by Paula Mitchell-Bentley

Created on: January 19, 2009

Halloween is the time of year when ghosts and goblins hide behind every corner. Sometimes, it is all a little too scary for kids. This is especially true with younger kids. If you look at Halloween from their point of view, you'd probably be really freaked out too! Kids have such a thin line between what is real and what is not real so "pretending" to be a ghost might just get a little too close to the edge of the line for them.

Luckily, there are many non scary Halloween traditions for kids too. Try having a Halloween party at home with friends instead of going to a haunted house or other scary activity. You can line up all kinds of non scary games for them. Here's a few ideas to get you started.

Bob for Apples

Fill a large bucket 3/4 of the way full and fill with apples. Have the kids take turns trying to get an apple from the bucket using only their mouth. Their hands must stay behind their backs at all times. This game is not only non scary, it's got a healthy reward (apple) as the prize!

Pin the Face on the Pumpkin

This is essentially the pin the tail on the donkey game changed up for the holiday. You can give each child a piece of the jack-o-lantern's face to pin on while blind folded. They'll get a big kick out of the results of everyone's tries.

Best Costume Contest

Have a panel of adult judges decide which costume is the best and give them a prize for it. Make sure that all of the kids get a prize and praise for the hard work that they put into their costumes. You could even give each of them a winning ribbon by putting everyone in different categories like "Costume with the most fur" or "Longest Tail award", etc.

Musical chairs

Musical chairs is always a great party game for kids. The bulky costumes might make this game especially tricky or really funny, depending on how you look at it.

Duck, Duck, Goose (Or Pumpkin!)

Have all the kids sit in a big circle on the floor. Whoever is it goes around the circle touching each head in turn saying duck. When whoever is it gets to who they want to tag, they could yell out "Pumpkin!". This indicates that the child has to get up and run around the circle back to their spot. Whoever makes it back to the spot last is the next person to be it.

There are lots of fun and easy ways to make Halloween a less scary time for kids who are sensitive to being scared. I hope that you've found some ideas here that will help!

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