Fear Factor is a set of exciting and fun Halloween games for kids, but it’s only for the most adventurous parents. Anyone who has ever seen the television show Fear Factor knows what I’m talking about.
The TV show is all about making contestants face their greatest fears in order to win prizes. You may be thinking this sounds too intense and like a horrible idea for a group of Halloween games for kids to play, and you’re correct. So let’s make them kid appropriate!
You can take some common, age-appropriate Halloween games for children and turn them into a fun filled healthy competition with added exercise for the kids.
Or you can leave out the exercise and just focus on the fun events. As the party planner you have a lot of flexibility for setting up a Fear Factor gaming event.
I will offer up some planning ideas and event options to help get your creative juices flowing. Change and mold them to suit the needs of your family.
→ However you decide to set up your Fear Factor Halloween Games Event, it will certainly be an exciting and memorable event.
How to Play
One way to organize the Fear Factor set of Halloween games for kids is to separate all the children into two or three teams and have them play the events with a timer. If you have a yard and want to include exercise, making a child run from a starting line to an event, complete the event and then run back to the starting line again is a fun way to play.
Each event can be placed farther away, so that smaller children go first and complete the closer events and the older kids have to run farther.
You can also use yellow Caution Tape to create a course for kids to run along. Below is a link to a birthday party video to see an example of this kind of Fear Factor game play.
Another way to play Fear Factor Halloween games is to set up events at different locations and have all the kids complete the event together, before moving on to the next location. For example, you can have each child standing around a table. They would then all start the event at the same time.
This is less of a racing style of gameplay, but can still be a fun competition or teamwork style of playing.
Fear Factor Halloween Events
Here are some Fear Factor Halloween event ideas to get you started. Pick and choose what works in your household and hopefully these will give you some other good ideas that your children will enjoy.
Anyone that’s familiar with Fear Factor will not be surprised to see gross food and bugs as a theme for some of the Halloween games. However, since these are supposed to be fun Halloween games for kids, the bugs will be gummy and the food won’t be what it appears. Let’s get started!
1. Worms!
Indoor Game: For each child playing Worms! take 5-10 gummy worms and place them at the bottom of a pie tin. Next fill the tin with whipped cream or cool whip.
If you can get your hands on the Hershey and Reeses flavored whipped toppings, the whipped cream could actually be delicious and festive. There is also a new caramel flavor being released in 2019, but so far it has been hard to find in grocery stores.
To play, the kids have to keep both hands behind their backs and retrieve the worms using only their mouths. They can compete side by side lined up around a table, or you can time each child and add it to the overall team times.
Outdoor Game: The outdoor version of Worms! involves getting a small container, like a plastic pumpkin, and filling it halfway to three-quarters full with dirt or soil.
Next, take 5-10 gummy worms and bury them in the dirt. The child will need to successfully dig up the gummy worms to complete this event. You can have children compete side by side digging up the worms or this can be part of the racing course that one child does while being timed.
2. Get the Guts
Get the Guts is one of the more fun Halloween games for kids because even younger children can play it.
Step 1: To play, first you will need a real pumpkin that has been opened, but not completely cleaned out.
For older kids, you don’t have to clean the pumpkin out at all, but for youngsters I recommend removing some seeds and guts to make it easier.
Step 2: Next, place items inside the pumpkin guts.
For older kids, harder to find items like candy corns and Halloween erasers can become slippery and make it more fun.
For younger children, plastic spider rings, plastic rats or larger items that will be easier to grab and won’t be choking hazards are better.
Step 3: For gameplay, each child gets 30 seconds to pull out as many items as they can. Another option is to add a blindfold on older kids to make it more spooky and challenging.
What About Allergies, Health & Kids Who Hate Food
This is a side note for anyone interested in adjusting these games for children with food allergies or other food issues. You can also use these suggestions to substitute healthier food snacks and keep the games scary, if that’s something important to you or parents of kids coming to your party.
The Courage to Eat
It’s fun to cheer on the children and encourage them if they are uncertain during gross food events. Just don’t cross the line and accidentally force anyone to eat food they hate. You can begin food events by announcing they are all in good fun like the other games.
I recommend making a point of telling kids who didn’t eat the food that they did a good job. Some children (and adults) are just more grossed out by food.
There are exciting and creative food challenges listed below but let’s start with a simple food Fear Factor challenge for the young child who isn’t so adventurous.
3 Years Old and Afraid of Food
If you can’t imagine your child, of any age, being able to deal with “fish egg” tapioca pudding or chocolate “kitty poop” don’t worry, they can still play Fear Factor food challenges.
These Halloween games for kids can all be changed slightly to fit the needs of your crew, or special plates can be made for kids with known food challenges and food allergies.
→ The important thing is to keep their dishes fun and in the Halloween spirit so they don’t feel “weird” or different.
If the games below are way too adventurous, an alternative way to play is to take simple everyday foods and present them as Halloween challenges.
For example, you can take banana slices and cut them into the shape of a skull before serving them. You can also serve round cantaloupe balls and call them cantaloupe eyes, or skin green grapes for “goblin eyes.”
Notice these are all healthy foods? This is because the healthy food is part of the Fear Factor challenge for children. Don’t take a food they hate, but take foods they struggle with, so there is some challenge and fun if they successfully eat them.
You can serve baby carrot sticks and call them fingers and then place peanut butter “bat brains” in the middle of the plate to make the carrot more appetizing.
Or cut the skin off the tip of a hot dog to look like a finger nail. Then sprinkle some ketchup as blood. The kids with have to eat the bloody finger!
For an older kid without food issues you can use brussel sprouts for a Fear Factor food challenge, but I think many kids would rather eat the kitty litter poop mentioned below.
You definitely want to set the very young children up for success, so try and put foods they will enjoy but with a Halloween spin.
For example, you can make a PB&J sandwich and use a cookie cutter to cut it into small spooky ghosts or other shapes. Smear strawberry jam across the plate to make it more spooky and yummy.
Gluten Free Halloween Games?
Many of these fun Halloween games for kids can be done safely for children that are gluten free due to food allergies or celiac disease. For example, the Fish Egg Feast game can be done using Kozy Shack brand Tapioca pudding and gluten free gummy Scandinavian Swimmers.
Gluten free substitutions can be used in recipes and there are great brands that can provide scary gluten free candies like Albanese and Black Forest. Rolos, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Junior Mints and Skittles are also candies labeled gluten free and they can be used for as needed.
Remember when dealing with celiac disease that cross contact is a serious issue, so the food can not touch any gluten at all. This includes crumbs, cutting boards, knives, etc.
3. Kitty Litter Competition
This event is good anytime, but I recommend finishing out the Fear Factor Halloween games for kids with a Kitty Litter Competition.
The host brings out a kitty litter tray filled with cat poops and each child is served a poop from what appears to be a dirty cat litter tray. Children place their hands behind their back and the competition starts on three!
• Whoever eats the kitty poop the fastest wins.
Would your child have the courage to move forward in this Fear Factor competition?
Obviously there is nothing brave about eating poop, so how does this work?
It’s actually a yummy cake served in a brand new clean litter box with tasty chocolate “poops” mixed in. Perfect for Halloween and Fear Factor all in one.
Plus after scooping out the “poops” for Fear Factor, you can still serve the rest of the cake for dessert.
Check out this video for easy to follow instructions on making a tasty kitty litter cake this Halloween.
4. Fish Eggs Feast
This fun Halloween game for kids involves taking simple tapioca pudding and presenting it as a contest to see who can eat or drink the fish eggs the fastest.
Presentation is important for fish eggs feast so adding some green food coloring can help sell it to older children.
Some ideas for presentation are giving each child a small plate that has a spoon filled with tapioca “fish egg” pudding on it.
Another option is to use a shot glass with pudding at the bottom and have the children suck the fish eggs up through the straw. You can also toss a few Swedish Fish candy on the plate to add some extra fish to the mix.
5. Worms and Dirt
For this spooky food event you challenge the children to eat dirt and worms for the win. Making the dirt can be done by crumbling up a chocolate cake with crushed Oreo cookies.
Next, add a couple gummy worms and dirty them up in the chocolate to increase the grossness. Serve it all in small bowl or cup with a spoon and let the Worms and Dirt race begin. Make it look more authentic by using these realistic gummy earthworms from Amazon!
6. Raw Meat Race
For this food event you bring out a platter of raw ground round under saran wrap and give each child a piece to eat. Nobody can touch the meat before the event begins and the children must keep their hands behind their backs.
On three, the race starts and the child who can eat their raw meat the fastest, using only their mouth wins.
→ This one is all about courage and speed.
The catch is that there is no raw meat! There is only a rice krispy treat rounded and shaped like sections of meat.
Adding red food coloring while mixing the marshmallow and butter will give you the desired pink raw meat coloring.
Then you just have to shape it, put it in a styrofoam tray (if you have one) and cover in saran wrap to get that raw meat look.
If your willing to put in a little extra work, the Homicidal Homemaker has an instructional video for making red velvet rice krispies that really looks like raw meat.
7. The Gummy Bugs Option
This last fun Halloween game is pretty tame, but it can be a good option to have standing by if you notice a child who is struggling to have fun during the food games.
This gross food plate is made up of all the weird gummy bugs and creatures available. So you can get some gummy worms, bug tape, gluten free gummy body parts, gummy spiders, gummy bugs, gummy frogs, or gummy snakes.
You can also make the gross gummy bugs an event for all the kids in your Fear Factor games. I especially like the gummy bug tape for it’s gross factor.
I’ve put links above to purchase gummies, but you may be able to find variations of them locally. I recommend getting a large gummy rat, tarantula, snake or mouse and using them in a final heat for the fastest two or three children. Another option is to give the large gummy creatures out as prizes.
8. Fear Factor Boxing
The next Fear Factor event is based on one of the popular spooky Halloween games for kids. Remember the old game where kids reach into a bowl or box and feel something gross inside?
In the Fear Factor version, children will have to put their hands inside a spooky looking box, feel around and try to guess what was inside the box.
It’s good to make the boxes really spooky with simple decorations. You can use shoeboxes, tissue boxes, cereal boxes or any other easy to find boxes from around the home. Decorate them with tissue paper, webbing, craft paper, magazine cut outs, duct tapes or anything you want.
Having boxes of different sizes makes it more fun so don’t worry if they don’t all match.
The boxes will be filled with a gross or spooky feeling item and then the lid is sealed closed. The child reaches in from a hole you create that is large enough for their hand but not so big they can see inside.
An easy way to decorate the boxes is with different colors of duct tape. This keeps the boxes sealed closed and there are great colors like black, orange and halloween designs.
You can also use Caution Do Not Enter Tape, spiderwebs, stickers and other fun stuff for designing your boxes.
There are a few different ways to play Fear Factor Boxing and I will go over two popular ones. The first way is to have the children reach inside a box and then guess what was inside from a list of options.
A second way to play is to label each box with what is inside and then award points to kids who successfully overcome fear and put their hands in the boxes. This is a good idea for younger children.
For example, you can put a picture of a spider on the box and then have rubber spiders and webbing inside the box.
You can also make spookier boxes worth more points with unlabeled mystery boxes scoring the highest point values.
A good mystery box can have an extra hole on the bottom of the box. Children brave enough to reach in will be surprised when someone else’s hand sneaks in the hole and moves around inside the box.
Party Box Labels and Ideas
Here are some ideas of things to put inside your boxes to get this Halloween game for kids started. I will put ideas for labels too, feel free to change them to something that fits your Halloween party better.
Box Label – Contents Inside
- Mystery box #1 – A real hand from another hole in box.
- Mystery box # 2 – Slime inside.
- Eyeballs – Peeled grapes.
- Worms – Cooked spaghetti noodles.
- Intestines – Cooked linguine and/or fettuccini with oil.
- Fingers – Steamed baby carrots with Olive oil (Can be any oil for slipperiness.)
- Maggots – Wet cooked rice or rice pudding.
- Dead Mice – Cat toy mice.
- Heart of a Vampire – Peeled tomato.
- Fingernails of a Witch – Sliced almonds or dried coconut.
- Zombie Brain – Cauliflower covered in cottage cheese.
- Rat Tails – Licorice laces.
- Teeth – Popcorn kernels or dried corn.
- Pumpkin Vomit – Salsa and peas or chunky guacamole.
- Spider Box! – Webbing with fake spiders.
- Snake – Toy rubber snake.
Pick your favorites spooky boxes from above, do some decorating and get ready to have fun. You can even let your kids help create the boxes, just don’t reveal what will be inside during the party!