There's a chill in the air, a spicy smell of cinnamon and apples, and mountains of brightly colored leaves litter the sidewalks-yes, it's time for Halloween! We all know kids (and let's face it, a lot of us grown ups too!) absolutely adore Halloween, and the holiday presents an opportunity for some real fun in the classroom. Check out these five fun classroom activities for Halloween-these activities provide a good mixture of artsy fun and engaging writing and science lessons:
1. Bottled Monsters. A mad scientist would be proud of these fine specimens bottled up on the classroom shelves. Your students will have a blast creating these unique bottled monsters-and the preparation is scarily easy. This Halloween craft requires simple materials such as oak tag, construction paper, scissors, pencils, and crayons, markers, glitter or anything your students want to use to make their own gruesome monsters come to life. Hang your finished products up on top of the chalkboard, like a shelf, or pile them in a haphazard heap by the door.
2. Scary Story Starters. Students will be thrilled to create their own spine-tingling (or mildly creepy!) tales using these scary story starters. These ten different writing prompts-such as "something in the closet was making a strange noise, so I opened the door and..." or "the mad scientist was creating a new monster that could..."-will really get the creative juices flowing and open up worlds of possibility for some very unique stories. Place students together in groups of three or four to create their spooky stories, then combine all the stories into a book to keep in the classroom.
3. The History of Halloween. Students will be interested to learn about the origins of Halloween with this PDF. This sheet also includes a word list with alternatives to the most common Halloween words-pair this with your scary story writing prompts so the students can expand their vocabulary.
4. Science Exploration: Bats. This science lesson from Scholastic and the American Museum of Natural History includes a variety of interactive learning activities that teaches students about bats while enhancing reading, writing, and research skills. These projects are most appropriate for grades 3-10.
5. Cute Spooks from Friendly Ghosts. If you are an artistically inclined sort of teacher who enjoys crafts, these adorable friendly ghosts are a perfect activity. Your students will love dipping and shaping their own charming little apparitions by laying wet cheesecloth over a balloon. Once their cheesecloth is dry, students will get a kick out of you popping the balloon inside while the ghost retains its shape!
Once you've completed these fantastic Halloween activities, grab a classic spooky story, warm some apple cider, and settle your class down for a warm and fuzzy fall treat.