Fun Halloween Activity for Elementary Students

This week at my 355 observations I was able to help participate in a class where the teacher set up stations for the children, each one having a Halloween theme.  I thought that it was such a cool idea and the kids seemed to love it so I wanted to share it with the rest of you to keep in mind for future themed teaching ideas.  The stations focused on many different locomotor skills, but in creative, fun ways.  He had Halloween music playing in the background the entire time and each time he stopped the music the students had to rotate to the next station.  Here are the instructions:

Split up students into teams of 2 students if possible.  You may have a few teams of 3

Station 1- Ghost bowling: Students have to knock over as many pins (out of 7) as they can by rolling a ball.   Children should stand from the spot designated with an “X” when rolling the ball.  Have them see what is the most pins they can knock down before rotating on to the next station. 

Variations: If they wish to challenge themselves, they can try it using blindfolds or take a few steps backwards when rolling the ball.

 -However, remember the importance of safety.

( activity works on balance and coordination.  also works on children's ability to roll a ball towards an intended target- control)

Station 2- Flying ghosts: Students will have to swing from one small pile of mats to another using a rope swing.  If they fall in between the mats, they will land on a pit of flames (have a picture of flames on the floor)!  Make sure to remember and place mats on the floor in between the piles of mats for safety purposes.  Students can either swing from one side to another or swing to and back, landing on the same mat they took off from.

Variations- you could challenge students by making the piles of mat farther away from eachother and increasing the height of the pile, or make it easier by moving the piles of mats closer and decreasing the height of the pile.
(activity works on balance, coordination, muscular strength, and some agility)

Station 3-   Ghost Tic Tac Toe: Students will have six bean bags of one color and six of another color.  There is a tic tac toe board made on the gym floor with pictures of ghosts in each square., for a total of nine squares.  Students will have to try and win Ghost tic tac toe by tossing their bean bags in the squares.  A childs ability to properly toss an object (bean bag) while aiming for a smaller target is the main focus in this game.   

Variations: To challenge students, have them stand farther back when tossing bean bags

 (works on some balance as well as their underhand tosses- control)

Station 4- Broom ball- Students will have to knock over as many pins (out of 7) as possible, using a “witches broom” (hockey stick) to hit a large foam ball in an attempt to knock the pins over.  Students will challenge themselves by trying to beat their previous scores. 

Variations: to challenge students, have them stand farther back

(works on coordination and control)

Station 5- Navigating through the cemetery: Student will have to climb the rock walls/cargo nets, seeing how far up they can go.  Make sure there are safety mats underneath rocks walls/cargo nets. 

Variations: to challenge the students, have them try to use different pathways when climbing the rock walls/cargo net.

(works on muscular strength, coordination, and balance)

Station 6: Running Frankensteins: Students will have to run from point A to point B as fast as possible, doing “Frankensteins” (arms out in front, high knees) along the way.

Variations: Have them try to beat their previous time

(works on cardiovascular endurance, coordination, and speed)

Station 7: Throwing Station (using halloween decorations to aim at): Students will have to throw foam ball at different Halloween themed targets on the wall.  Have the targets be different sizes.  Each student gets five throws before it is the next students turn. 

Variations: Have them keep track of their scores, trying to beat their previous scores each time. To challenge students- have them stand a little farther back, or choose the smaller targets to aim for
(works on coordination, balance, control, students ability to throw using proper technique while aiming at a target)

This was an extremely fun activity to help with and I especially enjoyed being able to observe the children performing a variety of tasks using a variety of different locomotor skills.