As the leaves turn golden and the air takes on a crisp chill, a peculiar enchantment begins to sweep through neighborhoods and communities. It’s that special time of year when Halloween themes populate our TV shows, stores, and pop culture at large while we collectively embrace all things ghostly, ghoulish, and fun.

As we wait for Halloween night, we have some fun and spooky ideas for you to try at home to satisfy your children’s need for spooky activities. Each of these activities also helps children practice their fine motor skills while still staying in the Halloween Spirit! Here are four of our favorite occupational therapist-approved activities:

Witch’s Broom 

          

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies: Beads, one pipe cleaner, scissors, one rectangular piece of construction paper, and tape 

Activity/Steps: 

1. Use scissors to cut vertical lines up two-thirds of the construction paper to create the brush part of the broom. If your child is working on cutting, they can complete or assist with this part.  
2. Roll up the construction paper and tape it shut. 
3. Tightly wrap or tie a pipe cleaner around the construction paper roll. You can apply tape during this step too. 
4. Have your child decorate the Witch’s Broom by stringing beads onto the pipe cleaner to work on manual dexterity, neat pincer grasp, and bilateral coordination skills.  

Yarn Wrap Mummies 

 

Supplies: White yarn or string, googly eyes, a piece of cardboard, sharpie or black marker, and scissors 

Activity/Steps:  

1. Adult or child should draw the outline of a mummy/person onto the cardboard. I would suggest using thinner cardboard from a cereal or cracker box. 
2. Cut out the mummy outline. Older children can complete this step if they are working on cutting out complex shapes, but younger children will need an adult’s help with this step. 
3. Stick googly eyes onto the head of the cardboard mummy. 
4. Use the tip of the scissors or a hole punch to make a small hole in one of the mummy’s feet. 
5. Cut out a very long piece of white yarn. 
6. Thread the yarn through the hole on the foot and tie one of the ends to secure it. 
7. Child will use the white yarn to continuously wrap it around the cardboard cut-out until it is fully covered in yarn. Start wrapping the yarn at the feet & legs and move upward towards the head. This activity is great to target fine motor skills such as crossing midline, visual motor integration, bilateral coordination, pincer grasp, and dexterity. 

Clothespin Spider 

                   

Supplies: A paper plate, clothespins, googly eyes 

Activity: Use the plate as the spider’s body and add clothespins to each side of the plate to make spider legs! This is a great fine motor activity to work on manipulating clothespins and addresses hand & finger strength, functional grasp patterns, in-hand manipulation skills, and visual motor coordination. To increase the challenge, have the child work on matching colors, shapes, or letters to enhance their visual perceptual skills.  

Candy Corn Tweezers 

Supplies: Large tweezers, candy corn, and small cauldrons/cups/buckets. 

Activity: Use the tweezers to pick up the candy corn pieces and sort them into the cauldrons. When children use tweezers to sort small items, it can improve intrinsic hand strength, a functional grasp pattern with an open web space, fine motor control, and visual motor integration skills. You can add numbers to the cauldrons to work on counting and following directions.  

For even more Halloween motor skill activities, check out our other blog here!

Written by Brianne Griffin, MOT, OTR/L