Updated October 20, 2025
The best free Halloween lessons and activities can help educators overcome the most terrifying sight of all: an unengaged student. So bring your classroom back to life – or just un-deadism – with the resources here. From science experiments to history exercises and fun opportunities for active learning to spooky game-building, these Halloween lessons and activities will have your students doing the education version of the “Monster Mash” in no time.
You might also start a lesson by discussing how Halloween grew out of ancient Celtic traditions around Samhain and was brought to the U.S. by immigrants from Ireland and Scotland. The holiday also coincides with All Saints Day on November 1, and was originally called All Hallows Eve.
Best Free Halloween Lessons and Activities
Read and analyze Halloween poetry
This delightfully creepy (and sometimes comic) collection of Halloween-themed poems features diverse voices, from 16th-century Shakespeare to 21st-century poets such as Rae Armantrout and Michael Collier. Poetry is meant to be read aloud, so have your students choose their favorite to read in class, then discuss as a class what emotions and ideas the words evoke.
Learn about the Salem Witch Trials
What happened during the famous Salem witch trials of 1692? Return to this time when witches were not considered imaginary entities, but rather living beings who might be your neighbor or friend. This rich collection of teaching resources from the Salem Witch Museum includes lesson plans by grade, primary sources, video FAQs for students, and links to videos and articles exploring Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, modern witch hunts, and archaeological investigations.
Play a Halloween Game Online
Give your students a break from Halloween history and poetry to play fun, fast-paced Halloween online games. For a more educational slant, check out these Halloween Word Search Printable Puzzles, which range from easy to expert.
Teach Halloween-Themed STEM Topics
Science need not be scary when it involves fake blood, ghostly puppets, and candy chemistry. Each complete lesson includes a difficulty rating, background, step-by-step instructions, vocabulary, and much more. Truly a treat for both students and teachers.
Do Halloween Math
Your students will already be eager to count their candy this season, but you can add to the Halloween mirth with these Halloween math exercises. Examine the math of a spiderweb or make predictions about the size of a pumpkin and how many seeds it has, and much more.
Play Halloween Themed Games
You’ll find Halloween-themed quizzes, worksheets, puzzles, and other fun games and exercises at BogglesWorld. These games and activities are suitable for younger students and will get them excited to study vocabulary as they develop problem-solving skills.
Survive The Zombie Apocalypse
The Zombie Apocalypse I: STEM of the Living Dead — the TI-Nspire is a free activity that teaches students the math and science epidemiologists use to track and prevent the spread of real-world diseases. Students will learn about graphing geometric progression, interpreting data, and understanding various parts of the human brain. Also, there will be images of bloody zombies to look at.
Learn About Halloween Word History
You and your students can look up the history of words associated with Halloween, such as witches, boo, and vampires. A team at the Preply online language learning platform used data from Merriam Webster to determine when these and other words first gained prominence. Halloween, for instance, made its way into the English language in the early 1700s. See below for more details:
Read a Scary Story
Reading a scary-but-not-too-scary story in class or having older students read a creepy story aloud can get students who are fans of Halloween excited about literature. Here are some favorites for younger students; and recommendations for older students.
Create a Floating Ghost
Create a floating ghost with tissue paper, a balloon, and the power of electricity by following these instructions. Crying out, “It’s alive, it’s alive!” afterward is optional.
Conduct a Halloween Themed Science Experiment
The world of the undead may be beyond the comprehension of science but experiments can be the perfect way to get your students in the spirit of Halloween. Little Bins Little Hands offers instructions for a variety of free Halloween science-based experiments including a bubbling cauldron and a fun-if-gross puking pumpkin.
Learn About the History of Halloween and Similarities to Other Holidays
Have your students research the history of Halloween on their own or share this story from History.com. Then examine the differences between this U.S. holiday and The Day of The Dead, which is celebrated right after Halloween but is a distinct and more joyful celebration.
