Spooky — but healthy — snacks are back for Kids Unlimited Academy’s 2026 Harvest Festival.

A more wholesome alternative to Halloween candy, these recipes are as fun to make as they are to eat! KUA will provide all the ingredients and recipes for this event, Tuesday, Oct. 27. Everyone who makes a snack will receive a ticket to enter in our harvest-themed raffle.

A mini farmers market headlines Harvest Festival from 5 to 7 p.m., when families can select free, freshly harvested, locally grown produce to take home — and meet the farmers who grew the fruits and vegetables. The KU Food Program will provide a dinner of  housemade pasta with a seasonally inspired sauce. Use our farm-inspired photo wall to take family pictures and watch the animated classic “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

From “monster teeth” and “scarecrow hands” to “spooky spiders” and “haunted fruit skewers,” KUA’s recipes feature fruits, nuts and whole-grain items. Assembled to evoke ghosts, creepy crawlers and gruesome creatures, these treats celebrate Halloween, Dia de los Muertos and KUA’s commitment to wholesome foods.

Monster Teeth

Ingredients:

  • Apples
  • Mini marshmallows or yogurt bites
  • Peanut or almond butter (or chocolate spread)
  • Edible eyes

Instructions:

Cut the apples into medium-sized slices, cutting out and discarding cores. Dry apples with a napkin or paper towel so the peanut butter will stick. Add peanut butter on one side of each slice, then arrange the marshmallows to resemble teeth, sticking them to peanut butter on apple slices. Add a second apple slice to the tops of each slice with peanut butter, arranging so apples form “mouth” shapes. Add a small amount of peanut butter to the backs of the eyes and stick them onto top apple slices above peanut butter.

Spooky Spiders

Ingredients:

  • Ritz crackers
  • Cream cheese or peanut butter
  • Pretzel sticks
  • Mini chocolate chips or raisins (optional)

Instructions:

Generously spread some cream cheese onto a cracker, thick enough to hold the pretzel sticks in place. Arrange pretzel sticks (may be broken in half) on top of the cream cheese. Spread some cream cheese on another cracker and place it on top of the pretzels. For spider “eyes,” dollop 2 dots of cream cheese on the top cracker and top with a mini chocolate chip or raisin. Alternatively, use a tube of writing icing to make eyes.

Scarecrow Hands

Ingredients:

  • Popcorn
  • Candy corn (may substitute whole almonds)
  • Special materials: transparent, disposable, plastic gloves

Instructions:

Place 1 piece of candy corn or an almond in each glove fingertip for “fingernails.” Fill the rest of the glove with popcorn and close up the opening with ribbon or a rubber band.

Arrange pretzel sticks (may be broken in half) on top of the cream cheese. Spread some cream cheese on another cracker and place it on top of the pretzels. For spider “eyes,” dollop 2 dots of cream cheese on the top cracker and top with a mini chocolate chip or raisin. Alternatively, use a tube of writing icing to make eyes.

Ghost Fruit Skewers

Ingredients:

  • Large marshmallows
  • Small tube black writing icing or gel
  • Medium- to large-sized strawberries
  • Medium green seedless grapes
  • Special materials: wooden skewers

Instructions:

On each marshmallow, draw eyes and a mouth using the black writing icing. For each skewer, spear 1 strawberry, 1 grape, a decorated marshmallow “ghost” and another grape. Make various skewer arrangements depending on sticks’ length and fruit’s size.