Candy Corn Snack Hack

Chelsea of @cherryredchels is a community-driven lifestyle blogger with two treat-loving littles. “So, my kiddos are very picky eaters, but they love when we try "new" sweet treats or snacks.” With a few exceptions, “They are not very fond of candycorn!” Arguably one of the most iconic candies associated with Halloween, inspired by @miriam.gin’s original idea (find Miriam’s blog here), she found a cool way to recreate the striped fall treat with colors and all!

Get the full recipe and Chelsea’s instructions for making this cool candy corn spin-off and other fun and festive ideas here!

Unique Halloween Crafts & Sensory Play Ideas

Witch’s Broomstick Fine Motor Activity

Mandisa of @happytoddlerplaytime is an MBA/CPA turned creative SAHM of 3 and an early childhood education advocate devoted to creating activities that inspire a passion for learning in littles. We loved her Witch’s Broomstick idea using only pony beads, pipe cleaners, and construction paper. Not only is the end product cute, but this activity is also a great way to improve math and fine motor skills!

Get a step-by-step breakdown in pictures and things to talk about while making these. Plus, 50 more (yes, 50!) creative Halloween ideas here.

Spider Pom-Pom Push 🕷 & Pumpkin Threading

Laura of @inspiremyplay is a teacher and mom of three equipping parents with activities to make the early years fun, creative, and enriching for kids. We thought her pumpkin threading and pom-pom push ideas were such neat ways to develop motor skills, work on color recognition, and get littles to explore new shapes:

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A post shared by Laura | Creative Play (@inspiremyplay) on Oct 13, 2020 at 12:05pm PDT

I used a craft knife to create a few holes on a box lid, coloured around the holes with paint pens and turned them into spiders! Miss 2 loves any posting activity and is just getting to grips with identifying and naming colours so this was perfect for her. 🌈

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PUMPKIN THREADING . Here’s a simple activity I did with Miss 2 today that’s great for working on fine motor skills and makes a cute little pumpkin at the same time! . To be honest, I wasn’t sure how she’d get on with this so we started easy and gradually added more challenge. . First up was a pasta pumpkin. As the holes are quite big this is a good place to begin if you’re just starting out. I have a bag of pasta that I’ve coloured with paint for activities like this and it lasts for ages. . We then moved on to chunky beads that had a decent sized hole and as she was fine with these we also made a pumpkin using little beads too. . These are all threaded onto orange pipe cleaners. As well as helping form the pumpkin shape, pipe cleaners are generally easier for little ones to handle as they are more rigid than string. So if you have a little one struggling with threading onto string do try a pipe cleaner instead. . To make the pumpkin I twisted the two ends of the pipe cleaner together and fastened a mini peg onto them with a bit of curling ribbon. The mini pegs were from @flyingtiger earlier in the year. . It goes without saying but this activity needs close supervision as beads are a choking hazard 👀  

Candy Monsters & Cardboard Ghosts

Molly of @littleoneslearn creates engaging themed printable activity packs for toddler, preschool, and kindergarten-aged littles. She shared two of her newest Halloween activities perfect for caregivers looking for easy fall craft and creative play ideas you can do with a few treats and everyday household items:

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CANDY MONSTERS 👻🎃 Because we can’t stop playing with candy corn and boy do they make the perfect monster horns 😊🤩 Bookmark this one for later - it was super entertaining for my boys.👌••••••••• Setup is easy! Draw quick monster outlines on a large sheet of paper for your little ones to complete with their candy corn + glue! •••••• We used them to make arms, legs, hair, pointy teeth and horns on our adorable (spooky) monsters! Will you try this at home with your little ones?! Let me know and share with a momma friend in comments below 🥰👇🎃 .

A post shared by Molly | Little Ones Learn (@littleoneslearn) on Oct 15, 2020 at 8:43am PDT

My boys loved creating their own textured, “spooky Halloween ghosts” and are excited to hang them on the front door for some festive decor. 😜

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👻CARDBOARD GHOSTS A Spooky Invitation to Create 👻 These ghosts were such an easy shape to cut from a cereal (or other thin cardboard) box. The cardboard makes the perfect base for this textured art project and they look cute no matter what shape you make them. 😆👻✂️ Set out your cardboard ghost characters with art supplies and paint or glue for your littles to use to create! We used white paint, cotton balls and tissue paper squares + some googley eyes. White paper scraps or pom poms would be fun as well! •••••• My boys loved creating their own textured, “spooky Halloween ghosts” and are excited to hang them on front door for some festive decor. 😜 Share with a momma friend who you’d love a Halloween playdate with in comments today👇 and let me know if you’ll set up a similar invitation to create for your littles at home! 

A post shared by Molly | Little Ones Learn (@littleoneslearn) on Oct 14, 2020 at 10:36am PDT

Looking for more seasonal recipes? Check out these Crowd-Pleasing Recipes That Smell Like Fall.