Halloween at The Iowa Children’s Museum
The Iowa Children’s Museum invites you to join us for not-too-scary Halloween events!
This year we will celebrate the spooky season with an entire weekend of activities in our museum exhibits. Costumes are encouraged (but not required) at all Halloween events. No one knows fun like The Iowa Children’s Museum, so COME PLAY this Halloween!
Halloween activities are made possible thanks to support from the GEICO Philanthropic Foundation. Thank you!
HalloWEEKEND: October 28-30, 2022
Join us for a weekend of not-too-scary Halloween activities in the museum that children of all ages will enjoy!
We will have spooky science experiments on Friday (11 a.m. & 3 p.m.), ghoul-ry crafts Saturday (11 a.m. & 4 p.m.), and creepy cardboard creations on Sunday (11 a.m. & 4 p.m.).
Throughout the weekend, you can also make creepy crafts in the Art Studio, use peculiar toppings in Pizzeria Pie, complete a Halloween scavenger hunt, and have fun with other rotating Halloween activities like pumpkin cup stacking and witch’s hat ring toss!
Low-Sensory Halloween: October 30, 2022
This FREE event offers sensory-friendly activities in a calmer environment and opportunities to collect treats in our museum exhibits.
Costumes are encouraged (but not required!) as you look for our “treat stations” throughout the museum. All treats will be small non-food items to avoid allergy concerns. We will also have not-too-spooky Halloween activities, including art projects, a Halloween “I Spy” search, and pumpkin bowling.
Jack SPLAT: November 5, 2022
Don’t toss your Jack-O-Lanterns in the garbage—let us toss them from up high instead! This free outdoor event gives your carved creations one last hurrah for the Halloween season when we throw them off the parking ramp next to Chauncey Swan Park. Come for the SPLATS, but stay for outdoor activities, jokes from Pete the Turtle, and treats!
Pumpkin drop-off will start at 9:15 a.m. in Chauncey Swan Park on Saturday, November 5th. Activities will begin around 9:30. The pumpkin SPLATS will start at 10 am. All pumpkins will be dropped by our team.
Prep your pumpkin: Pumpkins must be gutted (this is Jack SPLAT, not Jack THUD). We compost Jack Splat pumpkins, so please remove candles, artificial lighting, or any other decorations that are in or attached to the pumpkin. This includes stickers, ribbons, glitter, and remnants of candle wax inside.
Check out photos from last year’s event here!
Looking for more ways to play? Check out our event calendar!
