WorldStrides Updates

Halloween Classroom Ideas

Stuck in a Halloween activity rut? If you’ve been doing the same spooky activities for years, check out our ideas for Halloween classroom fun for different subjects, and you may be inspired to try something new. Kick off the holiday season in your classroom with some entertaining, educational, and dare we say, creepy activities and ideas! Our team of talented teachers helped us compile a killer list!

English:

• Don’t be SCARED to try a new book! Display a list of books they may like to read – don’t be SCARED to try a new book! Be sure the titles you suggest are available in the library so they can easily check them out.
• Pumpkin poetry – incorporate poetic devices in describing pumpkins. Get them started with a few words: orange, golden, yellow, round, fat, short, glossy, dull, lumpy, bumpy…how many words can you and your students think of?

STEM:

• Blood! (because Halloween) Learn what blood is made of – white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets. Then, have the class create a proportional model of blood using red gelatin, a plastic bag, and rice. Students will learn about the different components that make up blood and investigate what happens when the arteries and veins experience buildup. Take it a step further, and have them work in pairs to brainstorm ways to clean the clogged arteries.
• Haunted…classroom! Get super creative – create fake haunted house special effects around the classroom. For example, learn how to make fog and spook up the room.
• Expanding ghost activity – Use a water bottle, white balloon, funnel, baking soda, and vinegar to create a classroom of ghosts. Don’t forget a black permanent marker to give your ghouls scary faces!
• Creepy critters! Display photos of the scariest looking animals in the world, then have the class vote on the creepiest critter of all.
• Scientific candy? Yes please. Allow your students to eat their homework – make rock candy! Bonus: students get to learn how (and watch!) sugar crystals form.
• More candy! Speaking of candy, sweets like M&Ms and Skittles are great tools for teaching students how to graph, learn fractions, and calculate averages and percentages. If anything can make math more fun, it’s leftover Halloween candy!
• Punkin chunkin, ever heard of it? Teach physics by seeing how far a pumpkin can fly! Punkin chunkin competitions allow students to put their engineering skills to work, testing the limits of trebuchets, catapults, centrifugals, and air cannons. The various machines allow students to study concepts of force, power, and torque. Learn more about punkin chunkin here.

History & Social Studies:

• Fascinating funerals – Create a graveyard of historical figures, and feature interesting facts about them on their headstones. Go a step further and have your students create headstones of their favorite historical folks!
• Halloween traditions! Research Halloween around the world – How do other cultures celebrate? Can you incorporate any of these traditions in your classroom Halloween celebration? For example, create some skull-inspired treats and dishes in recognition of Dia De Los Muertos.
• What it’s all about: trick-or-treating. So did someone just decide to start knocking on their neighbors doors, asking for candy? Everything has a history. Discuss the history of trick-or-treating.

Miscellaneous (Any Discipline):

• BINGO! Play Halloween bingo in a foreign language. Potiron! Caramelo! Geest!
• Pumpkin carving of course! The catch? The pumpkin carvings must be themed. You choose the theme – math, reading, science, history, etc.
• Edible facts (the best kind) Display some candy facts – with samples! Ex:
  • American adults consume 65% of the candy that is produced each year
  • About 65% of American candy brands were introduced more than 50 years ago
  • The Snickers bar, introduced in 1929, was named after the creators’ family horse
  • William Morrison, a dentist, invented cotton candy in 1897
  • White chocolate isn’t actually chocolate as it doesn’t contain cocoa solids
  • It’s takes 364-411 licks to reach the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop, and yes, there are actual licking machines that have tested this
  • The world “Pez” comes from the German word for peppermint: “Pfefferminz”
  • Up until 1990, Snickers bars were called Marathon bars in the UK
  • It used to take 27 hours to make one Peep. Thanks to automation, it now takes only six minutes
  • After a bag is opened, candy corn can last for three to six months

Incorporate some of these ideas, and Halloween will be in the running for your students’ favorite holiday to celebrate in the classroom. Need some more scary knowledge to share? Check out our lists of 5 Haunted Historical Sites in the United States, and 5 Haunted Places in Europe. Boo!