Creating Halloween Magic: How One School Celebrates

For most teachers, Halloween is the least favorite holiday— the crazy costumes, the excitement and anticipation for a night of trick or treating, and, of course, the never ending stream of candy. For one Utah school, however, Halloween is the most anticipated holiday. The administration, teachers, and staff come together to create a magical experience for students. Every year, they choose a theme to center the holiday around; it’s usually based on a well known animated movie. Beginning in January, they start planning and gathering ideas. As the year goes on, they hammer out all the final details, collect supplies and props, and plan out every detail. The days before Halloween are spent setting up what they can without giving away the theme. Then, the night before Halloween, it’s all hands on deck, and the entire staff (and usually some recruited family members) stay at the school late into the night setting up and decorating so the magic is ready when school starts the next morning. 

It’s really quite a feat. Students make their guesses, but the teachers and staff stay tight-lipped.  The magic that is created is palpable, and it’s always an unforgettable experience. Last year’s theme was Toy Story— you can read about it and see pictures here

I didn’t think last year could be beat, but was equally amazed at this year’s theme: Cars. Every detail was included— even real cars (including a Mac semi truck and school bus) parked in front of the school, made to look like characters from the movie. Come along as I take you on a virtual tour of the magic that was created this year!

I think it’s safe to say that those teachers deserve a three day weekend to recover from all their work to pull that off! What an incredible job they did!

Halloween Activities for Language Arts

It’s no secret how much I enjoy holiday-themed activities! They just bring such a fun element to a lesson and spark so much creativity. Even though we typically think of holiday themed activities as being targeted toward elementary aged kids, you can easily bring them into any content area and any grade level simply by modifying the difficulty of the activity.

Thought I can appreciate all content areas, English/Language Arts is my favorite, since that is what I spent many years teaching. And since we are nearing Halloween, I thought it would be appropriate to share some fun Halloween themed Language Arts activities! 

(Most of these will be geared more toward junior high aged kids, but can be modified for other grade levels as well.)

  • Read some “spooky” stories or poems. Edgar Allen Poe is always a good option for this time of year. In particular, “Tell Tale Heart” is a stellar choice for junior high students. Other options include “The Hitchhiker” by Lucille Fletcher, “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, or “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving. Did you know Roald Dahl even has some spooky short stories?!
  • Ask students to write a descriptive paragraph or two giving detailed descriptions of a haunted house. Have them trade papers with a classmate and have them create a physical model (drawing, painting, cut and glue, etc.) of the haunted house using what is written.
  • Have students write a personal narrative about their favorite Halloween or a favorite family Halloween tradition.
  • Have students write and illustrate a simple Halloween children’s book.
  • Have students write a persuasive piece defending their right to still trick-or-treat.
  • Using the free “Roll A Story” printable below, have students write a short story using the elements their dice rolls choose for them.

Play some fun Halloween music while your students work on one or more of these delightful Halloween themed activities, and you’ve easily set up a fun work environment for your students to work in! Teenagers might put up a front that they are “too old” for things like this, but deep down, they love it and will eat it right up when given the chance! 

** This printable is free, and is intended for home or classroom use only. Please do not resell, repost, or claim as your own. **

Fall and Halloween Themed Crafts and Activities For All Ages

fall school activities for all ages

Being a teacher during Halloween is a whole new ball game, especially if you’re teaching in an elementary setting. If you’re needing crafts and activities to get you through these next few weeks before the big day, here’s a quick list of some, with all different age ranges, difficulties, and times. 

Our personal favorite, but one that can take a lot of time and work, is a giant tape-resistant spider web art. It can be a great individual activity on a smaller scale or a few bigger, collaborative pieces for the whole class. This activity originates from Busy Toddler. 

There’s always your classic bowling with pumpkins activity. The pins can be anything from plastic pins found online or two-liter recycled bottles. As long as a small pumpkin is being used to knock them over, that’s all that matters! 

Investigating pumpkins is always a great activity as well. This can be as open-ended or guided as needed for your class, but opening, discovering, touching, squishing, sorting, and smelling each part of a pumpkin can be such a great hands-on activity. 

A good old-fashioned vinegar and baking soda reaction with a touch of green or purple food coloring can make a great witches brew. 

A great Halloween craft to talk about and learn more about anatomy is making a skeleton out of q-tips. 

photo from mombrite.com

Simple seek n find or color pages are easy to download (legally!) and use this time of the year. 

For the younger kids, washing pumpkins is a great sensory activity. 

To see a great list of Halloween/Fall-themed books, head here.