Creative Family Fun Nights: Spooky Stories

Halloween is drawing near and it’s a great time to have a bit of spooky family time.

Don’t worry, this is not planned to give your kids nightmares, just to have a bit of Halloween fun with the family.

This night can be as simple or elaborate as you want. I chose simple. So grab a spooky story, a flashlight, and shadow puppets. It’s time to have some fun!

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I chose the story The Teeny-Tiny Woman. It’s a fun ghost story that’s not too scary. It’s a traditional folk tale, so there are many different versions of the story and you can probably find one at your local library.

I’ve also included a list of other spooky stories at the end of this post. You’ll want to pre-read the stories you choose, so you know whether or not they will be too scary for your kids.

After selecting the story, I drew some simple shadow puppets on black construction paper. I drew a teeny tiny woman, a ghost, a grave, and a bone.

Choose characters or items that are in your story. Since these will be shadow puppets, your drawings don’t have to have much detail.

Cut the puppets out and then tape crafts sticks to the back. It really is that simple.

If you want your puppets to last a bit longer, you can laminate the paper and hot glue the sticks to the back.

Once the puppets were made, it was time for the fun.

We turned down the lights and shined a flashlight on an empty wall.

The girls took turns using the puppets to act out the story while I read aloud. We used our best spooky voices and ended up giggling most of the time especially when our heads got in the way.

Spooky stories can be a lot of fun!

Grab a spooky story and have some fun!

Some other {not so} spooky books:
The Berenstain Bears and the Ghost of the Forest
Ghosts!: Ghostly Tales from Folklore by Alvin Schwartz
Where’s My Mummy? by Carolyn Crimi
In the Haunted House by Eve Bunting

What is your favorite spooky tale?