I love Halloween in the classroom! There are so many fun, spooky things you can integrate into your learning units. Check out some of the fun things we've done this year and from years past!
If you have never taught a unit on bats...do.
These cute little bats are from Cara at The First Grade Parade.
This was a super fun math game to practice more/less. Of course, you could change it up to fit what you are teaching or make it harder for older grades.
First we made an edible spider with oreos and pretzel sticks.
We made these haunted house mats from clipart and ran them on colored paper.
To play, we gave each student a mat and put some Halloween themed erasers on each table. We (teacher) called out a number and the students had to put that many counters at the top of their mat. Then, we called out another number and they put counters at the bottom to show that number.
Then, we would say, "use your spider to show us which set has MORE". The students would put their sider beside the correct set. We also practiced LESS too. We played several times. Last, they got to eat their spider.
To set the mood, play some spooky music for kids from youtube while you play.
Click HERE to grab the Math Mat below for FREE.
Have you read Crankenstein by Samantha Berger? It's adorable! Great for talking about feelings and it's just plain fun. We made these Crankensteins and made a class chart about what makes us cranky and what makes us happy.
You can find out more about these books below.
Aren't these adorable? Love how funky they are. We read Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White...like we do every year. I absolutely love that book...it's at the top of the list of my favorite fall books. Then, we wrote about what we wouldn't like too many of and what we would love too many of.
I love the books Skeleton for Dinner, Silly Skeletons, & Dem Bones. These are some great books to read when you make these sight word skeletons! These turned out so cute plus they were fun to make and very hands-on! This was a 2 step project for us...first we built the sight word using Q-Tips. Later, we added arms and legs and wrote a sentence that says I have bones.
Click the pictures to find these books.
I inherited this fun idea from a co-worker of mine years ago! First, grab a pot like the one you see below and fill with candies.
Next, crinkle some black butcher paper so it covers the candies.
Then, make up some letter, word, or picture cards to throw on top of the black paper.
I used die-cut pumpkins to make it more seasonal, but you could use anything. And, I made a variety of pumpkins. Okay, the fun part…Turn all the lights off so it's dark and gather together at the rug. Tell your kiddos that you're about to make a magical brew and you need their help. *Before beginning show them the "empty" pot…remember the black paper is covering the candies. Quickly flash the pot before them…don't give them too much time to inspect the pot or they might notice the paper. Give every student a card. They must tell you what is on their card correctly before throwing it in the pot. After every student has added their magical ingredient (the cards) have them stand up.
You will sing this in a scraggly voice while stirring up the cards: Stirring, and stirring, and stirring my brew. Stirring, and stirring, and stirring my brew. (whisper the words) Tip toe, tip toe as you inch closer together in the circle. Repeat once…then on the last tip toe, yell BOO!
When you yell boo, you will quickly flip the black paper over so the candies are on top and the cards are under the black paper. Ta-da! Magic! The cards turned magically into candy….I'm telling you it might be the most fun thing we do for Halloween! My kids go crazy over this every year! They absolutely love it so much!
The day after Halloween we make this candy graph and these cute little candy crafts.
We've been working on adjectives a lot and learning about poems. Aren't they cute?
I have a TON of Halloween books that I absolutely love…The Three Bear's Halloween is just too cute! After reading the book, each student gets a piece of candy corn. We talk about how it has 3 colors and 3 parts, just like stories do…a beginning, middle, and an end.
We retell each part of the story using our candy corn and eating the appropriate part. I do the writing on our chart while they are retelling and munching.
If you're looking for some fun NO PREP activities to do during the entire month of October, check out my October Craze Print and Go pack.
Hope you found some FUN ideas in this post! If you did, I sure would love to hear from ya below in the comments section! :)