Here’s a fun list of fun Halloween activities for Elementary Music Class that you can use for Halloween this October. Most of these activities are ready-to-use in a last-minute situation when you need something quick! Most also include movement, allowing your kids to practice steady beat and express their silly selves actively!
Peter and the Wolf – Entrance Activity
A fun way for primary students to enter the classroom in October is by playing the Wolf’s theme from Peter and the Wolf. I greet the students in the hall and tell them that we are wolves, hunting very quietly and sneakily for food. I start the music and students will creep around on all fours looking steathly! I’ll repeat it a few times as long as they’re still interested in creeping. The end, students creep over to their seats and sit down.
There was an Old Woman All Skin and Bones
Kids love this song, but there are usually one or two kids in the school who find it too spooky when I turn off the lights to play a little game with it. Instead of playing the game, you can explore timbre with students by giving them classroom percussion instruments to color the song! Check out this cool example below!
If you’ve never tried playing a game with the song, here’s how I play it.
- After listening to the song, have students sing the “Oo-oo-oo-oo” responses in each verse.
- Turn off the lights and have students lay on the floor/rug with their eyes closed.
- You are the old woman. Walk around the students and sing the song. Look at the students and mentally take note of someone that has their eyes closed and is singing the responses.
- On the final verse, when you say “Boo!” you can gently touch their shoulders to scare them. I definitely add a big ritardando on that final phrase, and the students almost always shriek!
- Now the student that you chose is the new “old woman” and will take your place. You can continue to sing for them and add some minor piano chords. When the new student says “Boo!” I like to make an unexpected noise by varying the sounds, such as letting the lid of the piano bench drop shut, clanging cymbals, hitting a drum, or thumping a chair on the ground.
- My students would be so disappointed if they didn’t have a turn as the old woman, so I definitely kept track of which students had a turn, so that new students can go next time we have class.
Who Do You See?
Sing about costumes in a similar way you would read or sing the Eric Carle book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Pass around a little mirror for each child to look into. The class will sing or chant the first two lines, and the child with the mirror will perform the second half of the rhyme. The child will fill in the costume with whatever their Halloween costume will be, or what they want their costume to be, since some may not have a costume picked out.
If your looking to sing the song, you can use Sol, Mi, La, Do and quarter notes and 8th notes:
Children, children,
[s, m, s, m]
What do you see?
[s, l l, s]
I see a (bumblebee)
[s, m m, s s, m]
Looking at me!
[s s, m, d]
Jack O’Happy – Fingerplay
Here’s a jack-o-lantern fingerplay. At the end, I bend down and pretend to take a bite of the pie. If you want to explore different types of emotions, you can ask volunteers to substitue different emotions for “happy” and “spooky.” This way the fingerplay will still rhyme with the words, “sad” and “mad.”
This is Jack O’ Happy. (Hands circle head and smile.)
This is Jack O’ Sad. (Hands circle head and frown.)
This is Jack O’ Spooky. (Open mouth and eyes wide.)
And this is Jack O’ Mad. (Make a mean face.)
This is Jack in pieces small. (Hold up palms.)
But in a pie he’s best of all. (Circle arms in front as if holding a pie.)
Halloween Freeze Dance – lower elementary
Here’s a fun movement break! The moves include:
- Flying like a witch
- March like a monster
- Shake like a skeleton
- Tiptoe like a ghost
- Crawl like a black cat
Just Dance – upper elementary
Here’s a dance video for upper elementary. They can choose between the following characters: skeleton, pumpkin, vampire, and witch.
There are other spooky Just Dance videos out there such as:
- This is Halloween
- Thriller
- Spooky Scary Skeletons
- Calling All the Monsters
- Monster Mash
- Ghostbusters
- Takedown (KPop Demon Hunters)
Printables for Subs, Centers, and Supplementing Lesson Plans
Click on some things I offer in my shop if you are looking for more engaging activities!
I hope some of these ideas are helpful and fun for your students!
