Crafts

Doorway Dare: a crafty Halloween game

Knock knock, whoooooo’s there…

Kids love trick-or-treating. But sometimes it rains, or the neighbours pretend to be out. So here’s a miniature, sensory trick-or-treat activity you can make and play safely at home. Two doorways: one leads to a trick and the other to a treat.

Will your little visitor get a chocolate or an eyeball? It’s a shifty fifty-fifty. You’ll find eight simple steps below on how to build your doorways.

Print this tutorial

You will need:

• 4 shoeboxes (no lids)
• a utility knife
• a metal ruler
• paint
• brushes
• a black marker pen
• 2 pieces of dark cloth
• 2 large buttons, or bottletops
• cobwebs (preferably fake) or feathers
• tricks and treats

How to make your Doorway Dare

Step 1

Take two of the shoeboxes and draw a door-shaped rectangle on each. Using the knife and ruler, cut along three sides of the door, leaving it on its hinges.

Step 2

Grab some brushes and paint the boxes. Try boldly-contrasting colors for the door and brickwork. Leave your doorways to dry.

Step 3

Get a thick marker pen and add some details: letterbox, doorbell, house number. For a doorknob, you can sew on a button or glue on a bottle cap.

Step 4

Turn your boxes around. Glue or staple a piece of cloth inside each, then cut a slit down the centre of the cloth (for intrepid hands to reach through). Put these boxes to one side.

Step 5

Now take your other two boxes. Decorate the insides with fake cobwebs, feathers or other touchy-feely things. One should feel lovely, the other should feel icky! These will form the backs (or hallways) to your doors.

Step 6

Tape the hallway boxes to the doorway boxes, so reaching through the door will lead to the sensory items.

Step 7

Find something lovely and something not so lovely. (Plastic spider/strawberry lollipop, lychee eyeball/coin etc.) Hide the treat in one doorway and the trick in the other.

Step 8

Dim the lights and invite your little trick-or-treaters to choose their fate. You can even make it a breakfast ritual in the build-up to Halloween. Ratatatat…