Want an easy Halloween treat to make with kids? Make these spooky Monster Donuts with just a few ingredients and enjoy a fun Halloween with your kids!
I'm super excited to share this super easy Halloween dessert / Halloween activity with you!
These monster donuts are made with your favorite store-bought or bakery donuts, and then decorated to look like spooky monsters! This makes them a perfect Halloween treat to make with kids (even toddlers!) because there's no baking or hot ovens involved.
This is a great activity to do as a family and a fun activity for a kids Halloween party. It's inexpensive, fun, a little messy (but not terribly so), and the kids get to take a treat home.
By the way, you should also check out my monster popcorn tutorial!
Ready to get started?
Here's what you'll need to make Halloween monster donuts
- 1 dozen store-bought donuts (unglazed or lightly glazed are my favorite for this, but you can also use powdered donuts)
- Candy melts (any colors you like, the most "Halloweeny" colors are orange, vibrant green, purple, and black), or get several packages of icing and stir in a drop or two of food coloring
- A few teaspoons of coconut oil (refined coconut oil doesn't have a coconut flavor. Vegetable oil would work fine too, if there's a coconut allergy)
- Fun Halloween sprinkles
- Candy eyeballs (get some large ones and smaller ones for silly monster faces!)
- Candy corn (if you want Halloween donuts with teeth!)
- Plastic vampire teeth
- Pastry bags or quart-size zip lock bags
Want a healthier option with less artificial colors?
Use white chocolate or a homemade frosting and natural food coloring to create the different glazes. But we're eating donuts here, not salad, so how much does it really matter this one time? 🙂
I think you get the idea for how to make monster donuts from here on out, but I'll walk you through it. And make sure to read below on how this Halloween activity can be used as a sensory, educational, and creative activity for your little ones!
READ THIS: 15 Fall Sensory Activities for Toddlers and Preschoolers
Decorating Halloween donuts
Step 1. Combine ¾ cup of each color candy melt and a teaspoon of coconut oil in a separate microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 30 second intervals stirring after every 30 seconds until smooth. (Do this for each individual color!)
Step 2. Dip a donut into the candy melts (do this yourself so your kids don't burn their fingers!). Alternatively, use a spoon to spread the melted candy onto the donut (your kids can help with this!).
Add candy eyes, candy corn for teeth, or use plastic vampire teeth. Decorate with Halloween sprinkles.
OR let the candy coating dry before decorating with another color of candy melts (see next step)
Step 3. Carefully transfer some of the melted candy to a zip lock bag, seal it, and snip off a small corner.
Step 4. Make sure the zip lock bag is not hot to the touch, then let your child decorate a donut or two - make stripes, polka dots, etc. Use a small amount on the back of the eyes to "glue" them on. Get creative!
Step 5. Let the donuts set for about 10 minutes, then enjoy!
Tips for stress-free cooking with kids
- Get ready for a mess. It's OK. It will be faster and easier to clean up the mess at the end than to stress about it.
- Safety first! Make sure your kids don't touch the candy melts when they're too hot! Dip the donuts into the candy melts yourself if you have to.
- A piping bag might be hard for little kids to manage, so you can dip a spoon into the melted candy and let your kiddos spread the melted candy onto the donut.
- Encourage your kids to get creative and praise them to boost their confidence in the kitchen. This is one of my tips for getting toddlers interested in cooking!
Easy Halloween sensory activity
If you're new to this blog, it's about helping parents of picky eaters overcoming their picky eating and sensory issues. Getting kids to cook and get messy in the kitchen is an AMAZING sensory activity to get them used to different textures, colors, and stickiness of food.
Believe it or not, not all kids love donuts! My toddler son actually had trouble making these monster donuts because of the sticky factor... but that is a good thing. It's good to get picky eaters involved with fun food-centered activities, so they see that it's OK if food is sticky, or different colors.
Use every opportunity for development and creative play
Whenever we do any fun crafts or make fun recipes together in the kitchen, I always use it as an opportunity to teach my son about everything around him. Everything from new vocabulary (piping icing) to science (melting, liquid, solid) to math (how many candy corn teeth do we have now?) and more!
I write more about this in my post about the benefits of cooking with toddlers. And I write more about teaching my toddler life skills by having him do things around the house with me, if you're interested in reading that!
Other activities for Fall:
- 15 fun Thanksgiving activities for preschoolers and toddlers
- Easy fall slime - fun sensory play!
- Tree sponge painting - a great sensory activity for toddlers!
- Monster popcorn - another fun Halloween recipe
- Easy Christmas sensory activity for toddlers - free printable! It's NEVER too early to think about Christmas!
- Free Christmas activity sheets for toddlers
If you end up making these monster donuts, I would LOVE to see how they turn out!! Please snap a photo and tag @highchairchronicles on Instagram or Facebook!
And don't forget to save this on Pinterest for later by using the share buttons below!
Monster Donuts - Easy Halloween Dessert!
Make these spooky Monster Donuts with just a few ingredients for a fun and easy Halloween dessert to make with the kids!
Ingredients
- 1 dozen store-bought donuts (see notes)
- Candy melts (in Halloween colors, see notes)
- 2-3 teaspoons refined coconut oil
- Fun Halloween sprinkles
- Candy eyeballs (get some large ones and smaller ones for silly monster faces, see notes!)
- Candy corn (if you want Halloween donuts with teeth!)
- Plastic vampire teeth
- Pastry bags or quart-size zip lock bags
Instructions
- Combine ¾ cup of each candy melt and a teaspoon of coconut oil in a separate microwave-safe bowls. Heat in 30 second intervals stirring after every 30 seconds until smooth. (Do this for each individual color)
- Dip a donut into the candy melts (do this yourself so your kids don’t burn their fingers!). Alternatively, use a spoon to spread the melted candy onto the donut (your kids can help with this!). Add candy eyes, candy corn for teeth, or plastic vampire teeth in the center, OR let the candy coating dry before the next step.
- Carefully transfer some of the candy melts to a zip lock bag, seal it, and snip off a small corner on the bottom.
- Make sure the zip lock bag is not hot to the touch, then let your child decorate some donuts! Finish the donuts with candy eyes (use the candy melt as "glue" in the back), Halloween sprinkles, and more candy corn teeth. Get creative!
- Let the donuts cool for about 10 minutes to set, then enjoy!
Notes
- For the candy melts: use any colors you like, the most “Halloweeny” colors are orange, vibrant green, purple, and black), or get several packages of icing and stir in a drop or two of food coloring
- Coconut oil: refined coconut oil doesn’t have a coconut flavor. Vegetable oil would work fine too, if there’s a coconut allergy
- Candy eyeballs: get some large ones and smaller ones for silly monster faces!
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 620Total Fat: 32gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 64mgSodium: 502mgCarbohydrates: 74gFiber: 3gSugar: 35gProtein: 10g
The nutritional information provided is just an estimate and will vary based on the actual ingredients you use. This estimate assumes you use ALL the candy melts to coat the donuts. If you are tracking nutrition for yourself or your child, check with a nutritionist, dietitian, or pediatrician about whether this recipe is right for you or your child.