Updated Aug 11, 2025
This kit was created to assist you in completing The Chills & Thrills Challenge Kit. Included are facts, stories, crafts, games, recipes and information that can be copied and distributed to the participants working on this kit.
Note: The tape doesn’t stick well to the plastic, so the slightest bit of wind can pull it off your ghost. Fishing line stays put and is invisible in the dark, giving the illusion that the ghost is floating on its own.
According to superstition, a person born on Halloween can see and talk to spirits!
There’s a little prep work for this craft. First, you need to find cylindrical blocks of wood that fit inside each can. You can do this craft without the block, but your can is more likely to dent. Also, make sure you paint the cans beforehand so your kids do not have to wait for them to dry.
There are several commercial bat house kits (also called bat boxes) available that contain pre-cut wood and only require assembly. Not all commercial bat house kits are the same. Often, the less expensive kits are actually only decorative and, at the very least, would be unusable by bats. If choosing a commercially available bat house kit, be sure to purchase one that is certified by Bat Conservation International. Note that for all options your child will need to be closely supervised as the use of hammers, nails, screwdrivers, and screws are necessary. A saw may also be needed for some options. It is recommended that an adult supervise each bat house being built.
We’re just going to make the mummy, but you can follow the same steps to make a pumpkin, a monster, or a black cat.
Note: This craft is very hands-on and can get a bit messy.
A pumpkin is a berry in the Cucurbitaceae family, which also includes cucumbers, melons, gourds, and squash. All of these plants are native to the Americas.
Tip: For more fun, you can have your kids decorate their caramel apples with candies, but be careful, the caramel is hot.
Yields 8 cups.
Casper™ is a friendly ghost and one of the oldest in cartoon history. He first appeared in a series titled “Noveltoons” in 1946 and still haunts movie and television screens today.
Challenge your kids to become as still and silent as the dead. Select one person to be the “watcher” while the rest of the players are the “living dead.”
The watcher covers her eyes and counts while the living dead scatter around the play area and strike a pose. The challenge is to hold the pose and to be as silent as you can be while the watcher is watching. If the watcher catches you moving or making noises, then you become a watcher as well; however, you can’t move from your spot. The living dead can move or moan while the watchers aren’t paying attention, but moan too long, and you might get caught! The game ends when everyone is a watcher, or the watchers give up because one or two of the living dead are so good that the watchers can’t get them to move.
Burn off some energy with this never-ending game of tag. First, select one, two, or even three kids to be the “Ghost Hunters” and have everyone else be the “ghosts.” The ghosts scatter as the Ghost Hunters give chase in a classic game of tag, but with a twist. Once a Ghost Hunter touches a ghost, the ghost is frozen to the spot; however, the ghosts can be freed by having another ghost tag them. The only way for the game to end is if the Ghost Hunters freeze all the ghosts.
In this game, everyone is a magical witch. Break the group up into two teams, the red team and the blue team, and give each kid a flag to dangle out of his or her back pocket. Each team tries to ground the other team by removing its flags until only one team is left.
This game has three names because you can be the spider, the fly, or the web. One person starts out as the “spider,” and everyone else is a “fly.” Of course, the flies try to stay away from the spider, but when the flies are caught, the spider turns them into the “web.” The web must link arms with the spider, one on each side, so the spider is in the middle of the web, and follow the spider’s lead. Both the spider and the web can catch flies. The more flies the spider (or web) can catch, the bigger the web becomes until not a single fly can escape.
Start off by explaining the boundaries of the playing area. Use the pylons to mark a center line dividing the playing area in half, as well as two squared-off areas (one big and one small) at the back of each side, but not out of bounds. Separate your group into two teams and give them some way to distinguish themselves from the other team; whether that’s through flags, coloured jerseys, or by having one team’s shirts inside out is up to you. Next, take the glow sticks and place one in each team’s small, squared-off area, also known as the “wand zone.” The goal of the game is to get the other team’s glow stick or “witch’s wand” into your witch's home; however, it’s not as easy as it sounds.
Let’s use an example of a red and blue team. When a red player crosses the center line into the blue team’s side, she risks being “captured” or tagged by the blue team. If captured, the red player is escorted by the blue player who captured her to the “prison,” the bigger, squared-off zone near the back of the playing field. Once the red player has crossed into the prison, she is stuck there until rescued by a teammate, and the blue player can go back to what he was doing. To be rescued, another red player would have to come, grab his imprisoned friend, and escort her back to the red side.
While any two players are linked together, they are considered safe. Thus, a red player can’t rescue a teammate who is in the process of going to prison, and a blue player can’t recapture a rescued red (or her rescuer) while she and her fellow teammate go back to their side. Once the pair cross the prison boundary (for a capture) or the center line (for a rescue), then they are immediately back in the game.
If a player manages to grab the witch’s wand from the other team, say a blue player just grabbed the red player’s witch’s wand, then the blue player needs to run back to his side as fast as he can. (Oftentimes, the player carrying the wand gets mobbed, but that’s part of the fun.) If the blue player gets tagged while carrying the witch’s wand, then the wand is dropped to the ground, and the player is escorted to the prison. Another blue player can pick the wand off the ground and run with it, or a red player can pick it up and return it to the wand zone.
Even if a blue player manages to make it back into his zone, he is not safe because the red team can come across and tag him. This is the only time members of the opposite team can tag in their rival’s side, and they can only tag the wand carrier. The blue player has to get the wand into his own wand zone in order to be safe and win the game for his team.
However, if the blue player returns to his wand zone to find that his own witch’s wand has been stolen by the red team, then he’s in trouble. A team can’t win the game unless both wands are on their side and in the wand zone. The blue player now has to hold onto the wand and try to keep it safe as his teammates try to retrieve their own wands. While the wand carrier has the wand, he cannot capture a member of the opposite team. Also, the red team now has a free pass to come over to the blue side and tag him to take the wand back. His teammates had better hurry. When the game does end, you can shake things up by switching teammates around if the teams are unbalanced or move the wand zone closer to the center line for an added challenge.
It’s time to test out your oral skills through one of the oldest traditions of mankind: storytelling. Huddle around a campfire or under the stars and tell your best tale of ghosts, ghouls, or goblins. Share your family’s stories of close encounters with monsters, make up your own knee-slapping tale of Freddy, your pal the zombie klutz, or take turns reading terrifying ghost stories from a book. The only rule for this activity is to have fun and enjoy your night.
If you need some ideas for good ghost story books, try these spooky reads:
Animal Phantoms by Barbara Smith
Horribly Haunted Houses by Barbara Smith
Ghost Riders by Barbara Smith
The Kids Campfire Book by Ann Love and Jane Drake
The Little Book of True Ghost Stories by Echo Bodine
Fireside Ghost Stories by A. S. Mott
Canadian Ghost Stories by Barbara Smith
Canadian Ghost Stories II by Dale Jarvis, Edrick Thay, and Susan Smitten
Ghost Town Stories of Alberta by Johnnie Bachusky
The Big Book of Canadian Ghost Stories by John Robert Colombo
Ghost Stories of America by Dan Asfar and Edrick Thay
This scavenger hunt is not your normal nature walk, but rather, it’s for a stroll around town before or shortly after Halloween. Check out your local neighbourhoods and admire their decorations while checking items off your search list. After your walk, reward your kids with a take-home Halloween item like Halloween pencils, glow sticks, or candy.
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Depending on the size of your group, you might have to split your kids up into reasonably sized hunting teams. For this activity, we’ll just use one group. The Monster Hunt requires quite a bit of preparation time beforehand.
Start off by wandering around your treasure hunt area with a piece of paper and a pen. Get familiar with any object you come across, whether it’s a tree, a fence, a rock, or what have you. Your goal is to guide your kids through this area to the treasure by using written clues and Halloween props.
The clues should be clear and easy to follow. For example, don’t write, “Look for a tall, thin object.” This clue could refer to a tree, a light post, or a particularly long stick. Remember that a child’s mind works differently from an adult’s. However, if there is only one very obvious tall, thin object around, then by all means use the clue.
By including Halloween props, you can add a whole new element of fun to the classic treasure hunt. For example, you could have one of your clues say, “Look down,” and below the clue is a set of monster footprints leading to the next clue or a skeletal hand clutching a piece of paper.
Be careful setting up your clues. The kids don’t know that the clues are there, so make sure you place them in hidden, but easy-to-find spots. Also, if you are using a clue like footprints, be sure that your clue path doesn’t have the kids running over them. Take your time setting up the Monster Hunt, and then just sit back and watch the kids run around. It’s guaranteed to make you smile and allow the kids to burn off some excess energy.
If you see a spider on Halloween night, it is thought to be the spirit of a loved one watching over you.
The song “Colcannon,” also called “The Skillet Pot,” is a traditional Irish song that has been recorded by many artists, including Mary Black. Colcannon is an Irish dish mainly consisting of mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage.
It begins:
“Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream?
With the greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream.
Did you ever make a hole on top to hold the melting flake
Of the creamy, flavoured butter that your mother used to make?”
The chorus:
“Yes you did, so you did, so did he and so did I.
And the more I think about it sure the nearer I’m to cry.
Oh, wasn’t it the happy days when troubles we had not,
And our mothers made Colcannon in the little skillet pot.”
This song is another traditional Irish song sung during “souling,” a time when children would go door-to-door begging for soul cakes. Soul cakes are small, round cakes. Each cake eaten would represent a soul being freed from purgatory.
It goes:
A soul! a soul! a soul-cake!
Please good Missis, a soul-cake!
An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul
Three for Him who made us all.
This song is sung to the tune of Michael Finnegan.
One little, two little, three little witches. (Hold up 1,2,3 fingers)
Fly over haystacks, fly over ditches. (Make flying motion with hands)
Fly over moonbeams without any hitches. (Make flying motion with opposite hand.)
Hey, Ho, Halloween Night! (Clap)
To the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It”
If you’re a monster and you know it, wave your arms.
If you’re a monster and you know it, wave your arms.
If you’re a monster and you know it,
then your arms will surely show it.
If you’re a monster and you know it, wave your arms.
(You can pick other Halloween creatures and motions too. e.g. If you’re a dragon and you know it, give a roar, etc.)
Once you have finished this challenge kit, use code ECK021 for 20% off the Chills & Thrills Badge!
As a third-generation Scouter, Pauline is a writer passionate about giving back to the Guiding and Scouting programs. She grew up making beaver buggies with the boys, selling popcorn as a Cub and practicing outdoor skills with the Scouts. Instead of moving on to Ventures, she became an assistant leader for Cubs, also known as a Kim. Pauline is proud to pass on her Scouting knowledge to an international audience.
