2020 has been scary enough, let’s just focus on the fun part of Halloween this year! And a huge thank you to all of you who became VIP members this week, enjoy what I’ve got for you!
Top Halloween Songs & Full Lessons
One of the easiest holidays to teach to kids is Halloween as there are so many great games that you can play.
But why stop at monsters and trick or treat? Here we teach your favourite English topics (prepositions, body parts, “Who is …” etc.) , but with Halloween magic and flavour!
New Little Red Riding Hood at Grandma’s House
Who is in the haunted house?Who is in the …. + kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom, dining room, garage, attic, garden.
Superheros are for Halloween too! – I can ….
What do you want to be for Halloween?
“I want to be a …” + Halloween outfits!
Colours & Piratesred, blue, black, white, grey, brown, pink, green
Treasure AdventurePhonics “ure” sound + there’s a pirate, hat, parrot, map, ship, island, shark + presentations
Trick or TreatTrick or Treat + Scarecrow Soup, Skeleton Steak, Monster Mash, Pirate Pancakes, Black Cat Cookies, Pumpkin Pie, Spider Spaghetti, Ice Cream Eyes!
Apple BobbingApple Bobbing rules for Halloween.
Happy HalloweenHappy Halloween! “I’m scared”, “Look, there’s a …”
wizard, witch, ghost, mummy, bat, broom, wand, vampire
Prepositions: Where is the spider?
Under, on, behind, in front of, in, next to , near
Let’s make a monsterBody parts e.g. neck, toes, fingers, etc.
Skeleton SoupGive me …. + body parts + foot/feet etc.
ThanksgivingI’m thankful for my …. friends, school, toys, food, family, clothes, teacher
Halloween Themed English Practice Games
These games you can use for just about any English vocab or grammar point you wish to teach – all tested on kids, not on animals 🙂
VIP Workbook
Plus for there is the evaluation workbook for VIP members. (VIP membership is included with the Teacher’s Set)
You give one of these at the end of each lesson so the parents can see what the kids have been doing.
Ninja Tip: The words are just printed there for the parents, the kids know the words from the pictures they learnt in class.
Hallowe’en Imagination Worksheets
Also for VIP Members get your kids thinking outside the box (and maybe ready for creative writing?) with these fantastic imagination worksheets.
+ VIP Members Printable Halloween Books:
Hallowe’en Spot the Difference Quizzes
Not English as such, but if you need to kill a bit of time here’s a great Hallowe’en “Spot the difference quiz”
Halloween Certificate
We all love getting praise for what we’ve done. They’re great for parties too!
Halloween Masks
VIP Members can also download these amazing Halloween masks to go with the Trick or Treat Song. @Designed by Gaz.
And the stickers…
Plus you want some more super quick Halloween Games?
How many candies?
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– Put a load of candies in a jar and the kids have to guess, in English, how many there are. Once they get the magic number, they get a candy each. Use “higher” and “lower” to give them hints if you like. If you’re in a public school you might have to use stickers or something instead of food.
* How heavy is the pumpkin?
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– Similar to the above game, the kids guess how heavy the pumpkin, or Jack o’Lantern, is. Great to link in with maths lessons ( e.g. grams vs. kilograms, analogue vs. digital scales etc.)
* Pesky Hound – Build a Skeleton Game
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Similar to the “Body Building Game” on the site. Ask the kids some review questions. Whoever gets the answer correct gets to roll a dice. If they roll a “1”, they can draw the head of their team’s skeleton on the board, “2” let’s them draw an arm, “3” is a leg, “4” is a foot, “5” is a “hand” and “6” is the “dog card” where a pesky hound comes and steals one of the bones they’ve already drawn. First team to draw 1 head, 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 hands and 2 feet is the winner.
NEW: Pesky Hound Printables:
* Make a Pumpkin Face
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– Use the Make a Face song from CD6, then do a version of the Make a Face game where the kids are blind fold and have to put cut-out eyes, nose and mouth onto a giant jack o’Lantern you draw on the board.
Apple bobbing
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This is a cool game to play outside during lunchbreak. Simply fill a deep barrel full of water and put some apples in. One kid at a time, with their hands tied behind their back, comes and tries to pick up one of the apples with their teeth! If they fail 3 times, a new kid has a go. (And thanks to Dennis of Nagano-ken for suggesting using vodka instead of water for more grown up students!). Another variation is to have an apple dangling from the ceiling by a string.
Costume Karuta
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I had this great idea whilst having a meeting in Kagawa prefecture. First of all you prepare several sets of simple Hallowe’en costumes. Examples could be a sheet for a ghost, a hat for a witch or a mask for a wolf man, or whatever!! You split the kids into teams and each team has a full set of costumes. The teacher shouts out a word, e.g. “ghost”, and the front kid from each group has to run to the costumes and put on the correct one! The fastest kid gets 2 points, if the other kids got the correct costume they get 1 point!
Halloween Tic-tac-toe
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One of the best Hallowe’en ideas I used to do was Hallowe’en tic-tac-toe, designed by Grace Sylvan. It’s a simple, calm lesson, and the kids get to take something home afterwards!! Check out the game at http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/tictac1.html
Pumpkin targets
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I saw this game at Horigane school in Nagano. You paint a large pumpkin on a piece of card about 1m square. You then cut out holes for the eyes, nose and mouth. But make one eye a square, one a triangle and the nose a circle. Ideally you would have 3 of these pumpkins. You put the kids into 3 teams and the front kid from each team has 2 balls. The teacher says a “target”, for example “The square eye” or “The round nose”. The kids then have to try and throw one ball into the correct hole in the pumpkin’s face! They then move one step forward, the teacher says another word, and they try again! Then the next kid in the group has a go.
Halloween boxes
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This is an old game and works well for some kids, but don’t force any one to do it!! You first of all teach some unusual body parts, such as “fingernails, liver, brain,” etc. You then have several shoe boxes. Each one has a small hole to fit a hand through, but you cannot see inside it!! Kids who want to have a go come to the front, stick their hand in the box and without looking inside they have to decide what “body part” is inside! Suggested items could be pieces of plastic for “finger nails”, tofu for “brain”, peeled grapes for “eyes”, a plastic glove filled with water and frozen for “hand”, noodles for “intestines” and the clincher is “liver” – a real liver!!! The kids love it when the tough kids come to the front thinking “Yeah, no problem” and then they pull their hand out of the last box covered in blood!! Dim the lights and it adds to the atmosphere! Of course you have to be careful with this game, in Japan it’s easier to get away with this type of thing, in other countries you may have to respect different customs!! And don’t force any kid to participate!!
Or check out my Happy Halloween Picture Book
Hope that’s enough for you, I told you I wanted to over deliver for all you new VIP members! 🙂
Be genki,
Richard
P.S. The Teacher’s Set now has gone up in price, but it’s still amazing value, just think how much time you just saved by getting all these materials in one page!
