Halloween Games for the Classroom

Look!

Can you guess what I am going to be for Halloween?  My husband, and two of our friends are running a 5K on Halloween and it's a costume run, so we are going to be minions!  We made these shirts this weekend, and I love how they turned out!  There may or may not be a blue tutu to go with it :)  I'm NOT crafty at all, so this was a win.

I love these teacher ideas for Halloween costumes, so in case you haven't decided yet, you may find a fun idea here!

Speaking of Halloween, don't miss out on the "Trick-or-Treat" blog hop going on now until the 31st. Learn some "tricks" of the trade, grab freebie "treats" and enter in giveaways at almost 50 blogs! There is some amazing stuff out there!

So, let's talk Halloween in the classroom.  Chaotic, right?  It doesn't have to be.  You can do some really fun activities AND keep pluggin' away at those common core skills and learning targets.

First, to get you started, you'll want to download my free "Halloween in a SNAP" Planning Guide. It's loaded with clickable links to resources, games, activities, snack ideas, and more to cover every content area.

Next, grab the following FREE game resources that are available exclusively here on the blog to help spice up your instruction this week.  Some of these resources are also included in the planning guide, but I wanted to highlight a couple that are available exclusively here on the blog.

All you have to do is create words that you want your students to figure out using the alphabet key.  You can do Halloween themed words, regular vocabulary words, or a word that might help introduce a lesson.

Grab your "Spooky Alphabet" here.

Another blog exclusive freebie, is this SCOOT game for comparing and ordering numbers:

I loved this idea from Kindergarten and Mooneyisms:

So I created a Halloween version:

Snag it for free exclusively on the blog here.

Finally, here are two freebies available at my TpT store:

 And here are two that are available for only $3.00 each.

Happy planning!

Trick-or-Treat! {A Fun Blog Hop!}

One week from today is Halloween!  Thank GOODNESS Halloween is on a Saturday, Amen?  Hopefully by Monday when the kids return to class, the sugar will be out of their system....maybe.  Probably not though.

I am SUPER excited to be hosting this fabulous "Trick or Treat" blog hop!  Myself, along with over 50 other bloggers have been hard at work behind the scenes putting together some Tricks and Treats for your classroom!  The "Tricks" we will share will be those tricks of the trade that we have learned over the years that have kept our classroom running smoothly.  The "Treats" will be freebies for you to snag and giveaways for you enter for a chance to win something amazing from each blogger.

If this is your first time "trick-or-treating" to the Classroom Game Nook Blog, then, Welcome!  I'm so glad you're here and hope you will take some time to find other tricks and treats throughout my blog by searching through the navigation bar at the top of the blog.  There are lots of goodies to be found!

Let's get started, shall we!

I don't know about you, but storing classroom games can get a little...err...messy, to say the least. Everything looks beautiful on the first day of school before your kiddos get their grummy little hands on all your stuff.  But by Christmas, forget it.  You have dice, playing cards, and moving pieces (and who knows what else!) all collecting dust behind the cabinets and in dark corners.  Things just have a way of falling out of place.  One of the things that I really tried to focus on when I was teaching was having a place for everything....and then teaching the students to learn where that place was :)

So, here are some easy "tricks" for helping you organize those classroom games, and keeping corners and backs of cabinets free of dust collectors :)  Of course, some these ideas are ones that I've learned from other fabulous educators!

Oh boy do I have some TREATS for you!  First off, a giveaway that is stuffed with goodies!  

From now until about mid-January, we have FOUR holidays!  Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and MLK day!  That's a LOT of planning.  That's why I've decided to give away a Holiday Mega Pack that includes resources and games to help you plan your holiday activities in a snap!  The activities include skills from all content areas in a variety of formats.  One lucky winner will receive ALL of the following (over $20 value!): 

(click on the pics to learn more about each one)

 

Consider your holiday planning...DONE.  Enter below for your chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The next TREAT for you is the fun individual center or whole-class game freebie:

There are a total of 36 cards (plus a page of blank ones for you to create your own).  You can use the cards as an individual center where students complete each card and write the correct orders on their recording sheet.  OR, use the cards to play a whole-class game of "SCOOT."  If you don't have a class set of iPads or (other devices) that can scan QR codes, simply project each page of the PDF on your SMARTBoard or White board and scan together as a whole class to check answers after playing a game of SCOOT.

I can't believe I've gone this long without using QR codes!  Holy moly!

You can snag this game for FREE, but only for a limited time.  After the hop is complete (On Oct. 31), this game will become a paid item in my TpT store!  So do not delay, download it now by clicking here.

{THIS FREEBIE OFFER HAS EXPIRED}

That's it my friends!  Thanks for stopping by to "trick-or-treat" here at the Classroom Game Nook Blog! 

But WAIT - there's more!  Keep right on trick-or-treating to the next blog for more tricks and treats to stuff in your "goodie bag."

Spider Web Toss Game

Right?

I'm sure you've already heard a gazillion times from your students what they are going to be for Halloween, or what party they will be going to on Halloween night (because thank GOODNESS Halloween is on a Saturday this year!)

I've got one fun game you can play with your students that can be used for ANY content area or skill AND only takes minutes to set up:

An easy Spider Web Toss game!  All you need is some black electrical tape and a list of questions based on your topic.  You will tape up your "web" on the floor like this:

You will want to make the web large enough that students can stand around.  Then, divide students into (up to) six teams and have them stand around the web like shown above.

Teams take turns tossing a bean bag (or similar object) onto the web.  They aim for their bean bag to land in the 10, 20, or 30 section of the web.

Then, the teacher gives the the team a question based on the section the bean bag landed in.

That's pretty much it!  You could use this game format as part of your fall/Halloween classroom parties, OR set it up now in your classroom and use it all month long for different topics.

Let me know if you give it a try!