Bonfire Night Activities for Kids: 15 Ideas, Loud and Quiet

Bonfire Night is on Thursday 5 November this year, and many organised displays are on the weekends either side: Saturday 31 October and Saturday 7 November. That gives you about a fortnight of dark, crisp evenings with a proper reason to be outside in them.

Here are fifteen Bonfire Night activities for kids: daytime games that build up to it, things to do on the night, and quiet options for the toddler who takes fireworks as a personal insult. None of them need crafts. Most of them need a coat. For more dark-evening ideas, see our guide to night walks with kids.

In the days before

1. Leaf fireworks. Gather an armful of dry leaves, crouch down, count down from five and throw them as high as you can. Add the noises: whoosh, crackle, bang. It is the only firework a two year old can be trusted with, and it goes off as many times as they like.
2. The crackle and pop walk. Go on a short walk to find things that sound like fireworks. Dry leaves crackle, thin sticks snap, acorns pop under a welly. Ask which sound is most like a rocket and which is most like a sparkler.
3. Tell the story on a walk. The short version for small children: a long time ago, in 1605, a group of men tried to blow up Parliament and the King. A man called Guy Fawkes was caught in a cellar guarding the gunpowder, people lit bonfires to celebrate that the King was safe, and we have done it every year since. Stories go down better on the move than sitting still.
4. Stick sorting. If you are having a bonfire or a fire pit, collect dry sticks together and sort them into three piles: as thin as a pencil, as thick as a thumb, as thick as a wrist. That is how forest schools teach fire building: thin sticks catch first and thick ones keep it going. Grown-ups do the lighting. There is more in our guide to forest school activities at home.
5. The hedgehog check. A pile of bonfire wood is a perfect hedgehog bed, and early November is when hedgehogs look for somewhere to hibernate. The British Hedgehog Preservation Society's advice is to build the bonfire on the day you light it, or move the whole pile to a new spot just before lighting. If you can't, lift the base gently with a broom handle, shine a torch in and listen for hissing. Children make very serious hedgehog inspectors. Then light it from one side only, so anything you missed has a way out.

On the night

6. Go to an organised display. RoSPA says a public display is the safest place to enjoy fireworks, and some run an early, smaller show for young children before the main one. With a toddler, stand further back than you think you need to. It is quieter, less crowded and much easier to leave.
7. Firework bingo. Before it starts, agree five things to spot: a red one, a gold one, one that crackles, one that falls like rain, and one that goes "whee". First to see all five gets the last of the hot chocolate.
8. Count from flash to bang. For fireworks in the distance, watch for the flash, then count until you hear the bang. Sound is slower than light, so the bigger the number, the further away the firework: roughly three seconds for every kilometre. It works for thunder too.
9. Sparklers, for over-fives only. RoSPA advises not giving sparklers to children under five, and a sparkler burns at well over 1,000°C. For older children: gloves on, one sparkler at a time, held at arm's length, and a bucket of water to drop the used ones in, hot end down. Then write your names in the air, which is the best bit.
10. A glow stick hunt instead. For under-fives, glow sticks give the same magic with none of the heat. Hide a few around the garden before dark, then send them out to find them all. Keep an eye out for chewing: the liquid inside can sting mouths and eyes.

If you are setting off fireworks at home in England or Wales, the law says they must stop by midnight on Bonfire Night (11pm on most other nights). Your neighbours' toddlers will thank you for finishing well before then.

If they hate the bangs

Lots of toddlers find fireworks frightening, and that is fine. Bonfire Night can still be a lovely evening without going anywhere near a display.

11. Watch from the window. Lights off, curtains open, blankets on the sofa. Distant fireworks are quieter, and you can close the curtains in a second. A child who would hate a display can often enjoy the same fireworks through glass.
12. Try the ear defenders early. If you are going to a display, children's ear defenders take the edge off the noise. Let them wear them round the house for a few days first, so they are a game rather than a surprise.
13. Go out early. Take a torch walk at dusk on 5 November, before most displays start. You get the smell of bonfires and the odd early rocket in the distance, and you are home before the big bangs.
14. Agree an escape plan. Before you go, tell them what will happen: big bangs, bright lights, lots of people. Then agree a signal, like two squeezes of your hand, that means "I want to go", and promise that you will. Knowing they can leave is often what lets a child stay.

The morning after

15. Leave a leaf pile for the hedgehogs. On 6 November, rake some of those leaf fireworks into a quiet corner of the garden and leave them there all winter. It makes a good hibernation spot for a hedgehog, and something to check on, gently and from a distance, until spring.

One rule for the morning walk: leave any used fireworks you find where they are. A dud can still go off. Once the fireworks are over, the dark evenings are here to stay, and our winter outdoor activities for toddlers pick up where this leaves off.

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