Halloween Games and Printables for the Classroom

Halloween used to be one of the biggest holidays when it came to classroom parties at my daughter’s school (they still do a lot in the lower grades, and the young ones go trick or treating in the upper school classrooms). Halloween can be a lot of fun even if it’s not super spooky, and there are tons of easy Halloween games and printable activities you can do in the classroom or with a small group at home.

I love this giant Halloween word search for the classroom from Busy Toddler. Do a single one for a couple of kids (or to leave hanging in the classroom and each kid can find a couple of words) or make a couple and make a game where teams of kids can try to find the words.

There are tons of Halloween bingo cards out there that you can print for classroom use. These from Happiness is Homemade are super cute and easy for kids of any age to use. Don’t Eat Pete is kind of the opposite of bingo, where you start with all your spaces covered. One person is it, and they leave the room while the others decide which icon on the game board is Pete. When the “it” person returns they start uncovering the squares until they get to Pete, and everyone yells “Don’t eat Pete!” and a new it is named. You can find a printable for this game along with other Halloween printables at Fun Squared.

Memory matching games are also fun for small parties, and this one from Marley Doodle Digital is super cute. This could be a station at a Halloween party with other games and activities going on as well.

If you’re looking for some more active games to add to the mix, check out this list of minute to win it style games with a Halloween twist from So Festive. Making people into mummies with toilet paper is a classic we did for a few years, but I also love this one that involves blowing plastic spiders through an obstacle course (or just across a finish line, depending on the age of the kids) using a straw. So fun and easy to set up!

Halloween Shadow Match Game for Preschoolers

Halloween Concentration Game

Beginning Sound Pumpkin Matching Game

Free Halloween Themed Printables for Kids

My brother went through a phase where he was obsessed with maps. He loved to look at maps and he would draw maps of places real and imagined. He even drew maps that followed our route when we’d go to visit our grandparents in another state!

I assume there are still kids who go through map phases, and kids with an interest in history and how things got to be the way they are. Both kinds of kids will enjoy the book Borders: Understanding the Lines that Unite and Separate Us by Karim Ressouni-Demigneux, with illustrations by Karine Maincent.

The book describes how the original borders were natural, such as oceans, rivers, mountains and deserts, and while some of those borders are still in use today, many borders are human made, decided by treaties or carved out by colonizers. It covers the history of people congregating in one place and how city-states evolved into empires, how maps are drawn and how human conflicts can reshape borders.

There are stories about walls that reinforce borders, how borders work in the air and at sea, how people cross borders with passports or as refugees and how climate change is altering the borders of some countries.

You’ll also learn some fun border facts like the fact that if you stand in the middle of the bridge over the Zambezi River you can be in four countries at once because that’s where the borders of Botswana, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe meet. Or how there is only one border crossing between India and Pakistan that’s closed each night in an elaborate ceremony.

The book talks about time zones, border towns and places where countries and parts of countries are inside other countries and places where borders are less important such as the European Union.

While there are serious subjects in the book, it’s still a fun read that’s sure to interest those kids around ages 8-12 who like travel, maps and weird but true facts.

About the book: 72 pages, hardcover, published 2026 by Blue Dot Kids Press. Suggested retail price $21.95.

Have you read?

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