10 Fun Classroom Games for a Halloween Party
Do you need some fun activities for your classroom Halloween party? Use these 10 ideas, including games perfect for EFL/ESL students.
1. Halloween Escape Room (Good for all ages)
If you’ve never done an escape room activity with your students, then Halloween is the perfect time to try it out. Digital or worksheet escape rooms are a student-centered activity where students are either given access to a digital game on their devices (like iPads or phones) or given worksheets with puzzles and instructions on them. Then the students complete the activities as quickly as they can either by themselves or in small groups. The goal is to solve all the puzzles and “escape” as quickly as possible.
Oscar’s favorite digital escape room is…
My all-time favorite Halloween escape room can be found here on Teachers Pay Teachers for $8.00 (a very fair price to pay for something that can be used every year with a new class.) This escape room uses mostly images (instead of words) which makes it a good choice for mixed ability classrooms. It’s best for students from about 4th grade up. Students will need access to iPads or phones to access this escape room.
Do you need a free escape room?
If you prefer not to spend any money, then this free digital escape room is a good choice. This activity helps students learn about words with multiple meanings, so it’s perfect for a language arts or EFL classroom.
There are also printable escape rooms.
Here is another free escape room, but this one is printable, so it’s good for children and teens who don’t have access to devices.
2. Halloween Trivia (Good for teens and adults)
Trivia is a classic party game that translates perfectly to the classroom.
Use Kahoot for trivia.
One way to do Halloween trivia in the classroom is by using Kahoot. You can use this Kahoot to test students’ knowledge about Halloween around the world. (Students need access to devices to play Kahoot.)
Crowdpurr is a great trivia website for the classroom.
If your students have had enough of Kahoot, try this True/False Halloween trivia game on Crowdpurr. Again, students will need access to devices.
Or do trivia the old-fashioned way.
And if you’re looking to do a classic game of trivia, then the teacher can simply read out some of these Halloween Trivia questions from Love to Know. Students can either shout out or write down their answers, while the teacher (or a volunteer student) keeps score.
3. Read and Write Spooky Stories (Good for all ages)
Kids, teens, and adults all love a spooky story, so try telling a few in class! Dim the lights and put on some creepy background music to set the mood.
Here are some great spooky stories from Tiny Beans, but be sure to preview them before class and make sure they’re not too scary for your students.
After you’ve read a few scary stories, let students write their own. When they’re done, they can read their stories to their classmates.
Turn scary stories into a full lesson-plan or mini-unit.
If you want an idea of how to turn spooky story-telling into a full lesson (or multi-day lesson), then check out our step-by-step lesson plan about writing scary stories in class.
4. What’s the Time, Mr. Monster? (Good for children)
What’s the time, Mr. Wolf is a classic playground game. To make it more Halloween-themed, change Mr. Wolf to Mr. Monster and give the student playing the monster a creepy mask or Halloween hat to wear.
To play the classic version in the classroom, first the teacher should make sure students have a clear space to run around (move desks and chairs off to the side). Have students line up against one wall and whoever is the monster must stand near the opposite wall.
The students all chant, “What’s the time, Mr. Monster?”
The monster says a time, such as “4 o’ clock” or “2 o’ clock” and the students must all take that many steps. So if the monster says “6 o’ clock, ” then all the students take 6 steps towards the monster.
The students all repeat, “What’s the time, Mr. Monster?” several times and keep taking steps towards the monster until the monster says, “Dinner time!” The monster quicklky turns around and tries to tag a child to be the next monster. Then the game continues with the new monster.
Use flashcards to turn “What’s the time…?” into a review game.
If you want to make the game more educational, then print several flashcards relating to whatever you’re studying in class, but include a monster card. In this version Mr. Monster shows the flashcards one-by-one. Students say what flashcard the monster is holding and take a step forward with each new flashcard. When the monster flashcard appears, the monster runs and tries to tag a new monster to take his place.
5. Would You Rather? (Good for older children, teenagers, and adults)
This activity can spark some surprisingly good classroom discussion. Simply present several “Would you rather” Halloween scenarios to your students and let them discuss what the best options are and why.
Use YouTube to start a “Would you rather?” discussion.
This short YouTube video would be a great classroom warm-up for a conversation class about Halloween.
Or use a “Would you rather” list to spark discussion.
This much longer “Would you rather” list from Krafty Lab provides plenty of chances for your students to think and chat about their Halloween preferences. The teacher can either print the list before class, read some questions out loud, or write some on the board for students to answer.
6. Halloween Riddles (Good for all ages)
I love riddles and Halloween is the best time to use them in class because there are so many spooky riddles out there. Test your students’ ability to think outside the box with these great riddles from Splash Learn.
7. Mystery Boxes (Good for children)
This classic game requires prep-work from the teacher but can be a really fun classroom party game.
Get a few boxes and cut a circular hole in the top for students to reach into. Inside each of the boxes put some objects for students to feel and guess. Then dim the lights and ask for some volunteers to feel and describe what’s in each of the boxes. If you want to be extra devious, then you can label the boxes with what “might” be inside.
Some classic items to put in the boxes include…
- A bowl of cooked spaghetti with oil (worms)
- Chocolate rice crispies (rat droppings)
- Jelly (ogre’s boogers)
- Toy bugs, snakes, or rats (real bugs, snakes, or rats)
- Olives (eyeballs)
- Cold oatmeal (brains)
- Pickles (witch’s fingers)
- Cotton candy (spider webs)
8. Werewolf (Good for teens and adults)
This classic party game takes a bit of explaining, but with the right class this game goes down a treat. It’s best to play with teens or adults.
You can read a complete breakdown of the rules here.
And this is an excellent printable with a script for students to follow along with as they play.
9. Murder Mystery (Good for teens and adults)
Pretending to be a detective can be surprisingly fun, and it’s an excellent way for students to practice their critical thinking.
Some murder mystery activities can be found in YouTube.
These videos make excellent no-prep activities. For example, this video from Well… Actually is less than two minutes long, so it’s a great classroom warm-up.
This one from Brightside is 10 minutes long. Be sure to pause the video to allow students to tell one another their theories.
Or you can do a whole class murder mystery role-play.
And if you want a longer murder mystery activity, then try this excellent lesson plan from One Stop English which includes role-playing for a fully immersive experience.
10. Halloween Bingo (Good for all ages)
Bingo is fun for all ages. It’s a great way to review Halloween vocabulary or just have a bit of fun. Below is a printable Halloween Bingo PDF with 8 different Bingo cards. The teacher says a Halloween word (or describes one) and the students check it off. If you have a large class, consider letting students play in partners.
The first student to check off a whole row, column, or diagonal shouts “Bingo!” and wins.
