13 Oct My Updated List of Halloween-themed Activities and Resources

Halloween is just a couple of weeks away. My daughters are getting excited to wear their costumes (they’re going to be Winnie the Pooh and Tigger). Their excitement reminded me that it’s time for me to publish my annual list of Halloween-themed lesson activities and resources. This year’s list includes some of my old favorites and some new ones. 

Halloween Reading
ReadWorks offers a collection of Halloween-themed articles for a  K-8 audience and a few for 9-12. The articles covered topics like the history of Halloween, pumpkin farms, and the history of ghost stories. Like all ReadWorks articles, you’ll find comprehension questions and vocabulary sets to accompany the articles. A read aloud feature is also available in ReadWorks.

Pumpkin Dice Latte Challenge
The Pumpkin Dice Latte Challenge comes from Justin Cahill at Keeping Kids in Motion. This is a physical education game that is played by rolling dice then completing an exercise like “spooky squats” and “boogedy boogedy burpees.” You can get the complete directions for the game and a video demonstration of the game right here on Keeping Kids in Motion.

Jack-o-Lantern Google Slides
Eric Curts recently published a new Google Slides Build a Jack-o-Lantern template. His new template includes an audio storytelling component for students. You can get the template and Eric’s complete directions for using the template right here on his blog, Control Alt Achieve

Halloween Science Videos
SciShow Kids has a playlist of videos covering topics that are frequently connected to symbols of Halloween. Those topics are bats, spiders, skeletons, and the changing colors of leaves. In the video about bats students learn how bats use sound to find their way at night, how and why bats hang upside down, and how they rear their offspring. In the video on spiders students learn about the role of spiders in controlling flying insect populations and how spiders create webs. In the video about the human skeleton students can learn about the functions of the skeleton as well as how bones grow and heal over time. Finally, in the video on leaves students learn about the correlation between chlorophyll, sunlight, and leaf color.

Halloween Traditions
PBS Learning Media has a collection of Halloween-themed lessons for elementary school students. One of the those lessons is all about the historical traditions that contributed to the creation of Halloween. The materials for this lesson include a short video, video discussion questions, and a vocabulary sheet. All of the items in PBS Learning Media’s Halloween collection can be shared to Google Classroom where you can add questions for students answer after watching the videos.

Halloween is just a couple of weeks away. My daughters are getting excited to wear their costumes (they’re going to be Winnie the Pooh and Tigger). Their excitement reminded me that it’s time for me to publish my annual list of Halloween-themed lesson activities and resources. This year’s list includes some of my old favorites and some new ones.  Halloween ReadingReadWorks offers a collection of Halloween-themed articles for a  K-8 audience and a few for 9-12. The articles covered topics like the history of Halloween, pumpkin farms, and the history of ghost stories. Like all ReadWorks articles, you’ll find comprehension questions and vocabulary sets to accompany the articles. A read aloud feature is also available in ReadWorks. Pumpkin Dice Latte ChallengeThe Pumpkin Dice Latte Challenge comes from Justin Cahill at Keeping Kids in Motion. This is a physical education game that is played by rolling dice then completing an exercise like “spooky squats” and “boogedy boogedy burpees.” You can get the complete directions for the game and a video demonstration of the game right here on Keeping Kids in Motion. Jack-o-Lantern Google SlidesEric Curts recently published a new Google Slides Build a Jack-o-Lantern template. His new template includes an audio storytelling component for students. You can get the template and Eric’s complete directions for using the template right here on his blog, Control Alt AchieveHalloween Science Videos SciShow Kids has a playlist of videos covering topics that are frequently connected to symbols of Halloween. Those topics are bats, spiders, skeletons, and the changing colors of leaves. In the video about bats students learn how bats use sound to find their way at night, how and why bats hang upside down, and how they rear their offspring. In the video on spiders students learn about the role of spiders in controlling flying insect populations and how spiders create webs. In the video about the human skeleton students can learn about the functions of the skeleton as well as how bones grow and heal over time. Finally, in the video on leaves students learn about the correlation between chlorophyll, sunlight, and leaf color. Halloween TraditionsPBS Learning Media has a collection of Halloween-themed lessons for elementary school students. One of the those lessons is all about the historical traditions that contributed to the creation of Halloween. The materials for this lesson include a short video, video discussion questions, and a vocabulary sheet. All of the items in PBS Learning Media’s Halloween collection can be shared to Google Classroom where you can add questions for students answer after watching the videos.Halloween MathNumber Chase – Math vs. Zombies is a free iPad game with a Halloween theme. The game is has three virtual worlds each containing ten levels of basic math problems.Halloween Safety via KahootIf you’d like to play some Halloween trivia games or Halloween safety tips review games with your students, Kahoot has hundreds of games on those topics. Here’s my video tutorial on how to find and modify Halloween games on Kahoot.Halloween TED-Ed LessonsIn Why Should You Read Edgar Allan Poe? students can learn about Poe’s guiding principles for writing, the recurring themes of his work, and the personal factors in his life that contributed to his writing. Find the complete lesson here or watch the video as embedded below.If your students are going to do some Halloween-themed writing, TED-Ed has a lesson titled How to Make Your Writing Suspenseful that could be helpful to them. Vampires: Folklore, Fantasy, and Fact is a TED-Ed lesson that explores the myth of vampires. free lesson plans, Free Technology For Teachers, Google Slides, Halloween, Holidays, how to, Physical Education, TED-Ed, TraditionsRead More