Halloween Carnival

Last year I helped my 2 friends and my Youth group organize a Halloween carnival for my church, and this year I ended up planning another one and I took charge of the one for my son's scout troop also.  My kids were bouncing off the walls because they had so much fun.  After searching the internet using past ideas and scanning Pinterest for any other good ideas, these were the games that we have used over the last 2 years.  We had about 10 games or so running and it seemed to work really well around the gym:

Cupcake walk: This one is a classic and always a favorite.  Have numbered squares or even colored Halloween coloring pages placed in a circle on the floor.  Make smaller versions cut up and placed in a bowl to draw the winning square each round. Find fun music to play, we used Halloween Kidz Bop.  Play the music and the kids walk around the squares when the music stops whoever is on the winning square is the winner. Can choose to hand out prizes/candy instead of cupcakes.

Fish for prizes: Another classic.  Make 2 fishing rods (stick) with string and clothes pins attached at the end of the string.  Decorate something to hide the prize givers in the back we had access to white boards on wheels, this worked perfectly.  Then the kids cast their string back behind the "pond" where you attach the prize to the clothes pins.

Bean Bag toss: Decorate and Cut a few holes in a big cardboard box and kids have to throw ping pong balls/bean bags into the holes.  Or you can make a cornhole type game.  We have done both ways and both were successful

Ducky Match: have pairs of numbers/shape/colors on the bottom of a dozen small rubber ducks (or even Hershey kisses) when a child picks a match and they get a prize

Pick a boo: Static lollipop board (This year we used a peg board, last year we made a cardboard tree) with tootsie pop's decorated as ghosts.  A few of the "ghosts" sticks were marked on the bottom with a color, if you picked a color you get a special prize, if not you just get to keep the Tootsie Pop.

Donuts on a string:  Use a stick or even a broom handle and tie a few strings from it.  2 volunteers will hold the stick parallel to the ground where donuts are tied to the strings.  The children have to eat the small miniature donuts off of the string without using their hands

TP Toss: The kiddos line up behind a set line and have to throw a roll of TP (3 tries) into a new clean Toilet seat attached over a box, prizes are tootsie rolls

Life size tick tack toe:  My kids really liked this one.  Use painters tape to make a large gameboard on the floor, we actually had 2.  You can use Witch hats and paper pumpkins or really whatever you can think of as game pieces 

Can Prize Toss: prizes are placed in 10 decorated tin cans glued to a piece of cardboard covered in fabric, there are 3 small beanbags so the children get 3 tries, whichever can the bag lands in is the prize that they will get (when we didn't attach the cans they fell down and moved all over but attaching them to cardboard is completely optional)

Carnival Can knock down game: Stack 6 cans in a pyramid pattern and give the kiddos a few tries to knock them over with tennis balls

Candy Guessing Game: Fill a jar with candy and know how much is in the jar.  Have the children write their guess of how many candy pieces are in the jar, whomever is the closest gets to keep the candy!

Cup Game: Use 3 cups you cannot see through and have a prize or ball under one of the cups with the cups all around and then the kiddos have to guess which cup the prize is under

Pumpkin Carving/Decorating Contest: Have the children coming decorate a pumpkin and assign each a number.  The kids can all vote on their favorites and count the votes and award prizes at the end.  We did prizes for the top 3.  You could have winners for different categories if you wanted.

Drop a coin into a bottle:  we used pennies and gave each participant 3 tries.  The bottle we used was a 2 liter bottle cut off on the neck right before it opens up to the full width of the bottle

Push an apple with your nose:  We set up 2 lines about 20 feet apart and had up to 2 children go at the same time.  They push the apple from one line across the other using only their nose.

Ghost Waiter: The children carry a balloon on a paper plate to a designated place you can mark it with tape on the floor.  If  they drop their balloon they have to go back and start over

Box Maze:  The Young Men put together this one and my kids are still talking about it.  They collected large appliance sized cardboard boxes and using duct tape made a maze out of them.  They had the lights down and a smoke machine going and it was an absolute hit!

We had all the children come wearing costumes but we did not have a costume contest.  I ordered a selection of prizes in from Oriental Trading and we held a Trunk or Treat outside in the parking lot after the carnival was over.  

This is one of those activities that my kids look forward to every year and it's nice to have a good selection of games listed in one place!  I hope your kids enjoy them as much as mine do.