So here is your dilemma: You want to do something fun with your class on October 31st (because it’s Halloween!), but there is at least one student who is not allowed to celebrate the holiday.
This is very common in classrooms today! 🍂So, here are some Halloween-free alternative activities.
Do a Pumpkin Study
Learn about the life cycle of a pumpkin and then cut one up with your class! (I like to do this with a BIG pumpkin!)
You can have your students predict how many seeds are inside, then take turns scooping the seeds out onto newspaper or paper towels. Then, they can count their seeds up. You can write everyone’s totals on the board and they can add up how many seeds were in the pumpkin.
In this mini unit, your students can learn about the life cycle using the mini book and spinning wheel. The pumpkin study worksheet is a perfect companion for dissecting pumpkins!
Build-a-Scarecrow with Shapes
Hand out pattern blocks and have students build their own scarecrow! This hands-on activity lets them work on geometry by using hexagons, squares, and triangles to make their own fall-themed scarecrow.
Leaf Skip Counting🍂
Students can “collect” leaves in piles by skip counting by 2s, 5s, or 10s. Have them color their leaves different colors as they go along—red, yellow, orange, and brown.
Fall Story Mapping
Read fall-themed stories to your class and have them fill out a story map. Then, decorate them with orange, red, yellow, and brown crayons.
Learn about the Skeletal System🦴
The skeleton is often associated with Halloween, but many students don’t even know that they have a skeleton inside of their body.
I have a unit that allows students to put together a skeleton, learn a few bone names, and learn the role of the skeletal system in our bodies! Pair that with a couple of interesting videos about the skeletal system, and your students will really be enjoying themselves!
Complete a Comprehension Quest
My “Halloween” Comprehension Quest is called Mystery Mansion. (However–it doesn’t mention Halloween at all!) In the quest, students must use the clues to discover which room a special box is hidden in.
If you’ve never tried one of my Comprehension Quests, you’ll be surprised how easy they are to implement. Students LOVE escape activities, and they’ll love a quest too!
Students read 6 nonfiction passages. After each passage, they complete a graphic organizer. Once you have checked it, you give them a clue. They use the clues and their elimination charts to solve the quest. The graphic organizers are differentiated covering grade level expectations from 2nd through 5th grades, so you can give your students something to do on their level.
Check out the preview to learn more!
How to Bake an Apple Pie Sequencing🥧
This activity gets students to write a how-to guide for making a delicious fall treat—apple pie! Encourage them to use sequencing words like first, next, then, and finally. Not only does this practice their writing skills, but it also taps into their love for food!
If I Were a Scarecrow Creative Writing
Have your students imagine that they are scarecrows! What would they see all day long? What animals would come close? What kind of weather would they face? This fun creative writing activity helps them practice descriptive writing while keeping it seasonal.
Acorn Adventure Story🐿️
Set up a writing prompt where students write about an adventurous squirrel planting an acorn who is on a mission to find the best spot for it to grow into an oak tree. Encourage them to get creative with what the squirrel might see or encounter along the way!
Teach About Hibernation!
This is a great time of year to teach your students about hibernating animals. This resource includes passages about 7 different animals.
It’s a great way to practice main idea and details as well as context clues. It also has coloring pages where students can write facts they learned from the passages.
Looking for ready-to-go fall fun? You can grab this Fall Festive Fun bundle here!👇
