Discover 19 fun and engaging Halloween activities for the classroom that will excite your students while making learning festive and memorable.
Halloween is a great opportunity to bring fun and excitement into your classroom. With just the right balance of creativity, learning, and a touch of spookiness, you can use games and activities to engage your students and make the day unforgettable.
Here are 19 Halloween classroom activities that you can try with your students:
Halloween Classroom Activities
Whether you teach younger or older students, these 19 Halloween classroom activities will add an entertaining twist to your lessons. From word searches and games to STEM challenges and storytelling, these ideas will help you make the most of this spooky season.
1. Halloween Vocabulary Bingo
Bingo is a classic game that students love, and it’s easy to adapt for Halloween. Create bingo cards with Halloween-themed words like “witch,” “pumpkin,” “ghost,” and “cauldron.” Call out the words one by one, and students mark them on their cards.
- How to Play: Prepare bingo cards with Halloween words and a list of those words for calling. Call out the words randomly. The first student to complete a row or column shouts “Bingo!”
- Benefits: This game reinforces vocabulary and listening skills, making it a great way to practice new words.
- Pro Tip: You can also add images to the words for younger learners or ESL students.
2. Monster Writing Prompts
Bring out your students’ creativity with Halloween-themed writing prompts. Set the scene by decorating your classroom with spooky decor and dimming the lights. Provide them with themed writing prompts to spark their imagination. This activity encourages creativity and helps students practice writing skills.
Get your students writing with these spooky story starters:
- How to Play: Provide students with prompts like “On Halloween night, I heard a strange noise…” or “The old haunted house had a secret…”. Let them write their own short stories.
- Benefits: This helps students practice sentence structure, expand their vocabulary, and develop narrative skills.
- Pro Tip: Set a time limit to keep the pace quick and make sharing stories optional to avoid pressure.
Other Prompt Ideas:
- “Describe a day in the life of a friendly monster.”
- “Write about a haunted house that turns out to be magical.”
- “Imagine you’re a detective solving a Halloween mystery.”
Encourage students to share their stories. Offer bonus points for creativity or unique plot twists to keep them motivated.
3. Pumpkin Drawing and Describing
Drawing is a great way to get students involved, especially those who enjoy art. Pair it with a descriptive writing task to boost their English skills.
- How to Play: Ask students to draw their own unique pumpkin, monster, or ghost. Then, have them describe it using adjectives and sensory details.
- Benefits: This activity combines art with descriptive language practice, enhancing vocabulary and speaking skills.
- Pro Tip: For older students, add complexity by asking them to write a story about their drawing.
4. Spooky Synonym Match
Help students expand their vocabulary by matching Halloween-themed synonyms. This is especially useful for ESL students who need to build word associations.
- How to Play: Create cards with Halloween-related words like “scary” and “frightening” and have students match synonyms.
- Benefits: This helps students learn new words and understand language nuances.
- Pro Tip: Use this game as a warm-up activity or a station during a Halloween-themed lesson.
5. Halloween Mad Libs
Mad Libs is a fun way to practice parts of speech and grammar. You can create Halloween-themed Mad Libs with spooky stories and silly endings.
- How to Play: Provide students with a Halloween-themed story with missing words. Ask them to fill in the blanks with nouns, verbs, and adjectives.
- Benefits: This reinforces grammar lessons and encourages creativity.
- Pro Tip: After completing the Mad Libs, students can read them aloud to practice speaking skills.
6. Monster Spelling Bee
Turn your classroom into a spooky spelling bee. This activity helps students learn new words while building their confidence in spelling.
- How to Play: Choose a list of Halloween-themed words and conduct a spelling bee competition.
- Benefits: This activity reinforces spelling rules and vocabulary.
- Pro Tip: Use this as an opportunity to discuss the meaning of each word to deepen comprehension.
7. Create Your Own Monster
Encourage students to use their imagination with this creative writing and drawing activity. They can invent their own monster, give it a name, and describe its characteristics.
- How to Play: Provide a template for drawing a monster. Ask students to write a description, including details about the monster’s habits, likes, and dislikes.
- Benefits: This activity combines art, writing, and speaking skills.
- Pro Tip: Let students present their monsters to the class for an extra speaking challenge.
8. Halloween Word Search or Crossword
Word searches and crosswords are great ways to reinforce vocabulary. Halloween-themed versions add a touch of fun to the learning process.
- How to Play: Create word searches or crossword puzzles using Halloween vocabulary. Distribute them to students to solve individually or in groups.
- Benefits: These puzzles improve spelling, vocabulary, and problem-solving skills.
- Pro Tip: Use online tools to create custom puzzles suited to your class’s level.
9. Haunted House Listening Activity
Listening activities are a crucial part of language learning. Create a haunted house-themed listening activity to improve students’ listening comprehension.
- How to Play: Play a spooky soundscape or a short Halloween-themed audio story. Ask comprehension questions afterward to ensure students were actively listening.
- Benefits: This builds listening skills and helps students practice picking out key information.
- Pro Tip: Use sound effects to enhance the atmosphere and make it more immersive.
10. Halloween Charades
Charades is a fun way to get students moving while practicing language skills. In Halloween charades, students act out Halloween-themed words or phrases without speaking, and their classmates must guess what they are doing.
How to Play:
- Write Halloween-related actions or characters on slips of paper (e.g., “zombie walk,” “witch stirring a potion”).
- Divide students into teams and let each team take turns acting out the phrases.
- Award points for each correct guess.
This activity helps build teamwork, creativity, and communication skills.
11. Costume Based Games
Depending on whether or not your students can wear fancy dress, there are a couple of options available to you:
Costume Fashion Show
This activity is a fun way to get students speaking and thinking on their feet. A Halloween costume fashion show can be done with real costumes or drawings.
- How to Play: Students dress up in costumes or draw their dream costumes. They then describe their character in a mini fashion show format.
- Benefits: This activity builds confidence in speaking and helps students practice descriptive language.
- Pro Tip: If costumes aren’t an option, have students describe costumes from famous Halloween characters.
Costume Parade and Guessing Game
If costumes are an option, invite your students to dress up in their favorite costumes. Host a costume parade around the classroom or school, allowing students to showcase their creativity. After the parade, play a guessing game.
How It Works:
- Line up students and let them describe their costumes without naming what they are.
- The rest of the class has to guess the costume based on the description.
12. Spooky Science Experiments
Incorporate a little science into your Halloween lesson with a potion-making activity. This can be done with simple ingredients to create bubbling “potions.”
- How to Play: Set up stations with baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, and glitter. Let students mix their own “potions,” describing each step in English.
- Benefits: This hands-on activity engages students while practicing instructional language and verbs.
- Pro Tip: Ask students to write down or narrate the steps of their potion-making to reinforce sequencing skills.
Other Experiment Ideas:
- Ghostly Density: Use a beaker, oil, water, and food coloring to demonstrate density while creating a “ghost” in a jar.
- Magic Potion: Combine baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring for a bubbling potion effect. Add a bit of dish soap to create foam for a more dramatic reaction.
- Glowing Slime: Use glue, contact solution, and glow-in-the-dark paint to create slime that glows under a black light.
These experiments not only entertain but also teach scientific concepts using English vocabulary in a memorable way.
13. Halloween Scavenger Hunt
A classroom scavenger hunt is perfect for getting students up and moving. Hide Halloween-themed items around the classroom and provide clues for students to find them.
- How to Play: Create a list of items for students to find. As they find each item, they can check it off and write a sentence about it.
- Benefits: This activity encourages reading comprehension and reinforces vocabulary in a playful way.
- Pro Tip: Make the clues rhyme or incorporate directions for extra language practice.
14. Storytime with a Twist
Create a spooky ambiance with dim lights, Halloween music, or sound effects, then read a themed story to your class. For older students, let them take turns reading a chapter from a classic Halloween tale.
Add a Creative Twist:
- Use a flashlight under your chin to add to the spookiness.
- Pause at suspenseful moments and ask students to predict what happens next.
- After the story, encourage students to write an alternate ending.
This activity enhances listening skills, comprehension, and imagination while adding a theatrical touch to your classroom.
15. Ghost Story Circle
A ghost story circle is a great way to practice speaking and listening skills. It’s perfect for the end of the day or a special class.
- How to Play: Sit students in a circle. Each student adds one sentence to a ghost story, creating a collaborative tale.
- Benefits: This activity boosts creative thinking, speaking, and listening skills.
- Pro Tip: Set guidelines to keep the story school-appropriate and inclusive of all students.
16. Halloween Escape Room
Turn your classroom into an escape room with Halloween-themed puzzles and challenges. This activity promotes teamwork, problem-solving, and critical thinking. You can tailor the escape room to fit any subject or grade level.
How to Set It Up:
- Create a storyline: For example, “You’re trapped in a haunted mansion. Find the key to escape!”
- Design puzzles: Incorporate math problems, word searches, or riddle-solving tasks.
- Use props: Add a creepy touch with cobwebs, locked boxes, or “secret” codes written in invisible ink.
Set a time limit and let students work in teams to solve the mystery before time runs out.
17. Candy Corn STEM Challenges
STEM challenges with a Halloween twist are perfect for engaging students in hands-on learning. Use candy corn, toothpicks, and other simple supplies to complete these fun challenges.
Challenge Ideas:
- Candy Corn Towers: Build the tallest tower using only candy corn and toothpicks.
- Bridge Building: Construct a bridge strong enough to hold a mini pumpkin.
- Catapult Launch: Create a mini catapult that can launch candy corn across the room.
These activities teach engineering, balance, and problem-solving while letting students have a blast.
18. Creepy Crafts Station
Set up craft stations where students can create their own Halloween decorations. From painting pumpkins to making monster bookmarks, the possibilities are endless.
Craft Ideas:
- Paper Plate Ghosts: Use paper plates, tissue paper, and googly eyes to create hanging ghosts.
- Spooky Lanterns: Decorate jars with tissue paper and glow sticks to create glowing Halloween lanterns.
- Witch Hat Bookmarks: Let students design bookmarks in the shape of witch hats, complete with ribbon tassels.
Crafting encourages creativity, fine motor skills, and the joy of making something personal.
19. Haunted House Mapping Activity
Engage students in a fun mapping activity where they design their own haunted house. Provide them with paper, rulers, and art supplies, and let them draw a floor plan of a spooky mansion.
Activity Breakdown:
- Have students include rooms, secret passages, and hidden treasures.
- Incorporate English by having them describe each room.
- Allow them to present their designs, explaining the different parts of their haunted house.
This activity encourages spatial awareness, creativity, and presentation skills.
Tips for Success
- Adapt for Age and Skill Level: Make sure to adjust the complexity of each activity based on your students’ age and English proficiency.
- Encourage Participation: Offer praise and encouragement, especially for students who may feel shy or reluctant to participate.
- Incorporate Group Work: Many of these activities work well in pairs or groups, fostering collaboration and peer learning.
- Provide Clear Instructions: Always give clear, simple instructions, especially for more complex tasks. Visual aids or examples can help students understand what is expected.
- Make It Safe and Inclusive: Be mindful of students’ comfort levels with spooky themes. Make sure all activities are fun and inclusive for everyone.
Bringing It All Together
Incorporating these 19 Halloween activities into your classroom can make lessons exciting, educational, and memorable. Whether it’s through spooky storytelling, creative crafts, or interactive games, you can engage your students in ways that make learning feel like play.
Tailor these activities to suit your classroom needs, and your students should dive into the Halloween spirit with enthusiasm. Remember, the best part of these activities is their flexibility. Adjust them to fit your schedule, curriculum, and the unique interests of your students.
By embracing the Halloween season, you’re not only creating fun memories but also enriching your students’ learning experiences in unexpected ways. So, get ready to transform your classroom and let the Halloween learning begin!
James has been helping people teach English abroad for over twelve years. He’s traveled to over 30 countries, lived in 3, and taught English in Chile and online.
- 121 Fun English Riddles and Their Answers - October 4, 2024
- 109 Tongue Twisters in English to Practice Your Pronunciation - October 1, 2024
- 411+ of the Hardest Words to Pronounce in English (& Examples) - October 1, 2024
