Halloween activities for autistic children

A holiday like Halloween is a really weird concept for logical thinkers to get their head around. Why would people dress up in scary costumes to knock on strangers doors.  Then why would those strangers give out sweets when someone has tried to scare them!  You have to admit Halloween is a bit odd!

A little bit of preparation can help to make sure your kids enjoy Halloween.

Preparing your autistic child for Halloween

Preparation for any change or break from the norm is really helpful for most autistic children.  My son gets so excited about holidays now that I start preparing him early.  Using visual aids is really important for us, this will ensure the kids understand what we are saying.  Another great way to prepare a child for an event is to use a social story.

Free Halloween Visual Aid

Last year I created a free Halloween visual aid that you can use to talk to your child about Halloween.  I put it up on the bathroom door for the month of October so my kids had time to process it.

Halloween Visual Aid

Halloween activities for autistic children

Halloween Attention Autism

Attention Autism is a brilliant activity for young children.  It has helped my boy’s attention enormously.  For Halloween why not have a themed bucket.  You get lots of spinning wands, noise makers and Halloween themed items in the shops that can be used.  I tend to buy lots in the first week of November when its all on sale and save it for next year. A lovely idea is to use a witches cauldron rather than a bucket for some extra spooky points .

For your Attention Builder in stage 2 you could make a spider web, my boys love this one. Start with a piece of black card, drizzle over some glue from a height in a circular motion. Then add some strips to create a web effect.

Then cover the web with silver glitter and knock the excess off to reveal your spider web. For stage 3 the children can take a turn at adding extra glitter colours or more web with the glue.

You can add your own spider to the web using some pom poms and eyes.  This could also be used as an independent activity for stage 4.

Halloween PECS®

The Picture exchange communication system is the main communication method that my son uses. PECS provide a free sample sheet of Halloween PECS Cards on their website. I have used these for some great commenting and requesting activities.

Top Halloween Books

One of the best ways to prepare a child for something is by sharing books together.  Using books to improve understanding can be really helpful and fun.  Visual books are best and here are my top Halloween books.

A modern classic, Room on the Broom is a wonderful book for Halloween.  Follow the Witch on her adventure with the cat, dog, bird and frog. We have also used this for some great story play.

I loved Meg and Mog as a kid.  The books are really simple to follow and great for little ones developing language.  My youngest loves shouting out ABRACADABRA as the witches do their spell. 

Funnybones is another of my favourites as a child.  The text at the beginning makes it a really fun read from the start.  The best bit is singing ‘the toe bones connected to the foot bone’ song.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Creepy Crawly Halloween. A fun lift the flap book with the well known and well loved Hungry Caterpillar from Eric Carle.

Both my boys are huge fans of the ‘Ten Little’ series.  Ten Little Monsters is a great book to introduce all the classic Halloween characters at the same time as practising some counting!

Peppa Pig The Pumpkin Competition. Many kids find it easy to learn about new things when they involve their favourite characters.  The book is all about a pumpkin competition and we often read it before we do some pumpkin carving at Halloween.

Peppa’s Magical Halloween is a new book for 2022 full of Halloween based fun.

Pumpkin Patch

Lot’s of places now do pumpkin picking in the run up to Halloween. This is a lovely activity with the kids when getting your pumpkin.  Much more fun than just getting it at the supermarket. Just be mindful that they are often very busy (and muddy) and you may have a long queue to pay for your pumpkin. Check out our visit to Avon Valley Pumpkin Patch.

Pumpkin Carving

Most young children love scooping out the insides of the pumpkin.  If they are artistic get the child to draw out the face that will be carved on the pumpkin.  You can also get LED candles which are great if you want to avoid using real candles with younger children.

Dressing up

My kids love dressing up for about five minutes then want the costume off straight away.  I often find that bought costumes are made out of plastic or uncomfortable materials which can be irritating for some.  My preference is to go with lots of props and dress up as your favourite characters.

Cooking and Crafts

There are so many different craft and cooking activities you can do for Halloween.  I like to use Pinterest to get ideas.   We had a go at making meringue ghosts.

My son helped to weigh out the icing sugar and separate the eggs for the meringue.  He loved helping to put the sugar in the mixer as we made up the meringue.  I was abandoned to do the piping but he helped stick on the edible silver balls to make some eyes.

Gingerbread Skeletons were easy to do and my eldest enjoyed decorating them.

If you have a skittles set you can cover them with some masking tape and googly eyes for your own Mummy Skittles:

Other Halloween Activities

Personally I love a good Autumn walk around Halloween, get outside and kick up all those leaves. 

You can buy some great activity books like:
Pepper Pig Halloween Sticker and Activity Book

There are also lots of good films to watch like Coco, Room on the Broom and Hotel Transylvania.

How will you be celebrating Halloween? Any tips / activities you love then share them with us in the comments.