As the autumn weather begins to bite, we know that Halloween is just around the corner, offering lots of spooky fun to be had. To help your Halloween be a real scream we’ve rounded up some ideas for you to try, whether you want to embrace it by attending some organised activities or getting into the spirit of things in the comfort and warmth of your own home.

Halloween falls in half term for many areas, which means lots of daytime activities available throughout the week. Across the UK everywhere from cafés and soft play centres to garden centres, farms and theme parks are offering different activities. From mazes to explore to pumpkin-picking or parties where kids of all ages can dress up to their hearts desire, there is so much to do. Just check local sites for activities that meet your needs,

A few places that are well known for providing activities suitable for disabled children include:

The National Trust has lots of different activities for children to take part in, from wheelchair accessible spooky walks to haunted mansions to explore. Visit here to see what’s available in your area.

Drayton Manor offer lots to offer including Thomas Land Spooky Shows, Trick or Treat with Sir Topham Hatt and the Carnival of Spooks – a walkthrough experience where you can meet Witchy Woo and her spooky friends and see what treats you can find on your way. Drayton Manor also partners with Nimbus Disability for essential companions, which you can discover more about here as well as more details about accessibility.

Legoland at the Windsor Resort are offering Brick or Treat with a monster party to celebrate all things spooky. More details about accessibility can be found here and guests with additional needs can also access a help centre on this page. Legoland Discover at Manchester also has lots to offer – just visit here to see what’s in store and here to find out more about their disability access.

Of course, you don’t need organised events to have Halloween fun, and there are lots of activities you can do at home.

Decorating your home in spooky style can be keep kids occupied for ages, while also helping with fine motor-skills.

• You can make spiders with paper plates and pipe cleaners – just colour or paint the plate, glue on the eight legs and add either drawn on eyes or add googly eyes for extra effect and then hang with string!
• The carboard insides of toilet rolls or kitchen rolls can be turned into monsters, so let your creativity guide you to create an army of googly-eyed vampires with cardboard fangs and a widow’s peak, Frankenstein’s Monsters with the jagged haircut and the odd Mummy, which can utilise any remaining toilet roll.
• White balloons can be decorated as skeletons and ghosts while orange balloons can serve as pumpkins, allowing you to create as many chilling designs as you want.
• You can also use small pumpkins or even oranges to decorate with spooky faces, or paint them however you want.

Once your home is suitably scary, watch spooky, age-appropriate, movies – and there are lots of classics for youngsters to enjoy from Hotel Transylvania to Harry Potter and Goosebumps. Just make sure you have a blanket handy to make things cosy, and of course, hide behind them in any of the spookier moments.

If baking is something you loved to do together, then sheets of sponge cake are the ideal surface for their spooky artwork, or decorate giant marshmallows as ghosts or vampires – edible glitter is optional – then they can be enjoyed while watching your scary movies or for kids (and adults) to enjoy at a Halloween party.

October 31st is also a great excuse for a party, just invite some friends round and add some music -Thriller or the Monster Mash are ideal – and set up some activities. These could include a spooky sensory bin –add slime or jelly to a bowl with some plastic spiders, worms and eyeballs of different sizes, then let everyone feel around to see what they can discover.

Telling spooky stories is a great way to get everyone involved. Add in some sensory touches as part of the story such as water, the feel of fur, velvet or pebbles. Or for added creativity, you can start them off with a basic story and get each child in turn to say what happens next.

For other ideas just visit:

Twinkl, with has some excellent SEN craft ideas here.

One of the best things about Halloween is dressing up in spooky costumes, and you can find some great sensory friendly options here.

Activities to stimulate the different senses can be found here.