Halloween English games for kids: 12 games that need no party

The words first (10 minutes)

The Halloween Lesson has nine words, each with its own picture: pumpkin, ghost, witch, bat, spider, vampire, zombie, skeleton, candy. For ages 3–6 take six (pumpkin, ghost, witch, bat, spider, candy) and leave the rest for another week; from seven up take all nine. Flip the cards on screen: show the picture, say the word, the class echoes it twice (once in a ghost voice), tap to hear it. Only then the first game.

The 12 games

• 1. Who's hiding? — ages 3–7, 5 minutes. Deck of Wonders on screen with Halloween loaded: picture up, the class names it, flip to check. From the second round cover most of the picture with your hand and show a corner: 'Who's hiding? A… bat!' The first meeting with the words, and the loudest.
• 2. What are you? — ages 4–9, 8 minutes, no prep. Print the flashcards from the Halloween Lesson, one card per child. A child holds the card up, the class asks 'What are you?', the child answers 'I'm a bat!' and the class echoes 'A bat!'. With four-year-olds you ask and they answer; from six they ask each other in pairs, and the shy ones speak from behind their card, which works just like a mask.
• 3. Pumpkin pass — ages 3–8, 5 minutes, no prep. Sit in a circle and pass a pumpkin (a ball, an orange, a paper one) to the chant 'Pumpkin, pumpkin, pass it on!' Say 'Stop!': whoever holds it names the card you show, or any Halloween word, and the pumpkin moves on. Nobody is out, so nobody cries.
• 4. Boo! freeze dance — ages 3–8, 5 minutes, no prep. Music plays, everyone moves like a witch on a broom, a bat, a zombie with arms out. You shout 'Boo!' and show a card: 'Freeze like a… skeleton!' Freeze, check, go again. The brain break of the lesson, with the words inside it.
• 5. Garden of Pairs — ages 4–9, 8 minutes. Memory with Halloween loaded, picture↔word, every flip said aloud. Teacher against the class makes a room quiet faster than any rule.
• 6. Spooky bingo — ages 5–11, 10 minutes. On screen you call and children tap; on paper, print the sheets and the caller's list. The rule that turns it into listening: give a clue before the word. 'It flies at night and it is not a bird.' Bat.
• 7. Whose voice? — ages 5–10, 6 minutes. Coral Deep listening with Halloween loaded: the child hears the word and picks the picture. Two rounds, then the child turns the screen to a partner and becomes the caller.
• 8. Potion recipe — ages 5–10, 8 minutes, no prep. Draw a big pot on the board. The class builds a potion out loud: 'Two red spiders, one blue bat, three green candies… stir!' Colours and numbers ride on the Halloween nouns. Then each child draws their own potion and dictates it to a partner, who draws it without looking.
• 9. The witch's spelling — ages 6–11, 6 minutes. Letter Forge with Halloween loaded: the witch has mixed up the letters, unscramble the short words first (bat, ghost, witch, candy). Spelling dressed as a puzzle.
• 10. The witch has a bat — ages 7–11, 8 minutes. Sentence Factory with Halloween loaded: build sentences from word tiles, then find the wrong word. Off screen, play the chain: 'The witch has a bat. The bat is black. The black spider…' Each child adds one sentence.
• 11. Trick or treat at the door — ages 5–11, 8 minutes, no prep. The classroom door is the house. One child knocks: 'Knock, knock! Trick or treat!' The house answers: 'Who are you?' — 'I'm a ghost!' — 'Here you are.' — 'Thank you! Happy Halloween!' The candy is a flashcard. Everyone knocks once, everyone opens once.
• 12. Star Quest, pumpkins against ghosts — ages 7–11, 10 minutes. Quest with Halloween loaded, two teams, a question per turn. The team game for the end of the unit, when the words are known and the only thing left is to use them fast.

Print and go

The Halloween Lesson has every sheet the games above need, on the same nine words and pictures: the flashcards (print and cut one set per four children; they are the cards you show in Pumpkin pass and Boo!), the 3×3 bingo cards with the caller's list (one per child), the word search for ages 7+ (one per pair, with the answer key), and three worksheets to download: What Is It?, Let's Talk About Halloween! and the Halloween Vocabulary poster.

Say it

The Let's Talk About Halloween! worksheet holds six questions a child can answer that day ('Do you like Halloween?', 'What do people wear on Halloween?'): put it on the screen for a five-minute speaking round from age six, then let pairs ask each other. For the door game, write the four lines on the board: 'Trick or treat!', 'Who are you?', 'I'm a ghost!', 'Happy Halloween!' And Spooky Wheel turns any of them into a game: type the questions, spin, answer.

Read: a bat who is not scary

Pip the Bat is a six-line decodable story about a small bat who is not scary at all: 'Pip is a bat…' Short vowels and CVC words, so a six-year-old who has started phonics reads it alone, and a four-year-old reads it with you, zipping across the carpet on every zip. Read it after the games, when the room is calm; then ask 'Is Pip big?' and let the class shout 'No!'

Everything for Halloween in one place

The Halloween Lesson collects everything on one page: the nine words with pictures as flashcards, three worksheets, five printables (writing sheet, bingo, word search, dominoes, missing letters) and the Spooky Wheel game. The lesson plan next to this article turns the games above into a timed 25-minute lesson for ages 4–6 and a 45-minute one for 7–11.