More Halloween Ideas (quiet activities this time)

Halloween

There are lots of activities for Halloween on LearnEnglish Kids, the British Council’s site for young learners, which you can use with your students to mark the occasion.They range from a song about a Scary Skeleton to a story about a Haunted House, from a Halloween facts quiz to a selection of terrific games and activities to do! There are a variety of activities suitable for all levels. You can find the activities here: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/

On this page you will find tips for using and extending the activities in the classroom.

Halloween words: Match Halloween pictures and words.
Tell your learners they're going to play a Halloween word game. Draw a spidergram and see if they can add a Halloween word or picture to each of the legs. Now play the Halloween words game and see if your learners can match the scary pictures with the words! How many of the words match your spidergram?
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-games-pelmanism-halloween.htm

As a follow-up activity, your learners could match the pictures and words in the printable worksheet Halloween words. Can they find all the words in the wordsearch, too? britishcouncil.org/kids-print-halloween.pdf

Quiz
When is Halloween? Where did it originate? What's a ‘treat'? If your learners are curious to know the answers to these questions, play this Halloween quiz with them! http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-games-quiz-halloween.htm

As a follow-up activity, they might like to try the ‘True or False' printable worksheet The History of Halloween to check how much they know about Halloween! britishcouncil.org/kids-print-history-halloween.pdf

The Scary Skeleton: Song
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-skeleton.htm
Tell your learners they're going to listen to a song about a Scary Skeleton. Ask them what a skeleton is made of. Can they feel the bones in their hands, fingers, legs, feet? How many bones do they think they have in their bodies?! Take a guess! (Adults have approximately 206 bones, a baby has 270!)

Now ask your learners to touch the different parts of the body in sequence with the words in the song:
‘Touch your head, shoulders, neck, eyes, mouth, nose, ears, body, legs, feet, toes, knees, fingers, hand.'
Demonstrate as you say the words, and then repeat with just the words to ensure that your learners recognise the different parts of the body. Play the song and ask your learners to touch the parts of the body when they
hear them-you might have to play the song two or three times!

You could now ask your learners to touch the different parts of the body out of sequence, or play ‘Simon says', for example, "Simon says ‘Touch your feet!'" "Touch your nose!" Your learners must only do the action when the action is preceded by the words "Simon says".

Another follow-up activity might be to print off and complete The Skeleton worksheet by labelling the correct parts of the bony body! An alternative activity is to label the dinosaur on The Scary Skeleton worksheet and play the ‘Make a skeleton' dice game.

As a final activity your learners could draw and label their own picture. Depending on the age and height of your students, a life-size version can be great fun-just ask your students to lie down on 2 or 3 poster size paper and draw around them!

The Magic Spell: Story
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-magic-spell.htm
Generate interest in the story by asking learners questions about magic spells. For example, who makes magic spells? What do wizards and witches use spells for? What ingredients do they put into their pots and cauldrons? What do they say as they mix the ingredients? What do they think would happen if a spell went wrong? Can your learners make a magic spell? Do they wish they didn't have to go to school?

After the story your learners could complete the printable The Magic Spell worksheet and draw and write recipes for the Teacher's and the Witch's Magic Spells!

Younger learners will also enjoy Paint it! Can they help the witch make her magic spell? Can they paint the scary ingredients the correct colour? Read and listen to find out! http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish/kids-games-paint-spell.htm

Activities to print: Magic Spells
Now it's your learners' chance to make their own spells and make their wishes come true! What do they wish they could do, or didn't have to do? What will they put into their cauldron? A sweaty shoe? Some football stickers? All their school tests? britishcouncil.org/kids-print-spell.pdf

The Haunted House: Story
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-haunted-house.htm
Before reading the story The Haunted House, you could introduce key lexis by asking your learners about their home. Can they name all of the rooms? What's in the kitchen/ bathroom /study? Now read, listen and engage your learners in the pages of the story. Ask them, for example, who the 2 children are (your learners can give them names of their choice) or why Bob got a fright. What does thunder sound like? Are they frightened of
thunder? Which room will the children go into first? What will they find? Which room will they go into next? Would they go inside a haunted house? Why/not?

After the story, you could play a memory game with your learners, for example, ‘What was in the bathroom/ study?' (an octopus/a cat), ‘Where was the octopus/cat?' (in the bathroom/lab). They could then complete the printable worksheet The Haunted House, or read and draw the scary characters in the haunted house-Activities to print: Haunted Houses.

Finally, take it in turns to play ‘I-Spy'. If there's a table in the room, for instance, you could say, "I spy with my little eye something beginning with ‘t'". Your learners now guess what you can see beginning with the letter ‘t'.

Alternatively, play the online game Haunted House, Levels 1 and 2, and see what your learners can spy in the
haunted house! http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-games-haunted-house.htm

If your learners enjoyed this story, why not encourage them to make up a horror story of their own, with the help of Story Maker: http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-writing-storymaker.htm

A Howling Halloween: Story
Before reading the story, brainstorm the topic of Halloween parties. Ask your learners if they've ever been to a Halloween party. Who/what did they dress up as? What did they wear? Did they look like the scary characters in the Halloween Costumes games? Tell them about a party you've been to and the costume you wore-can they guess which scary character you were?! Who would they like to dress up as this year?
http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-howling-halloween.htm

After reading the story your learners could do the printable A Howling House worksheet. britishcouncil.org/kids-stories-howling-halloween-activity.pdf. Alternatively, if they enjoy project work, they could plan and prepare their own Halloween party! They might like to decorate their room with black and orange paper chains cut in the shape of bats and pumpkins, for example, or design their own personal party invitations. In Activities to print:Halloween Party they can find some great party ideas, from costume-making (how about a fancy dress show with a prize for the scariest costume?!), to Halloween games and recipes for party food and drinks! Why not let them create monstrous menus and make the food and drinks themselves?! britishcouncil.org/kids-print-halloween-party.pdf

Finally, don't forget some ‘Trick-Treating'! A ketchup, pepper and yoghurt cocktail would make a terrible ‘trick' for an unlucky victim, but a toffee apple-what a treat!

Carolyne Ardron