Halloween week in preschool is one of those weeks where the kids are already excited about EVERYTHING, so I fully lean into it.

Give me the spiders, googly eyes, Play-Doh, sensory bins, pumpkins, candy corn… all of it.

We did 10 different Halloween centers with a mix of sensory play, crafts, math, literacy, Play-Doh, and lots of fine motor practice. Most of them were also really simple to set up because Halloween week does not need to be any more chaotic than it already is.

Here’s what we did!

Halloween Costume Matching

We started with a Halloween costume matching activity, and this one was such a fun little independent center.

For prep, I printed and laminated everything, cut out all of the individual costume pieces, and then added Velcro dots to both the mat and each piece. This keeps everything in place while they’re building.

I will say, this one does take a little longer to prep. BUT I actually prepped this center years ago, and I still bring it out every Halloween.

So this is definitely one of those prep it once, prep it well, and use it year after year activities

Students picked a Halloween costume card and then used the individual costume pieces to recreate that same costume on their Halloween Costume Mat.

It seems super simple, but they really have to slow down and look at the details. Which pieces belong to the costume, where they go, and how to recreate what they see on the card.

This Halloween Costume Matching Activity is included in the full Halloween pack.

Trick-or-Treat Alphabet Sensory Bin

Obviously we needed to go trick-or-treating at some point.

For this activity, I turned our alphabet practice into a little trick-or-treat sensory bin.

I printed the candy letter cards and added them into the sensory bin. Students picked a card that told them which letter they were looking for.

Then they searched through all of the candy until they found the matching letter and placed it onto their Trick-or-Treat Mat.

Jack-O’-Lantern Shape Tracing

Each jack-o’-lantern has different shapes for students to trace, including circles, hearts, triangles, stars, squares, and mixed shapes.

This was an easy activity to add to our fine motor centers for some extra pre-writing and pencil-control practice.

You could also laminate these or place them inside dry-erase pockets so you can use them over and over throughout October.

Bubbling Brew Counting Sensory Bin

This might be one of my favorites because it is SO easy to set up.

For our bubbling brew, I filled a sensory bin with rainbow pom-poms and added our cauldron.

Students picked a bubble card that showed them both a color and a number. For example, they might get an orange bubble with the number 5.

They would then find five orange pom-poms and add them to their cauldron.

Then pick another card and keep building their bubbling brew!

Preschool math.

But spooky.

Halloween Paper Crafts

For our Halloween crafts, I included two different options depending on what fine motor skill we wanted to work on.

The first option was paper tearing.

Students chose between a witch’s hat, ghost, bat, candy corn, or pumpkin. I set out colored paper and glue, and they tore the paper into little pieces before gluing them onto their picture.

For more scissor practice, I also included simple cut-and-paste crafts. Students could make a haunted house, spider web, or pumpkins by cutting along the lines and gluing the pieces together.

You can choose whichever version works best for your students—or set both out and let them choose.

Spooky Creations Play-Doh Mats

I always like having at least one center that is completely open-ended, and these Spooky Creations Play-Doh Mats were exactly that.

I put the mats out with Play-Doh and then filled a sorting tray with different loose parts.

You can use whatever Halloween supplies you already have: pom-poms, googly eyes, plastic spiders, slime, little Halloween pieces, or anything else you have hiding in your classroom cabinets.

Then I just let them create.

They could make silly monsters, spooky faces, weird creatures… whatever they wanted.

There is no specific way the mats need to look when they're finished, which is exactly why I love them.

They're getting tons of fine motor practice while squishing, rolling, pinching, and placing all of the pieces, but they also get to use their imaginations and make something completely their own.

Spider Counting Sensory Bin

For this sensory bin, I grabbed those stretchy spider webs from Dollar Tree and stretched them across the top of the bin.

Then I added plastic spiders throughout the web.

Students picked a number card and had to reach into the web and rescue that many spiders.

The activity works with numbers 1–20, so you can easily adjust it depending on the age and counting skills of your students.

Once they found their spiders, they could also use Play-Doh to graph how many they collected.

This added such a fun fine motor element because pulling those little spiders through the web is actually harder than it looks!

Counting + sensory play + fine motor all in one.

• All of the printables for this sensory bin are included in my Halloween Preschool Centers Pack.

Frankenstein’s Haircut

Frankenstein desperately needed a haircut... so obviously we helped him.

These are simple cutting pages where students cut along the different lines to give Frankenstein a new hairstyle.

That's it.

Sometimes the simplest activities are the ones they want to do over and over again.

This was perfect for working on scissor control and building confidence with cutting, especially for students who are still learning how to hold and maneuver their scissors.

I Can Build Halloween Shape Crafts

Students chose between building a jack-o’-lantern, ghost, monster, or haunted house.

They cut out the different shapes and glued them onto their page to build the picture.

But we didn't stop there.

Once their Halloween creation was finished, students counted how many of each shape they used and wrote the numbers at the bottom of their page.

I love when I can combine a craft with another skill instead of just making something cute to send home.

They're practicing shape recognition, counting, cutting, gluing, and fine motor skills, and they still get a Halloween craft at the end.

Win-win.

Candy Corn Build-It Cards

For a simple math and fine motor center, we used counting cubes with our Candy Corn Build-It Cards.

I set out orange, yellow, and white counting cubes, and students chose a card and recreated the pattern they saw.

This is also a really easy one to throw into a morning tub.

Print the cards, grab your counting cubes, and you're done.

My favorite kind of prep.

Bonus: Halloween Rice Sensory Bin

And because apparently 10 Halloween activities weren’t enough, we also did a super simple Halloween rice sensory bin.

For this one, I used orange and purple dyed rice and basically dumped in whatever Halloween goodies I had picked up from Dollar Tree and the Target Dollar Spot.

That’s it. Don't overthink this one!

I added little Halloween items, mini cauldrons, bottles, scoops, and cups and let the kids PLAY.

They practiced scooping and pouring, filled up the little bottles, and used the cauldrons to make their own Halloween “potions.”

My biggest tip: use what you have. If you see cute little Halloween erasers, spiders, eyeballs, skeletons, pom-poms, or anything else while you're wandering through the dollar section, throw it in.

It does not need to match. It does not need to be Pinterest-perfect.

What We Worked On During Halloween Week

There was definitely a LOT of Halloween happening in our playroom, but all of that spooky play gave us opportunities to work on so many preschool skills.

Throughout these centers, we practiced:

• Letter recognition

• Number recognition

• Counting and one-to-one correspondence

• Colors

• Shapes

• Patterning

• Matching and visual discrimination

• Scissor skills

• Pre-writing and tracing

• Fine motor strength

• Creativity and open-ended play

And that is always my goal with themed learning.

I want the kids to be excited to come over and see what we're doing that day, while I'm  sneaking in all of the skills I want them practicing.

Want to Try These Halloween Activities?

All 10 of these activities are included in my Halloween Preschool Activities Pack!

I created everything to be hands-on, preschool-friendly, and easy to add into your existing Halloween lesson plans. You can use the activities for centers, morning tubs, small groups, sensory play, fine motor practice, or just pick a few to add into your Halloween week.

You can find the complete Halloween pack in my Teachers Pay Teachers store or on my website.

Happy Halloween! 🎃👻