It’s the spookiest time of the year…
So, we’ve decided to give all of you a HALLOWEEN SPECIAL!
We’ve got games, jokes and music in store for you!
Everything in this week’s blog can be used in the classroom or at home!
HALLOWEEN!
Every year we celebrate Halloween! But do you know where it came from?
The origins of Halloween can be traced back to the ancient Celtic festival called ‘Samhain’. The festival of Samhain was to mark the end of Summer and the beginning of Winter! Celtic people believed that on October 31st, ghosts would come back to us, so they lit fires to send away any bad ghosts that would try to hurt their families or villages!
If you’re signed up to our Monthly Newsletters you’ll have seen some of our wonderful traditions at this time of the year! If not, email rowanna@bellbeyond.com to get all the insider secrets!
Now in 2019, some of our traditions are:
Carving Pumpkins
You cut scary faces into pumpkins and place candles in the middle so that it glows!
Bobbing for Apples
(Known as ‘dooking’ in Scotland) you fill a big bucket with water and place apples inside. You try to get the apples out of the bucket but you can only use your mouth!
Know Your Future!
There is also a myth that you use a knife to peel an apple in one long strip. Then throw it over your shoulder and whatever letter the peel looks like is the first letter of the name of your future love!
Trick-or-Treating
Knock on your neighbours’ doors, dressed as witches, ghosts and vampires – or another crazy costume of your choice! Maybe batman? Maybe Leonardo DiCaprio! Then, you say “Trick or Treat!” and they give you candy to eat! (This is definitely our favourite tradition!)
Haunted House – Classroom Style
Here are some of our favourite, fun games that we play with students during this very scary time of year! They also work marvelously for Halloween parties with friends and family!
Monster Guts
This game is fantastic for integrating TPR (Total Physical Response) in the classroom. This sensory game incorporates the horror of Halloween whilst reviewing touch-themed adjectives. First, we have to gather all the materials! You will need:
-empty tissue boxes (a box with a hole in the top)
-cold pasta (zombie brains)
-wet grapes (cyclops eyes)
-flour and water (ghost goo)
-dried apricots (Frankenstein’s ears)
-pipe cleaners (spider’s legs)
-baby carrots wrapped in gauze (mummy’s toes)
Place the ingredients of your choice in one of the tissue boxes and the students have to put their hands inside and describe it to their team or the class. You can also ask students to write a small description as a follow up of the activity.
Do you see what I see?
This game will test your students’ general vocabulary knowledge along with their creativity.
First, we ask students to get into teams. We start by showing an image of a scary scene – perhaps a graveyard or a monster party! There has to be lots of objects in the picture to help the students create vocabulary. The students have to find an object for each letter of the alphabet: A-Z. We give them a countdown and the team with the most words gets a point for their team!
We have rated the Ten Best Halloween songs for the party, office or the classroom!
10. Somebody Is Watching Me – Rockwell’s
Another great song for all the family – this one is a catchy song that gets you looking over your shoulder!
9. The Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley
A tongue twister for the kids and one we find difficult to sing too.
8. I Put a Spell on You – Bette Midler, Hocus Pocus
From the extremely popular Halloween film Hocus Pocus, comes the legendary Bette Midler with this bewitching rendition of a 60s classic.
7. Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jr., Ghostbusters
Because – who you gonna call!?
6. Monster Mash – Bobby Pickett
This one comes in at number 6 because of it’s incredible dance – by the end of the song, everyone is dancing the Monster Mash!
5. This is Halloween – Nightmare Before Christmas
From (arguably) the best Halloween movie of all time comes a song that teaches us everything we need to know about the traditions and scariness of Halloween!
4. Ghost Town – The Specials
This song actually sounds like ghosts and ghouls singing. It had to be third!
3. Thriller – Michael Jackson
This is the song we always think of when someone says Halloween!
2. Baby Shark Halloween Version
Just when we thought Baby Shark was dead… it came back! As a zombie! As a mummy! As a cowboy! Now we can’t stop singing it. Again.
1. Zombie – The Cranberries
Of course, Zombie is the Number One Halloween Song! All year round we sing this song – we’re just happy it’s related to Halloween too!
Our favourite jokes this Halloween season:
Q: What do Italian ghosts eat for dinner?
A: Spookgetti
2. Q: Where do ghosts buy their milk and eggs?
A: At the ghost-ery store