7 screen-free Halloween activities to do at home with 3-6 year olds

Hi, it's me. Céleste.

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. Which means: a three-day weekend to keep children occupied who have eaten too much candy since Friday night and are begging for the tablet every 20 minutes. Joy.

So here are 7 activities I've personally tested (figuratively speaking — I'm a magnet, I don't test much). They work. They keep kids busy. They put the iPad back in the drawer.

1. Make a costume with what's in the closet

Open the closet. Take out an old black shirt, a white sheet, an old orange sweater. Let your child dig, try things on, and mix and match. An improvised ghost with two holes in a sheet will have much more impact than a €39 Temu costume that scratches the neck. Bonus: the pride of "I made this all by myself." That’s worth gold at 4 years old.

2. Organize a "monster" scavenger hunt

Hide 10 small paper monsters (drawn in a hurry, or printed from Pinterest) all over the house. Flashlight for the child, small pouch for collecting. Occupation guaranteed: between 20 and 45 minutes depending on the age. Each monster found earns a candy. You will be the best parent in the world for 30 minutes.

An even more fun variant: hide the magnets from our BOUH! Halloween game directly — the witch behind a cushion, the pumpkin in the cutlery drawer, the bat under the rug, the ghost in the laundry basket. For each character found, stick it on the fridge and gradually assemble the little gang of monsters. End of the game: everyone is reunited, ready for the party.

3. Decorate windows and the fridge without painting

Painting is nice, but it gets messy. And you're the one who ends up cleaning it.

Alternative #1: draw directly on windows with STABILO Woody 3 in 1 pencils. They are our favorite — they write on glass, metal, whiteboards, tiles, just about everything. A child draws pumpkins, spider webs, bats… and the next day, you wipe it off with a damp cloth. Nothing to scrub, nothing to throw away, everything is reusable for Christmas, then for Candlemas, then for spring.

Alternative #2: our magnetic Halloween game, which goes on the fridge and is tidied away in 3 seconds after the party. Zero traces. Zero stress. You're welcome.

4. Sculpt (or draw) your pumpkin

A real pumpkin is great, but there's the knife. Reserved for the big kids.

For 3-4 year olds, take out a small pumpkin and give them a permanent marker. They can draw the eyes, the mouth, a mustache if the inspiration strikes. For 5-6 year olds, you can sculpt together with a plastic tool. And the next day, you can eat it in a soup. Total recycling.

5. Cook an Halloween recipe

Two easy ideas, doable even at 3 years old:

• Witch fingers: shortbread cookies shaped like a finger, an almond for the fingernail, a bit of red jam at the base. Guaranteed effect (disgusting, but guaranteed).
• Sausage mummies: puff pastry cut into strips wrapped around a hot dog. Two dots of mustard for the eyes. It makes them laugh, and it’s eaten in 2 minutes.

Easy. Ugly. Funny. Everything you need for Halloween.

6. Tell "slightly scary" stories in a fort

Turn off the lights. Build a fort in the living room with a sheet and two chairs. Flashlight under the chin (essential for the effect). Tell a ghost story — yours or one from a book. Whisper. The more you whisper, the stronger the effect. Children love to be a little scared. But just a little. In a setting where they feel completely safe (snuggled up against you, in a fort, in pajamas).

7. Play with a magnetic game to calm down

When the kids are tired but not yet in bed, you need a quiet game that keeps them occupied without a screen. Bingo.

Our BOUH! The Magic of Halloween magnetic game does exactly that: 13 magnets to dress the little mouse (me) as a pumpkin, vampire, witch, ghost, or skeleton. They invent dozens of outfits, in silence, flat on the rug or stuck on the fridge. You pour yourself a drink. You’ve earned it.

Bonus: the 3 activities to avoid (trust me)

• Floor painting. Once. Never twice.
• Slime. It looks fun on TikTok. It ends up in their hair. And on the sofa.
• Full face makeup at 3 years old. It dries in 2 minutes, it stings their eyes, it stains the pajamas. No.

A final word

Halloween at home is not any less fun than a trick-or-treating outing with the whole class. It’s often even better — because you are the one building the party. Test, fail, try again. Children won't remember the perfection. They will remember laughing, being a little scared with you, and eating a sausage mummy.

Over to you.

Céleste 🐭
(and Amandine, who finally cleaned up the slime)

Photo credit: @mostlymosi