When hosting a Halloween party for kids, age-appropriate outdoor Halloween party games can add to the fun. In addition to providing structured activities for the children, which can help prevent chaos, outdoor party games will decrease your clean-up time and make your party one that the children will remember fondly.

Bobbing for Apples

Bobbing for apples is a traditional outdoor Halloween game. Fill a large bucket with apples, and instruct the children to put their hands behind their back. Encourage the children to get an apple out of the bucket by biting it and lifting it up. The bucket can be placed on the ground or on a table, depending on the height of the children. If placed on the ground, the child can kneel while bobbing for apples. Since some parents may have concerns about how sanitary this procedure is because multiple children are bobbing for apples in the same bucket, an alternative can be to place one apple in the bucket and clean out the water after each child bobs for an apple.

Hide the Pumpkins

Since most backyards have lots of great hiding places, hiding the pumpkins is a suitable Halloween game for playing outdoors. Purchase small plastic pumpkins, or cut out small pumpkin shapes from orange construction paper, and hide them all over the backyard. Give the children a set amount of time to collect all the pumpkins they can find. Allow the child who collects the most pumpkins to help hide the pumpkins for the next round, or reward him with a small candy prize.

Freeze Dance

Freeze dance is musical game that can be played outdoors. Playing freeze dance outdoors in a large open space gives the children enough room so that they don’t bump into each other while dancing. While playing Halloween-themed children’s music, instruct the children to dance and then to freeze when the music is stopped. If a child is still moving after the music stops, he is out of the game. The music then continues to start and stop as the game monitor looks for children who didn’t freeze during the silence. The last child standing is the winner.

Mummy Wrap

The Halloween mummy wrap game is appropriate for playing outdoors since it can make a mess. Head outside and divide the children into groups of three or four. Give each group a roll of toilet paper. Have each group select a mummy from its members. Instruct the children to wrap the mummy in toilet paper when you say, “Go.” The first group to use all their toilet paper to wrap their mummy wins.