One of the most celebrated dates in the Anglo-Saxon world is fast approaching, and it is gaining more and more importance in countries like Spain. It’s Halloween, a festivity celebrated on the night of October 31st, where skulls, pumpkins, witches, vampires, and mummies take center stage. The popularity of this festivity makes it interesting to incorporate Halloween in primary school to create materials, content, or class sessions around this theme.

In this post, we will explain why you should consider integrating this theme into your classroom and outline some ideas that you’re sure to love. Ready to dive in?

Why do Halloween activities in primary school?

When the debate arises about whether to integrate the Halloween theme into the classroom, two opposing views often emerge. While some embrace the idea of introducing this celebration in class, others believe that it is not a tradition rooted in Spain, and activities around this holiday shouldn’t be conducted.

Although both views are valid, today we bring you some reasons why integrating Halloween into classroom activities, especially in primary school, can be beneficial. Let’s take a look!

1. Broaden cultural horizons: Even though Halloween is not a Spanish tradition, doing activities based on this celebration can be a great way for your students to broaden their cultural horizons. This means they will learn about other cultures, traditions, and ways of seeing the world… which will enrich their knowledge.
2. Language reinforcement: Being an Anglo-Saxon tradition, Halloween is the perfect holiday to teach and learn English. Incorporating Halloween in primary school English classes is the best way to help students learn new vocabulary in a fun context.
3. Increased creativity: By linking class content to a specific theme like Halloween, you foster creativity in your students by stimulating their imagination.
4. More interest: Who doesn’t find Halloween movies fun and intriguing? Since this theme is interesting to your students, doing class-related activities will increase their interest in the subject.
5. It doesn’t all have to be about Halloween: If you’re someone who prefers embracing local traditions over foreign festivities, you can use Halloween as an opportunity to highlight other country-specific traditions that also take place during this time. Whether it’s La Castanyada in Catalonia, All Saints’ Day in Spain, or Día de los Muertos in Mexico, use Halloween as a chance to teach about the best local traditions!

Idea 1: Language and Literature – Encourage reading and dictation of Halloween-themed stories

In primary school, reading and dictation are common activities to improve reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and spelling. So, during these days leading up to Halloween, you can find stories to read in class and discuss, or use them for dictation exercises.

Taking advantage of Halloween as a theme will help increase interest in these activities and help your students expand their knowledge of fantastic or mystery literature.

Remember, if you want to easily track your students’ performance in reading aloud or writing dictations, you can use the Additio App digital gradebook, where you can apply various types of evaluation (textual, quantitative, icon-based, etc.).

Idea 2: In Religion – What celebrations similar to Halloween exist in each religion?

Each religion has its own festivals and views on death and the meaning of life. As Halloween approaches, this can be a good time to reflect on other religions and their celebrations.

Another way to integrate Halloween motifs into a Religion class can be by analyzing the figure of the devil in different cultures and religions and exploring the religious reasons why it is considered a representation of evil.

Idea 3: In Music – Let’s learn to play well-known Halloween movie melodies

Halloween is the perfect time to watch some widely known “spooky” movies. In Music class, you can take advantage of this by interpreting and playing some of the melodies or songs from these films, whether with the flute, xylophone, or any instrument you play in class.

Some movies that your primary students are sure to know include:

• Monster House
• Hotel Transylvania
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Hocus Pocus
• Coraline
• The Addams Family
• Monsters, Inc.

Idea 4: In Languages – Theatrical performance

If you teach languages, especially English, Halloween can be a great reason to organize a small theatrical performance. You can encourage your primary students to create a short story around Halloween and then perform it in front of the class in the corresponding language.

Engaging in this type of activity can be beneficial for several reasons:

• More confidence in speaking the language and in public: It’s common for primary school children to lack confidence in a language that’s still new to them. Doing a small theatrical performance will help them gain fluency and confidence in speaking in public.
• Expanded vocabulary: These types of activities are ideal for reinforcing vocabulary, and in this case, Halloween-specific vocabulary.
• More fun: This is a fun activity that will motivate your students and make them more interested in the subject. In short, they’ll enjoy learning languages!
• Teamwork: A theatrical performance is the perfect excuse for your primary students to start working as a team and discover the many advantages it brings.
• Cultural knowledge: One last advantage is that activities like this promote an understanding of other cultures, especially the Anglo-Saxon one, enriching the cultural diversity your students are exposed to.

Idea 5 for Halloween in primary school: In Math – Make it more fun with Halloween motifs

If you find that Halloween is an appealing theme for your students and sparks their interest, why not introduce Halloween motifs in Math class?

For example, you can adapt class problems to revolve around typical Halloween things. So, if a problem talks about fruits, you can change it to ghosts, owls, witch hats, or whatever comes to mind!

Imagination is key here, and your students will surely love it and find it super fun 🙂

Are you into Halloween or local celebrations?

While we’ve provided Halloween-based ideas in this post, many teachers might prefer celebrating other local traditions. Which ones do you celebrate?

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Remember, with Additio App, you can carry out competency-based assessments that put students at the center of learning, keeping them informed about their progress and helping them identify areas for improvement and strengths.

More than 150 features accompany you to enhance your teaching and the learning of your students. You can try the tool for free with the Additio Starter plan, which gives you access to most features and lets you see how well the platform meets your needs.

Have a spooktacular Halloween!