13 Family Friendly Halloween Activities

In the month of October your family may be shopping for or creating handmade Halloween costumes. You're probably also planning to carve or paint a jack-o-lantern. Here are 13 more family fun ideas for October to help you celebrate and survive the wait until the big night.

1. Create any one of these count down to Halloween ideas and add some of these family fun Halloween activities to your count down craft or calendar for October.

2. Have a Halloween music dance party and sing along. Try these Best Halloween Albums for Kids. Some of them may be available at your local library.

3. Try a new pumpkin recipe like these kid-friendly pumpkin recipes including pumpkin fudge, which I attest is parent friendly too.

4. Have a "try some new orange foods night." Consider some sweet potato fries or dried apricots or carrot juice.

5. Read a book about pumpkins. One of our favorites is The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin.

6. Read a book about bats. Try Stella Luna or Sun Wings. Sun Wings is also available on CD to listen to in the car.

7. Make pumpkin pancakes with a raisin jack-o-lantern face. Just add a spoonful of canned pumpkin to every one cup of pancake batter. Also add some nutmeg or cinnamon. You may have scary jack-o-lantern pancakes but your family will be all smiles.

8. Watch a Halloween movie like my favorite "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." It's not for the very young but my preteen daughter's favorite Halloween movie is "The Nightmare Before Christmas."

9. Play this free online game for Halloween at Dedge.com. It's called Halloween hangman and it is fun and educational too. Thanks to Jennifer Wagner for turning for our family onto these fun online games.

10. Create a Halloween craft from natural or recycled materials. Try this Spooky Spider Web or these fun Halloween crafts using yogurt cups.

11. Create some of these fun Halloween foods that are actually healthy too.

Try making your favorite snack mix and adding toasted pumpkin seeds for fall picnics or lunch box packers.

12. Enjoy some free printables coloring pages and activities. You can find 100 + free Halloween coloring pages here.

13. Make a Halloween costume for a stuffed animal, doll or garden statue. Here are some examples. Try some bats wings for a bear, a halo and wings for doll or a mask and super hero cape for a garden frog.

Happy Halloween!