Are you looking for the best Halloween literacy activities for your young learners this fall? I hope this post encourages you with many creative ways to celebrate in the month of October. Whether you are a preschool teacher or in a kindergarten classroom, these fun Halloween activities will help your young learners have a great time at school!
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Literacy Activities for Halloween: Read Alouds
The best Halloween literacy activities for young children have to involve plenty of Halloween read-alouds. There is no better way to promote early literacy skills than creating a literacy center full of books. Here are a few of my favorites for this fun season.
The Spooky Wheels on the Bus
The Spooky Wheels on the Bus by J. Elizabeth Wells is a fun Halloween-themed story based on the classic song. I love that it promotes counting from 1 to 10 as well, integrating those early math skills. Use this one to practice sequencing and retelling stories.
Room on the Broom
Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler is such a cute story about the witch and her friends’ adventure through the sky. You can add this to your list of “spooky stories” this fall. Hand out some witch’s hats made of black construction paper and let your little ones decorate with stickers and white chalk…instant bulletin board display!
The Night Before Halloween
The Night Before Halloween by Natasha Wing is one of my favorite Halloween stories to include in fall read-aloud. Even my elementary students enjoy this one! “Real” monsters confront the human trick-or-treaters during their Halloween celebrations, creating a fun twist. This is a great book to use to encourage your students to write their own spooky stories. Young learners might enjoy creating their own funny monsters with googly eyes and other craft supplies after reading this one. Set up a monster creative station in your Halloween centers!
Feel free to use the included monster printables to get your students started. Consider making a list of Halloween words and story starters to get their creative juices going.
Ten Timid Ghosts
Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O’Connell is always a favorite in the spooky stories category! The ghosts are scared out of their haunted house by a spooky witch, and they have to plot to get their house back! You can include math activities and some Halloween math with this one. Practice counting backwards as the book does or practice ordinal numbers as you read this one aloud.
Related activities with creative writing could include writing your own scary stories as a group and creating a class book in the same model as Ten Timid Ghosts. See if students can work in a small group to recreate the sequence of events as the witch tries different tactics to scare the ghosts!
How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow?
How Big Could Your Pumpkin Grow by Wendell Minor is a fantastic story to imagine just how big a pumpkin could grow. Minor uses various famous landmarks, such as Mount Rushmore or the Grand Canyon to compare the sizes of pumpkins. How many different ways can you imagine your pumpkin could grow?
This would be the perfect time to view pictures of a pumpkin patch as a class to study how varied pumpkins can be, in size, color, and pattern. Bring in real pumpkins as a sensory activity. Do some Halloween science and order your pumpkins by size. Consider measuring a big pumpkin and stretching out the measurement to compare it to other things in the classroom. Math fun can be so simple with young learners!
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat!
There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat by Lucille Calandro is such a classic during the Halloween season. Once again, the little old lady swallows so many things…you wonder what she could possibly produce in the end! Students will have a great time guessing the outcome of this one. Use a pocket chart to recall the sequence of events with this one. Young learners can work together to look through the illustrations during Halloween centers to recall the sequencing together.
From Seed to Pumpkin
From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer is an excellent nonfiction book to explore some Halloween science with young learners. This is a great way to talk about the life cycle of plants in the classroom. Cut open a pumpkin together and spoon out some pumpkin seeds for kids to explore. So much fun!
If you are looking for related activities between language arts and science exploration, try this worksheet on cutting and pasting the pumpkin life cycle. You can work on science knowledge, along with some fine motor skills. It’s an easy way to make learning fun!
Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie
Seed, Sprout, Pumpkin, Pie by Jill Esbaum is another excellent nonfiction book on pumpkins you can add to your Halloween resources. Read this one together and then let your students work in a small group during Halloween centers to design their own jack-o-lanterns.
Set out play dough with cookie cutters and let kids get in the Halloween spirit! Use orange for pumpkins and green for stems. Or, you can use white play dough and teach kids how to roll it into thin strips to design their own spider webs. Add in some plastic spider rings for some sensory exploration.
I hope this list of the best Halloween literacy activities for young learners inspires you with plenty of Halloween-themed activities combined with my favorite fall reads. If you would like more read aloud ideas, sign up for my newsletter down below. I will send you a list of the best seasonal books to read all year long! Hop over for more ideas on my favorite winter alouds or here for my favorite Christmas books for children. Happy teaching!
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