What is Samhain? Explore folklore, remembrance and the old roots of Halloween.

A printable Samhain pack for seasonal family learning. Folklore, Halloween traditions, crafts, recipes, nature study and reflective activities for all ages.

Completely refreshed for 2026 with new folklore, artwork, stories, activities, recipes, nature study and a much fuller exploration of Samhain and the roots of Halloween.

Samhain is an old Gaelic seasonal festival marking the threshold between autumn and winter, traditionally observed around 1 November with celebrations beginning the evening before. The harvest is ending, the trees are thinning, darkness comes earlier, and stories of ancestors, strange encounters and the Otherworld gather around this turning point in the year.

This printable Samhain Pack is a seasonal family resource for exploring folklore, remembrance, late-autumn nature, creativity and the old traditions that helped shape Halloween. It has been created for home education, seasonal learning, nature study, Wheel of the Year celebrations, and families who simply enjoy digging a little deeper into the stories behind this time of year.

Inside, you will find carefully researched pages about Samhain and Halloween, remembrance traditions from around the world, Irish mythology and folklore, eerie old tales, original stories, poetry, art, seasonal nature study, crafts, recipes, colouring pages, creative writing and reflection.

Meet the Morrígan and the Dagda, follow Nera into the Otherworld, discover the Cailleach and the coming of winter, listen for the Wild Hunt, explore the mysterious Aos Sí, and learn how the tale of Stingy Jack became tangled with the history of the Jack-o’-lantern. There are also quieter threads of memory, family stories, apples, candlelight, mist, crows, autumn walks and the landscape settling towards winter.

You do not need to use everything. Read one eerie story beside a lamp on a dark evening, make a memory lantern, cut an apple to find its hidden star, bake something warm, follow the colours of late autumn on a walk, or leave the folklore pages beside the sofa to return to when the mood takes you. Some families may spend a few days around Samhain exploring the pack. Others may dip into it through October and November, or bring it out again year after year.

This pack includes:

• Samhain and Wheel of the Year information pages
• A clear look at the history of Samhain and its relationship with Halloween
• Remembrance traditions from Ireland and around the world
• The history of carved turnip lanterns and the tale of Stingy Jack
• The Morrígan and the Dagda
• The Cailleach and the coming of winter
• The Adventure of Nera and a printable Nera’s Journey game
• The Wild Hunt and related spectral-hound folklore
• The Aos Sí and the Irish Otherworld
• An original fairy-mound story inspired by Irish folklore
• The Lantern at the Crossroads, an original Samhain story
• Samhain symbols, colours and seasonal reflection pages
• The hidden apple star and old Halloween apple customs
• Late-autumn nature study and seasonal observation
• Samhain colour hunts and natural mandala ideas
• Creative writing and storytelling prompts
• Poetry study using Shakespeare’s Song of the Witches from Macbeth
• Hallowe’en by Joel Benton as a lighter read-together poem
• Original Samhain poetry and an acrostic poem
• Art study based on Henryk Weyssenhoff’s Premonition
• Misty scene in a jar craft inspired by the painting
• Fairy-mound shoebox diorama
• Memory lantern craft
• Nature-based and Samhain-themed wand crafts
• Samhain seasonal display and children’s mini display
• Paper pumpkin and other printable crafts
• Seasonal activity ideas for mixed ages
• Butternut squash soup
• Blackberry crumble cake
• Spooky chocolate slab
• Edible chocolate bones
• Samhain foods and flavours
• Warm drink and autumn meal ideas
• Colouring pages for children and adults
• Printable templates, games and creative activities
• Remembrance, reflection and journalling prompts

The pack has a late-autumn feel rather than a plastic-spiders-and-neon-pumpkins version of Halloween. Expect turnip lanterns, apples, crows, candlelight, mist, fallen leaves, fairy mounds, old stories, darkening lanes, first frost, firelight and the occasional wonderfully gruesome chocolate bone.

It is designed for mixed-age family use. Younger children can listen to stories, colour, make simple crafts, explore nature and join in through drawing and conversation. Older children and teens can follow the mythology and folklore further, explore the history behind Halloween traditions, write, create, cook and reflect. Adults may well find themselves reading the stories after everyone else has wandered off. The prompts are deliberately open-ended. There are no right answers and no expectation that families should complete everything. They are there to encourage noticing, wondering, imagining, remembering and conversation.

Already bought the 2025 Samhain Pack? You do not need to buy it again. This new 100-page edition is included as a free update. Simply download the latest version from your Payhip purchases page or through your original Samhain 2025 purchase email. If you enjoy the new edition and would like to make a small donation towards the time spent researching, rewriting, illustrating and rebuilding it, you can do so by adding a pay-what-you-want amount to one of the free resources in the shop. It is entirely optional, but would be much appreciated.

If this pack becomes part of your autumn, I’d love you to share the shop link with another family who might enjoy it too. Please do not share the PDF itself. Word of mouth helps tiny projects like Dartmoor Kin keep growing, and mentioning the pack, leaving a review, or sharing a photograph of something you have made from it is always deeply appreciated.

I’ve also written a new What is Samhain? blog post exploring its Gaelic roots, remembrance traditions and links with Halloween.

Pair this with the Autumn Full Moons Pack or the complete Autumn Collection (which includes the Samhain Pack)

For best printing results, open the PDF using 'Adobe Acrobat' - the reader app is free to download for all platforms. Select paper size 'A4' and a 'fit to page or printable area' option to avoid cropping when printing. Only print the pages you need to, to save ink.

📎Format: Two PDF downloads. This is a digital download. No physical item will be posted.

🖨️ Printing, usage & group licence

All content in this pack is © Sasha Jackson / Dartmoor Kin.

This is a personal and limited group-use resource. You are welcome to print it for your own family, class, group, or session, but the digital file must not be shared, uploaded, copied, resold, or redistributed. Full usage guidance is included inside the pack.