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Colorful Halloween-themed graphic with two cartoon spiders hanging from webs, surrounded by stars and dots, promoting “Frightfully Fun Activities” like Magic Potion Words, Vanishing Vowels, Halloween Idioms, and Bad to the Bone.
Fall Classroom Activities

Frightfully Fun: Four New Halloween Activities to Treat Your Students

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

The best month is here, at least according to my own calendar. I love this time of year because I get to design, create, and share new activities that bring out my inner monsterly maker. It’s my excuse to get my Halloween vibe on, shake up the cobwebs in my brain, and cook up brand-new activities for the season. The following four are freshly brewed for 2025—ready to cast a spell of learning, laughter, and spooky fun across your classroom.

These activities are low-prep, fun engagement, and adaptable for grades K-12. Whether you’re planning a classroom party, a themed lesson, or just need a festive brain break, these frightfully fun ideas are ready to rise from the grave (of your to-do list, that is).

🦴 Bad to the Bone

If you loved my solar eclipse, “It’s All About the Sun” phrase game, this one’s right up your dark and stormy alley!
Each clue leads to a phrase or saying that includes the word bone. For example:

  • “A humorous part of your body” → funny bone
  • “Something you have when you disagree” → bone to pick
  • “What you might feel on a cold day” → chilled to the bone

Students can work solo, in pairs, or as a team competition to see who can unearth the most correct answers. Great as a warm-up or literacy center activity to boost word association skills.

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👻 Vanishing Vowels: Halloween Edition

You’ve seen my seasonal Vanishing Vowels before—now it’s haunting your classroom for Halloween!
Each slide presents a spooky word with all the vowels missing. Students must use their word-recognition and spelling skills to fill in the blanks.

For example:

  • BT (bat)
  • CNDY CRN (candy corn)
  • ZMB (zombie)

Two ways to play:

  1. Work in pairs or groups to solve as many words as possible.
  2. Use it as a creative spelling challenge where students write the full word and illustrate it.

This one always gets lots of “aha!” moments—and a few giggles when students realize just how tricky vowels can be!

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🕯️ Halloween Idioms: Multiple Choice Edition

Do you have bats in your belfry when it comes to idioms? This game shines a flashlight on spooky sayings and figurative language.
Each slide presents an idiom and three possible meanings—students must choose the correct one.

For example:

“Skeletons in your closet” means…
A) You really like Halloween decorations
B) You have hidden secrets
C) You need to clean your room

Use the activity to practice context clues, figurative language, and vocabulary — perfect for middle and high school ELA or ESL learners.

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🎃 Magic Potion Words: Portmanteau, Compound, and Hyphenated Words and Six-Word Scares

What do you get when you blend spider and web? Or were and wolf? A word mash-up worth celebrating! This dual-language-and-literacy activity invites students to play with words and then put their creativity to the test.

🕸️ Part 1: Word Mash-Ups
Students explore how Halloween words can combine to form new ones—through compound, portmanteau, or hyphenated forms.

Examples:

  • Portmanteau: spooky + spectacular → spooktacular (bonus non-Halloween example)
  • Compound: pumpkin + patch → pumpkin patch
  • Hyphenated: trick-or-treat

Perfect for language arts lessons on morphology and word construction. Challenge students to invent their own spooky mash-ups—like ghosticorn (ghost + unicorn) or fangaroo (fang + kangaroo)!

🕯️ Part 2: Six-Word Halloween Stories
Once students have warmed up their creative muscles, have them craft a chilling tale using only six words. This activity promotes descriptive writing, imagination, and concise storytelling.

Examples:

  • The jack-o’-lantern blinked—then smiled.
  • No candy left. Footsteps behind me.
  • Witch lost broom. Uber on the way.

 Showcase student stories on a Padlet, hallway display, or classroom bulletin board. For a digital twist, have them illustrate their stories with Canva or Google Slides.

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➕ More!

If you’re looking for even more spooktacular classroom fun, check out my 2024 Halloween blog post filled with games, challenges, and creative activities to make your lessons a real scream! Activities include:

  • Name That Costume (Canva Presentation – 26 costumes)
  • Halloween Connections Game (Two versions housed in Canva)
  • Would You Rather: Halloween Edition (29 questions in Canva)
  • The Boo Breakout (Digital breakout #1)
  • The Trick or Treat Breakout (Digital breakout #2)
  • Halloween Adjective Challenge (Google Form quiz)
  • Halloween Synonym Challenge – Level 1 (Google Form quiz – common words)
  • Halloween Synonym Challenge – Level 2 (Google Form quiz – advanced words)
  • Halloween Charades (48-word card set in Google Slides)

Remember: Halloween learning doesn’t have to be all tricks—it can be full of treats that reinforce literacy, collaboration, and imagination. So dust off your wizard’s hat, cue the Monster Mash, and give one (or all!) of these frightfully fun activities a try. And as always, if your students come up with something too good not to share, send it my way, I’d love to see it!
preimers@tcea.org

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Graphic titled '6 Back-to-School Activities' with smiling children on a school bus and a list of fun classroom activity types.
Back to SchoolClassroom Activities

Six Back to School Activities to Engage Your Students

by Peggy Reimers
written by Peggy Reimers

The beginning of a new school year brings excitement, anticipation, and the perfect opportunity to set the tone for your classroom. Whether you’re looking to build community, review skills, or simply have some educational fun, I’ve got you covered with these six engaging back-to-school activities! 

For the 2025-2026 school year, I have three brand new activities and three oldies-but-goodies.

1. Back to School Syllacrostic Puzzle

I’m excited to share a Back to School syllacrostic puzzle! This engaging word puzzle challenges students to think critically while reinforcing vocabulary.

Just in case you are unfamiliar with this type of puzzle, here are the basics. My syllacrostic puzzle has 18 words to solve. (I have no idea why I settled on this number.) You use the given pool of syllables at the top of the page to help you identify the answers. The activity also has the following information as clues for each word:

  1. A related word or phrase
  2. The number of syllables in the word
  3. The number of letters for each word

This Back to School version follows the same format as my popular Thanksgiving and Halloween syllacrostics, but with school-themed vocabulary that’s perfect for starting the year!

Syllacrostic PDF

2. Back to School Trivia Game

Are you looking for a fun way to break the ice at the beginning of the school year? Give this Back to School Trivia Game a try! Created in Canva, this engaging activity features 13 trivia questions that will get your students thinking and talking.

It’s perfect for students and teachers when it comes to:

  • Morning meeting activities 
  • Brain break
  • Quick day filler (sponge activity)

Template
Presentation

3. Which One Doesn’t Belong? Back to School Edition

The Back to School “Which Does Not Belong?” presentation is a perfect first-week activity to get your students thinking critically and sharing their perspectives. Each slide features four school-related items, and students must decide which one doesn’t belong with the others. 

■ There’s no single “right” answer for most slides – the magic happens when students explain their reasoning!

■ This activity encourages creative thinking, communication skills, and helps students feel comfortable speaking up in your new classroom.

■ Use it as a whole-class icebreaker, in small groups, or as a brain warm-up during the first days of school.

You can easily customize the template to match your grade level, subject area, or classroom theme. Try projecting a slide and having students write their answers on sticky notes or mini-whiteboards before sharing with the class. You’ll be amazed at the different perspectives and thoughtful explanations your students provide!

Template
Presentation

4. Back to School Digital Breakout

back to school
Back to School Breakout

Looking for an engaging way to kick off the school year? Try this digital breakout that gets students working together while thinking critically!

This digital escape room challenges students to solve puzzles and unlock various locks: 

  • 7-Direction Lock
  • 4-Color Lock
  • 4-Letter Lock
  • 3-Number Lock

What makes this breakout special is the hidden links for lock answers and a school supply quiz built in Google Forms. Students will need to pay attention to details and work collaboratively to succeed.

Make sure you have your teaching credentials in your email in case you want to request the answers from Peggy at preimers@tcea.org.

Back to School Breakout

5. Fall Digital Breakout

Colorful fall-themed garden scene titled “The Fall Breakout,” featuring pumpkins, sunflowers, potted flowers, a wheelbarrow full of leaves, birds, acorns, and autumn trees with orange, red, and yellow foliage.

Need an easier breakout? This fall-themed digital breakout is perfect for introducing students to the concept of escape rooms with a straightforward approach.

Students will encounter these locks: 

  • Word Lock (example: FALL) 
  • 3 Color Lock (first initial of each color in capital letters)
  • 5 Number Lock 
  • 5 Direction Lock 
  • 4 Number Lock

This breakout features one main image and one block of text, making it more accessible while still providing an engaging challenge. It’s a great option for teachers who want to start with something easier before moving to more complex breakouts.

If you are new to breakouts, check Peggy’s Breakouts 101 blog that will answer all your questions. 

Fall Breakout

6. Vanishing Vowels – School Supply Version

Vanishing Vowels is a fun supply-themed activity that focuses on words related to school supplies. In this activity, the vowels are removed from the words, leaving only the consonants.

Two ways to use this activity:

■ Use it as an individual or group exercise where students work together to decipher the words based on their consonants. This encourages teamwork, builds class community, and also incorporates word recognition into the mix.

■ Use it as a creative spelling activity where students add the appropriate vowels back in to spell the fall words. This activity not only enhances students’ word recognition skills but also offers an opportunity to reinforce spelling proficiency in a fun and interactive manner.!

Presentation
Template

Ready to Get Started?

Which of these back-to-school activities will you try first? Remember that for the digital breakouts, and syllacrostic puzzle  you can email me at preimers@tcea.org with your teaching credentials to request answer keys.

Have you created your own back-to-school activities that you’d like to share? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!

Happy NEW SCHOOL YEAR!

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