Halloween Activities with a Kinesthetic Learning Component

Halloween is such an exciting time of year for students. The thrill of dressing up in costume, letting your imagination run wild, and trick-or-treating! And how can we forget all that candy?

Halloween can also be great time to integrate movement into your classroom activities. By harnessing the excitement of Halloween and directing it toward themed activities, you can add some movement to your classroom exercises while reinforcing valuable concepts. So counteract all of the candy, and try one of these fun, active games!

HALLOWEEN EDUCATIONAL GAMES

Witch’s Broom Answers (K-2): Place two brooms on the floor in different parts of the classroom. Each broom will represent an answer to a question. Ask the class a question. (Questions can include math problems, science questions, questions about books the class has read, etc.) Give students two possible answers and tell them which broom corresponds to which answer. Students should run to the broom they think is correct. Repeat for as many questions as desired.

Skeleton Song (PK-2): Sing “Dem Bones” as a class and have students touch their bodies as each bone is mentioned.

Pumpkin Math Relay (K-2): Provide two pumpkins with math facts written on them. (Pumpkins should be small enough so that students can carry them.) Mark a start and finish line. Have students line up at the start line in two equal groups. The first student should state a math fact on the pumpkin and say the answer. Then, the student should roll the pumpkin to the finish line, pick it up, run back to the start line, and hand the pumpkin to the second student. Repeat until the last student in line runs back to the start line. The team that finishes first wins.

Black Cat (or Bat) Spelling Tag (K-2): Choose a student to be “it.” Have students crawl and meow like cats or flap their arms like bats as they play tag. When “it” tags another student, the student must spell an –at word family word that rhymes with cat and bat such as hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, that, vat, and flat.

JUST FOR FUN (PK-2)

Monster Walk: Have students walk down the hall like quiet monsters with stiff legs and their arms straight out in front of them.

Fly Like a Bat: Have students walk down the hall like quiet flying bats by flapping their arms.

Zombie Dance: Have students dance like zombies to Halloween music such as “Thriller,” “Purple People Eater,” “Monster Mash,” “Ghostbusters” song, and “Addams Family” song.

Halloween Charades: Choose a student to act out a character they might dress up as for Halloween. Characters might include community helpers, animals, cartoon characters, and monsters. (Younger students may need suggestions provided by the teacher.) Ask the class to guess the character. Allow as many students as desired to act out a character.

Happy Halloween!