If you’re after simple and fun Halloween crafts for toddlers and young children in the Cotswolds (or anywhere, really), this is for you.
Autumn’s the perfect time for simple, creative fun with your little ones - and they make a great photo too!But between costumes and half-term plans, “seasonal crafts” can sound like a lot. The good news? You don’t need to be elbow-deep in glitter glue to make special autumn memories. I’ve rounded up a few of my favourite low-effort, high-impact food crafts - easy, seasonal, cute, and in some cases, even edible.
Here are a few things I’ve made with my girls over the years… we’re not big into scary stuff - but I do have a soft spot for a theme…
Mummy Pumpkin with Googly Eyes - no carving required!
Wrap a regular pumpkin in bandages or strips of fabric, then add eyes made from milk bottle caps coloured with black marker. It takes minutes and looks brilliant on the doorstep.
Once Halloween is over, nothing is wasted - peel everything off and cook the pumpkin. Roast it for soup or fill quesadillas with feta cheese -
Spooky Soup with Cobweb Cream
Roasted vegetable soup makes a brilliant autumn lunch. Add three little circles of cream on top (an icing bag or sandwich bag with the corner snipped off works well). Then use a toothpick to drag lines outwards to make a cobweb. Low effort - high impact!
Easy Pumpkin Soup Recipe here…
Painted Leaf Ghosts
Collect a few leaves on your next autumn walk. Paint them white, add eyes and a mouth, then string them together to make a ghost garland. Super simple, looks lovely, and works well for all ages.
Ghostly Window Drawings
Use white window pens to draw friendly ghosts on your windows. They last well and you can use the pens again for a snowy Christmas scene in a month or so’s time!
Find Chalk Window Pens Here
Cookie Monster Pumpkin
Paint your pumpkin blue, then carve out a semi circle. Stick black card onto milk bottle tops, stuff some paper to pad out and stick on as eyes! Place cookies on a plate in front of the pumpkin (not inside - they’ll go soggy - we found out the hard way! 😅)
Creepy Breadsticks
Shape pizza dough into fingers, adding knobbly bits for knuckles. Once baked, add jam or tomato purée to the ends and press in flaked almonds for nails. They look gruesome but taste delicious.
Breadsticks Recipe here…
Jack O Lantern Satsumas
Draw Jack-o’-lantern faces on easy-peel oranges with a black marker. Pop them in lunchboxes or hand them out to trick-or-treaters - you'll be surprised at how many children choose these over sweets!
Use food colouring ink to draw faces onto marshmallows, or poke google eyes into them - a bit trickier than the satsumas, but a fun activity for practising those fine motor skills!
Veggie Monsters for Dipping
Mini peppers, cucumber sticks and carrots make great little characters. Cut out eyes and mouths with the tip of a knife and serve them with hummus or a dip of your choice. Quick to prepare and fun to eat!
Go the extra distance by making a spooky pizza - shape pizza dough into little ghosts or use ready-made bases. It’s a fun one for children to decorate themselves. Olives and mozzarella work well - the best bit is it's Halloween, so it doesn't matter if they're more wonky than wicked!
A Little Reminder
If the idea of any of these crafts send your head into a spin - just buy the themed food and tuck these ideas away for another year!
There are many hacks - Heinz tomato soup works just as well - ready-to-roll pizza dough is your friend :) What you may find is that the children are then happy to play for a little while by themselves afterwards - but if not, you have earned every right to sit them in front of the tv whilst enjoy the quiet in a corner!
I loved doing these with my girls - though most of my photos are just chaotic little iPhone snaps (it’s a lot to juggle crafting and photographing!). If you’d love someone else to handle the camera so you can be right there in the moment - flour-dusted fingers, gluey giggles, and all - that’s exactly what I love to capture.