With Halloween just around the corner, now is the perfect time to start your preparations. In this post, we take a look at how you can transform your kids’ backyard playground into a haunted house. Check out our ideas below.
1. Convert the Playhouse
If your kids’ backyard playground has a playhouse, then transforming it into something spookier is a piece of cake. It’s just a matter of adding decorations to give it a seasonal theme. You can also do the same if you have a play structure (such as a slide).
Go to the store and buy slime, cobwebs, spooky lanterns, bats, and anything else you think is suitable. Then add them to the exterior. Hang a central orange lantern in the middle and cover the windows in cardboard to make the inside darker and spookier.
2. Add a Soundtrack
Halloween is just as much about the scary sounds as the sights, so adding a soundtrack helps put everyone in the mood. If you have an iTunes or Spotify account, you can play Halloween music in the playground via a Bluetooth speaker. Free Halloween music is available via the Free Music Archive if you don’t have premium music streaming services.
3. Turn It into a Story Experience
You will also want to introduce a story that helps kids get into the spirit of the event. For example, does your haunted house have a history to it? Who lived there in the past? What terrible things happened? Was it the site of a grizzly crime or somewhere that the spirits lived in the past? Stories help to make the whole experience eerier. They add important context to explain why the haunted house seems so outwardly terrifying.
4. Add Some Props
Halloween is the perfect opportunity to bring out the props. Things like pumpkins, eyeballs, disembodied arms and fingers, spiders, skulls, and bones can all help make the event even scarier. Try placing props strategically around your backyard. Arrange them so that things become spookier the closer you get to the haunted house.
5. Make the Food Terrifying
Halloween food can be truly terrifying if you know what you are doing. You can make brains from cauliflower, eyeballs from jelly candy, and fake intestines from cinnamon rolls (yes, they do exist). You can even play a game involving creepy Halloween food. You start by turning off the lights (or waiting for it to get dark). Then you give children scary food in the dark, telling them that it is “brains” or “guts” and then asking them to identify what it really is. Just make sure that everything is revoltingly slimy.
6. Use Actors
Lastly, you can complete your terrifying haunted house experience with an actor. Get somebody you know (or hire a professional) to greet children when they arrive and provide entertainment. They can act, do tricks and tell stories about what happened in the haunted house that made it so utterly terrifying.
Think of Kids Gotta Play When You Need Fun for Your Kids
There is always a chance to bring in some fun for your kids! A little dash of spooky themes can help add flavor to your kids’ last few chances of fun outside before they need all the layers that come with winter. Looking to add to your backyard playscape now or looking to the Spring? Consider Kids Gotta Play for all your playground equipment. Give our team a call today to discuss your options.
