Let the Halloween classroom fun commence! If you’re looking for some quick, creative Halloween fun, these activity ideas can help …
1. Try this Halloween “add and pass” activity (and template!)
Students get a Halloween-themed image — something fun you can create easily with an AI image generator. One of them starts the story … then they pass it to the next student, who continues the story. Pass it a total of six times. Then, read what everyone has created.
Make a copy: The Halloween “add and pass” activity (Google Slides)
🎁 BONUS: I asked Google Gemini for some creative Halloween story writing prompts for elementary students and for middle/high school students.
2. Listen to "The Hollow" Podcast
When three 6th graders at Sleepy Hollow Middle School stumble upon a real-life ghost story, they find themselves on the trail of the Headless Horseman himself. Is he truly a terrifying ghoul, or has he been misunderstood for all these years?
Commemorating the recent 200th anniversary of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Hollow from GZM Media is a modern take on the timeless tale of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman by American author Washington Irving. Among the earliest examples of American fiction, the gothic story was first published in 1819 along with Irving’s famous companion piece Rip Van Winkle. (Source gzmshows.com)
Classroom resources include a listening guide, explore board and choice board.
3. Create a custom Halloween-themed song with Suno
Suno (suno.com) is an AI music generator. It’ll write you a custom song — lyrics, music, voices, everything — and you can click “play” to listen to it.
Ask it for a Halloween-themed song. Here are some Suno song prompt suggestions from Google Gemini to get you started:
- "A spooky, upbeat pop song about a friendly witch who flies around on her broomstick giving out candy to trick-or-treaters. The chorus should be catchy and easy for kids to sing along to."
- "A silly Halloween song about a group of monsters having a costume party in a haunted house. Make it sound like a funky dance track with funny sound effects."
- "A mysterious and spooky song about a black cat who explores a graveyard on Halloween night. The song should have a spooky but not scary vibe, with a catchy melody."
- If your class loves animals: "A fun, educational Halloween song about all the different animals associated with Halloween, like bats, owls, and spiders. Make it an upbeat folk song with lots of animal sounds."
- If your class is into superheroes: "An action-packed Halloween song about a group of superheroes who team up to defeat a mischievous ghost who is playing pranks on the town. Give it a powerful rock sound with a sing-along chorus."
- If your class enjoys dancing: "A high-energy Halloween song with a strong beat that's perfect for dancing. It should be about skeletons having a dance party in a spooky graveyard. Include lots of fun sound effects like rattling bones and spooky laughter."
4. Explore a Halloween-themed digital escape room
Digital escape rooms can be lots of fun! Plus, they’re pre-made, so all you have to do is give your students a link.
- Try the Monster Mash or “Halloween Escape Room” on our digital escape rooms page. (Don’t worry … there’s an answer key. 😉)
- Check out all of the Halloween-themed escape rooms at VirtualEscapeRooms.org, created by DTT’s own Karly Moura
5. Explore the history of Halloween
The history of Halloween is fascinating and full of intriguing traditions that have evolved over time. Dive into the spooky spirit with this engaging History of Halloween Explore Board!
Explore Halloween Traditions Through the Ages: Discover how Halloween customs originated and how they’ve transformed into the celebrations we know today.
Interactive Tasks for Each Section: Students will engage with activities that bring history to life, culminating in a creative Halloween traditions poster project to showcase their learning.
Fun and Engaging Games: For those who finish early, there’s no downtime—just fun!
6. Peanutize yourself for Halloween
Peanutize.xyz is a free, ad-free digital archive that lets students design custom cartoon avatars in Charles M. Schulz’s iconic Peanuts art style. There are seasonal costume options—like Charlie Brown's famous ghost sheet or Snoopy’s Flying Ace—that are perfect for engaging Halloween writing activities. After creating their character students can download just their character or the entire scene as a wallpaper.
7. Create or find Halloween coloring sheets
A coloring sheet I created with Microsoft Designer’s image generator
Just need some simple coloring sheets for your students?
Ask an AI image generator like Microsoft Designer or Ideogram.ai for coloring sheets. I used the prompt below and got good results.
🎁 BONUS: Search “Halloween coloring” on Canva to find TONS of pre-made pages you can print off.
a simple, fun halloween scene coloring sheet for first graders, line art, minimal texture
8. Write Halloween choose your own adventure stories with Google Slides
What happens when your students get to decide how a Halloween story unfolds? Let them create their own digital Choose Your Own Adventure stories using Google Slides!
Students build an interactive story where readers click links to make decisions, explore different paths, and discover multiple endings.
Here's how it works:
- Start with a spooky scenario. You're spending the night in a haunted mansion, you discover a mysterious door, or your trick-or-treating takes an unexpected turn.
- Create the story. Students write a short opening on their first slide, then give readers two choices. Each choice leads to another slide with a new part of the story.
- Link the choices. Use Google Slides' link feature to connect text or buttons to other slides in the presentation. Readers click their choices to navigate the story.
- Add the Halloween atmosphere. Include spooky backgrounds, sound effects, illustrations, and dramatic reveals.
- Share the adventure. Have classmates try each other's stories and see how many different endings they can discover!
Want to keep it simple? Challenge students to create a story with at least five slides, two decision points, and two possible endings.
Teacher tip: Have students map out their story paths on paper before building their slides. It'll help them keep track of where each choice leads! Use this template to get started.
9. Write a custom Halloween story or play with students’ names
Ask an AI assistant (ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Anthropic Claude) to write a fun Halloween story or play for your students. You can even include their interests and their names.
Here’s a prompt you can use. (I tried this prompt and it gave me a play called “The Curse of the Snapchatting Mummy”. 😂)
I'm a ninth grade english teacher. I'd like you to help me brainstorm and plan a fun halloween-themed play for my students that's customized to them -- that they would find fun and relevant to their lives. Ask me some questions to help me brainstorm and plan — and for my students’ first names. I'll respond. Then, you create a fun, engaging halloween-themed play that I can give them.
10. Create a Halloween quiz game with questions from QuestionWell
Create a Halloween-themed game on a popular quiz game platform like Kahoot!, Wayground, Quizlet Live, Gimkit, or Blooket.
Use QuestionWell (QuestionWell.org) to create the questions. Then just import them directly to the quiz game platform of your choice.
