What’s in my Cauldron {Halloween heads- up game for kids}
If you’re looking for a fun and easy way to bring extra laughs to your Halloween party, classroom celebration, or family game night, a Halloween Heads-Up game for kids is the perfect choice!
We’ve named our version “What’s in my Cauldron” but it’s played like a Halloween-themed game of heads up. Kids wear a printable cauldron headband and someone else gives them clues so they can guess what’s inside their cauldron!
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This fun Halloween game is great for a classroom or at home. You can use it at a party where everyone just has a partner help them guess what’s in their cauldron.
You can also use it as a Halloween activity center or play it at home where you change out the picture and get to guess multiple times.
How to Play Halloween Heads Up
- Print or make your cards – Print out a cauldron headband and the cards. You can also make your own cards if you have spooky ideas we didn’t include.
- Make the headband – You’ll need to make the headband and attach the cards (we used velcro so they can be changed out.).
- Choose a player – One person puts on the headband. A random card is attached. (They can choose one blindly, or the clue giver can grab one and attach it).
- Give clues – The partner describes the word without saying it directly. For example, if the card shows a pumpkin, players might say: “It’s orange,” “You carve it,” or “It sits on your porch at Halloween.”
- Guess the word – The player tries to guess correctly.
- Switch players – Rotate so everyone gets a turn to wear the cauldron. (Kids can also make their own cauldron and just take turns wearing theirs.)
You can play in teams, keep score, or just play for fun with no winners or losers.
Want to play it more like Halloween charades? Simply go silent and act out the picture instead of giving verbal clues!
Making the headband
Making one of the cauldron crowns is super easy.
1 – First, choose one the black template or outline template and color it yourself.
2 – Cut out the front piece of the crown. Kids may need some help cutting these out.
3 – Now choose a band. There is one with spider webs or blank ones that can be colored or decorated with Halloween-themed stickers.
If you use the blank ones just don’t decorate all the way to the ends as when you attach them to each other there will be a little bit of overlap.
4 – Use tape or staples to attach the front of your hat to the band.
We measured our heads and whether it was my head or those of my 5 and 7 year old they were all around 21.5 inches.
We needed the entire front and the extra strip and just varied the amount of overlap a little bit.
We used clear tape to connect our pieces and it worked great.
5 – To attach the cards to the hat, you will need to add velcro dots to both the headband piece and the back of the picture cards.
This will allow you to change out the images.
Learning through play
Even a simple game like heads up has some great learning opportunities.
This game can be great for language development and critical thinking as they figure out ways to describe the item.
Printable Halloween Game
Print out your game and get playing! You will need to print it on cardstock or the cauldron piece will flop over.
Check our Halloween page for more crafts & activities!
