Candy is a cornerstone of Halloween, and you can use it to play a number of games. Hide candy around your play area, such as a classroom or playground, and give preschoolers empty candy wrappers or pictures of different kinds of candy. Provide buckets too, and have the children scour the play area to find one piece of each kind of candy to match their pictures or empty wrappers. Use one of these buckets of candy at a later time to play a musical game. Have the preschoolers sit down in a circle formation. Turn on some spooky, but not scary, Halloween music and ask them to pass the bucket to the person sitting next to them. When the music stops, the child holding the bucket gets to choose a piece of candy, but then sits out. The winner is the last one holding the bucket. As a side note, check for food allergies before choosing what types of candy to use for the games.
Like candy, Halloween isn't complete without jack o' lanterns, ghosts and black cats. Paint large buckets to look like these iconic symbols and have the children take turns throwing ping pong balls into them, which helps build gross motor skills. Alternatively, use plastic witch's cauldrons and have the preschoolers throw candy corns into them. Bring in some physical activity by playing skeleton dance to spooky music. When the music is playing, preschoolers pretend to dance around like skeletons, but freeze when the music stops. Another idea is to hide small plastic Halloween objects, such as pumpkins or plastic spider rings, in a sand table so children can go on a treasure hunt to find them.
Play a guessing game by having each child put on one item of his costume, such as a tail or pair of gloves. Allow each child to let the others see his partial costume and encourage them to guess what he's going as. Another guessing game requires you to give clues about common costumes and let the preschoolers guess what you're describing. For example, for a ghost you could say "I am white, I have two eyes and I'm spooky." Make the game more meaningful by also showing a picture of each costume once they've guessed what you're describing. Introduce a more active game by hiding pieces of a full costume in the play area, such as a clown nose under a book and the clown shoes under a table. Ask the preschoolers to find the pieces and pile them up in one location. Once they've found all the pieces, ask them to lay them out to identify the costume. Repeat the game with several costumes.
Sometimes quiet games are in order, and you can extend the Halloween theme to these, as well. Print out two copies of several different Halloween pictures, such as black cats, jack o' lanterns and friendly monsters, and cut around them in square shapes. Show the preschoolers how to place them face down to play the classic memory game with a Halloween twist. Sorting games are quiet, as well, and can be played by providing several copies of one type of picture, such as numerous jack o' lanterns. The children can sort them by number of eyes or by the type of face they're making. For a more active game, lay large cutouts of pumpkins or other Halloween symbols in a hopscotch formation. Laminate them for durability. Show the preschoolers how to play the game of hopscotch by jumping on the symbols.