Halloween Centers for Primary Grade Classrooms
Halloween Activities for Kindergarten, First or Second Grade Student
Oct 3, 2009
October is an exciting month for young children. They are so excited about fall traditions such as apple picking, jumping in leaves and of course Halloween. To play into the excitement of the class, teachers can schedule Pumpkin Math centers in Mid-October and then Halloween Centers for Halloween Day (or the day Halloween will be celebrated). There are many options for Halloween Day Centers:
Halloween Bingo
Halloween Bingo can help English Language Learners to improve vocabulary skills and can be designed to practice almost any skill. For example, if students need to practice sight words, teachers can include words on the Bingo board in addition to Halloween pictures. Teachers can make Bingo Boards at DLTK, where they can specifically design the Bingo Boards to include a Halloween theme. It can be fun to give name such as "Ghost" to the game instead of Bingo.
Jack o' Lantern Pictures
Students design their own jack o' lantern using shapes. Teachers should copy a pumpkin template on orange construction paper. Then, they should give each child yellow paper to use to design his or her jack o' lantern. To make this center more academically focused, students could record which shapes they are using to make the picture. For example, students could record that they used two circles for eyes and one triangle for the nose.
Make Your Own Mask
Many schools are no longer allowing students to dress up in costume on Halloween Day. Making their own masks is a way to keep the tradition without breaking the rules. Students can make masks out of paper plates or teachers can get cheap blank masks on the Oriental Trading website.
Pin the Nose on the Jack o' Lantern
This game is played exactly the same as the age-old favorite "Pin the Tail on the Donkey". The materials needed include a big picture of a pumpkin and a cut out triangle or square to be the nose. Teachers (or a parent volunteer) can blindfold each child and spin them around once or twice, then they can try to put the nose right in the middle of the pumpkin face. Teachers can also change parts so that sometimes they are trying to put on an eye, a mouth or a stem of the pumpkin.
Color Changing Leaf Pictures
Tie in the season of Fall by offering children the change to make a color change leaf picture. Teachers should print a couple of different leaf templates (or older children can design their own). Then, provide students with red, orange and yellow tissue paper cut into small squares. Next, students use their "power fingers" (fingers used to hold a pencil- thumb, pointer and middle finger) to crumple up each piece and glue it on the leaf template. This will create a colorful and three dimensional leaf design.
Children will love getting to enjoy the excitement of Halloween. Halloween Centers give children the opportunity to practice important skills and be creative at the same time. For more ideas for fun Halloween activities, see Pumpkin Math.
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