The Best Halloween Morning Meeting Activity Ideas
While morning meeting activities are used throughout the entire school year, incorporating a daily Halloween morning meeting activity during the entire month of October will jazz up your typical routine and get kids excited about the month!
It’s actually quite simple to incorporate Halloween morning meeting greetings and different activities into your routine.
The key is to simply stick with the normal “flow” of your morning meeting (with all of the traditional components), and then sprinkle in a little Halloween spirit with festive fun and engaging activities.
But before we jump into the Halloween morning meeting activity ideas, Halloween greetings, and much more, it’s essential that you understand the significance of the morning meeting and what key components you will need to include.
Why Morning Meetings Are Important
Morning meetings are a common practice in many schools and classrooms, especially in elementary and primary education settings.
They are structured gatherings that typically take place at the beginning of the school day, where you and your students come together to engage in various activities and discussions.
The primary goals of morning meetings are to foster a positive environment, build a sense of classroom community, and provide students with a structured start to their day.
The Key Components and Purposes of Morning Meetings
Greetings
One common element of morning meetings is a greeting ritual.
This involves the entire class and teacher taking turns saying “good morning” to each other or using various creative greetings to acknowledge everyone’s presence.
Sharing
Morning meetings often include a sharing component where students have the opportunity to share something about themselves.
This can be personal news, experiences, or something related to a specific topic or theme.
It’s the perfect way to get kids to open up, when they otherwise might not in the regular classroom setting.
Activity or Message
Playing a class game, taking part in a fun activity (like a scavenger hunt), or listening to an inspirational morning message creates a wonderful classroom community.
And that’s why this is a crucial component of the daily morning meeting routine.
This is the perfect time to include group discussions and conversations, games, or activities related to social skills and emotional learning, academic content, or character education.
It is also helpful to incorporate icebreakers, trust-building exercises, and collaborative projects as these are a great way to develop an environment where students feel important, safe, and willing to engage in meaningful conversations as a group.
Discussions and Questions
Another important part of the morning meeting routine is having discussions about important events of the week, setting individual and whole group goals, and engaging in meaningful and interesting conversations.
This may piggyback off of the sharing time mentioned earlier, but it also may be an entirely different part of the morning meeting.
It is imperative that every student’s voice is valued, as this contribute to a more positive and responsive classroom climate.
If you want to learn more about the individual components of the morning meeting, be sure to check out The Essential Components of a Morning Meeting.
15 Halloween Morning Meeting Greetings
We all appreciate being greeted by others in a kind way.
So imagine how delighted your students will be when they get to hear a variety of morning meeting greetings Halloween-style!
Here are 15 different Halloween morning meeting greetings for you and your students to use with one another.
Spooky Salutations
Have students greet each other with spooky and playful greetings like “Good morning, ghosts and ghouls!” or “Hello, witches and wizards!”
Monster Mash
Encourage students to greet each other by mimicking the movements or sounds of Halloween monsters. For example, they can greet each other with a “Frankenstein’s monster” walk or a “vampire hiss.”
Costume Compliments
As students arrive, ask them to give compliments related to each other’s costumes. For example, “Good morning, superhero! Your costume looks amazing!” You can also add a costume contest where each student wins a unique award for his or her costume.
Halloween Handshakes
Create unique Halloween-themed handshakes that students can use when greeting each other. For example, they might “high-five like zombies” or “fist bump like mummies.”
Ghostly Greetings
Have students greet each other by pretending to be friendly ghosts. They can say “Boo!” in a friendly and cheerful manner.
Witch’s Spell
Encourage students to greet each other by pretending to cast a friendly “witch’s spell” on their classmates. They can wave an imaginary wand and say something like “Abracadabra! Good morning!”
Monster Match-Up
Pair students up and have them greet each other with the name of a Halloween monster (e.g., “Hello, Dracula!” or “Greetings, werewolf!”). They can take turns being the monster and the greeter.
Halloween Hugs
Instead of traditional greetings, have students give each other Halloween-themed hugs. For example, a “mummy hug” can involve wrapping their arms around themselves and pretending to unravel.
Spider Greetings
Create a “spider web” with yarn or string, and as students arrive, they can take a piece of the web and say, “Good morning” while passing it to another student. This can symbolize the interconnectedness of the class.
Pumpkin Partner Greetings
Pair students up and have one student pretend to be a pumpkin while the other greets them with a friendly, “Hello, pumpkin!” They can switch roles afterward.
Trick-or-Treat Greetings
Students can greet each other with “Trick or treat!” as they would while going door-to-door for Halloween candy. They can also respond with “Happy Halloween!” or “Treat, please!”
Candy Corn Compliments
Provide students with candy corn candies and have them greet each other with a compliment for each candy they receive. For example, “Your smile makes me feel happy, so here’s a candy corn!”
Halloween Haikus
Challenge older students to greet each other by composing short Halloween-themed haikus (5-7-5 syllable structure) as their greetings. For example, “Bats fly in the night, Halloween’s spooky delight, Greet with pure fright.”
Goblin Greetings
Students can greet each other by pretending to be goblins and speaking in silly, mischievous voices. They might say, “Hello, fellow goblin! What’s your trick today?”
Witchy Rhymes
Have students greet each other with rhyming words or phrases related to Halloween. For example, “Good morning, Halloween queen! You’re dressed for the spookiest scene!”
17 Halloween Morning Meeting Activity Ideas and Games
Imagine the sparkle in your students’ eyes when they start their day not only with a typical morning meeting but a Halloween celebration.
A scene like this can make the students look forward to these meetings with much zest and eagerness.
Here are several Halloween Activities and Morning Meeting Games that can also be used for a classroom Halloween party.
Pass the Pumpkin
Like the game ‘Hot Potato’, students sit in a circle and pass a small pumpkin while music plays. (Choose spooky music to set the mood.)
The student who is caught with the pumpkin when the music stops, performs a morning greeting or shares something.
Halloween Charades
Students express their greeting through a Halloween-themed charade.
They can act like a popular Halloween character or symbol, and the rest of the class attempts to guess the greeting.
This is a class favorite because of getting to act out the part.
Costume Talk
This can be a platform where students describe their planned Halloween costumes, the inspiration behind it, or their favorite costumes from previous years.
This is a great last minute idea where you won’t have to prep any supplies or activities.
Witch’s Brew
Each student adds an “ingredient” (an idea or thought) into the pot.
Another variation is to create a “witch’s brew” with a cauldron (or large pot) filled with a mysterious liquid (water with food coloring).
As students arrive, they can drop in Halloween-themed items like plastic spiders, rubber bats, googly eyes, or small Halloween toys and guess what will happen when each item is added.
Scavenger Hunt
This Halloween game is similar to I Spy. Create cards or use Google Slides on your interactive board asking each student to find what is being asked.
For instance…
- Find something that reminds you of fall…
- Who do you think will dress up like a princess?
- Who is most likely to eat all of their candy?
Pumpkin Greeting
Add each student’s name to a Halloween cutout and place in a plastic pumpkin or colored bowl.
Have each student pull one out and greet that person until the entire group as finished.
Spooky Story
Let one student say a few words to create a mad lib style Halloween story.
Each child will then say a couple more words until everyone has had a chance to add to the story.
This is a fun game that kids will love!
In fact, they probably will not want it to end.
So, it’s a good idea to set a limit on the number of words each child can add (or just a time limit on the story itself) because once their imaginations get to going, it will be hard to slow them down.
Monster Mash Dance Party
Play the “Monster Mash” song and let students dance and have fun.
You can also have a dance-off where students show their best monster dance moves.
Pumpkin Decorating Contest
Provide small craft pumpkins, markers, stickers, and other decorating supplies.
Let students choose one from the pumpkin patch to decorate during the morning meeting.
You can even turn it into a contest with categories like “spookiest pumpkin” or “most creative pumpkin.”
Costume Guessing Game
If students are wearing costumes, you can turn it into a guessing game.
Have each student describe their costume without revealing what it is, and the class can guess.
Alternatively, write down costume clues on the board and have students guess which classmate each clue corresponds to.
Spider Web Sharing
Create a simple “spider web” on a board or wall using tape or string.
Have students take turns sharing something they appreciate or something positive about another classmate.
After each share, they can connect a piece of string to create a web of compliments.
Halloween Bingo
Create Halloween-themed bingo cards with pictures or words related to the holiday, such as ghosts, pumpkins, witches, and bats.
Use candy corn or small Halloween-themed trinkets as markers.
Halloween Pictionary
Play a Halloween-themed version of Pictionary where students take turns drawing and guessing Halloween-related words or phrases.
You can create a list of words or phrases related to the holiday.
Pumpkin Ring Toss
Set up a small ring toss game with plastic rings and mini pumpkins as the target
Students can take turns trying to toss the rings onto the pumpkin stems.
Ghostly Science Experiment
Conduct a simple Halloween-themed science experiment, such as making a ghostly “volcano” by combining baking soda and vinegar inside a decorated ghost shape.
Mummy Wrap Challenge
Divide students into pairs or a small group and provide them with rolls of toilet paper.
Have them take turns wrapping a team member in “mummy” fashion.
Then the team that wraps their mummy the fastest or neatest wins.
Halloween-themed Crafts
Set up a craft station where students can create Halloween-themed art projects. This could include making paper plate masks, decorating pumpkins, or crafting paper ghosts and bats.
Halloween Musical Chairs
Play Halloween-themed music and have students walk around chairs arranged in a circle. When the music stops, they must quickly find a chair to sit in. Remove one chair after each round until there’s a winner.
30 Halloween Morning Meeting Questions
Here’s a list of Halloween-themed morning meeting questions that you can use to spark discussions and engage students during the spooky season.
- What’s your favorite thing about Halloween?
- What is your least favorite thing about this time of year?
- Do you have any special Halloween traditions you enjoy?
- If you could dress up as anything for Halloween, what would it be, and why?
- Do you ever go trick-or-treating at night?
- What’s the spookiest Halloween decoration you’ve ever seen?
- Have you ever been to an old haunted house or a spooky haunted house? What was it like?
- Do you like to be scared?
- If you could visit any spooky place (real or fictional) for Halloween, where would you go?
- What’s the scariest or funniest Halloween costume you’ve ever worn?
- What’s your favorite Halloween candy or treat?
- Do you like chocolate candy or gummy candy best?
- What would be your least favorite food to get while trick-or-treating?
- What’s your favorite movie or TV show to watch during this season?
- What is your favorite Halloween book or story?
- What would be your ideal Halloween-themed party or celebration?
- If you were in a Halloween-themed haunted maze, what kind of scary surprises would you include?
- Have you ever carved your own pumpkin for Halloween? Describe your pumpkin design.
- Do you put a candle or light inside of your carved pumpkin?
- Which pumpkin size, color, and shape do you prefer?
- Do you enjoy digging the “guts” and seeds out of pumpkins?
- Have you ever eaten baked pumpkin seeds?
- Do you and your family decorate your home or yard for Halloween?
- Do you enjoy spooky or eerie music and sounds, like those played during Halloween? Why or why not?
- If you could spend Halloween in any time period or historical era, which one would you choose and why?
- Share your favorite memory from past Halloween celebrations.
- What’s the most creative Halloween costume you’ve ever seen someone wear?
- If you could build your own monster, what would it look like?
- If you go trick or treating, who is the first person you hope to see in your costume?
- If you had to create a new Halloween tradition, what would it be?
- Would you rather encounter a friendly ghost on Halloween night or a mischievous Halloween creature like a leprechaun? Why?
Halloween Morning Meeting Activity Sentence Starters
Here are some Halloween-themed sentence starters that you can use to kickstart discussions during a Halloween morning meeting
- “Today, I’m feeling as excited as a witch on Halloween because…”
- “One Halloween memory I’ll never forget is…”
- “If I could create my own spooky Halloween story, it would begin with…”
- “The spookiest costume I can imagine is…”
- “A Halloween tradition I have with my family is…”
- “The scariest movie character I can think of is…”
- “I think Halloween is the perfect time for…”
- “In a Halloween haunted house, I’d want to find…”
- “The best Halloween treat ever is definitely…”
- “If I could turn my classroom into a haunted house, I’d decorate it with…”
- “My favorite Halloween song or soundtrack is…”
- “If I were a Halloween monster, I’d be a [choose a monster] because…”
- “A Halloween decoration that creeps me out is…”
- “The costume I’d choose for my pet (or a stuffed animal) for Halloween would be…”
- “My dream Halloween party would include…”
- “If I could visit a spooky place for Halloween, I’d go to [name a place] because…”
- “The most unique Halloween costume I’ve ever worn was…”
- “If I had a magic Halloween potion, I’d use it to…”
- “My favorite part about Halloween is…”
Math Activities for Halloween Morning Meetings
Counting Candy
Begin by placing a jar filled with Halloween candy (e.g., candy corn, mini chocolate bars) on display. Ask students to estimate how many candies are in the jar. After the meeting, count the candies together to see who had the closest estimate.
Spooky Word Problems
Present students with Halloween-themed word problems that require them to use math skills to solve. For example, “If a witch has 5 bats and gives away 2, how many bats does she have left?”
Pumpkin Math
Use small pumpkins or pumpkin cutouts to teach concepts like addition, subtraction, and multiplication. For example, have students create pumpkin addition sentences by placing two pumpkins on the table and writing the sum.
Graphing Candy Preferences
A fun way to incorporate candy into learning would be to sort specific candies by a characteristic like color, size, or shape. If you choose color, create a chart or graph that combines each student’s favorite color.
Another option would be to create a graph for “Favorite Halloween Candy.” Have each student place a sticky note to represent their favorite candy on the graph, and then use the data to teach concepts of graphing and data analysis.
Halloween Pattern Blocks
Provide pattern blocks in Halloween shapes (e.g., bats, pumpkins) and encourage students to create their own patterns and shapes while exploring geometric concepts.
Halloween Math Bingo
Play Halloween-themed bingo with math problems instead of numbers. Call out math problems, and students mark the corresponding answers on their bingo cards.
Spider Math Webs
Draw spider webs on the board and write numbers in the circles. Have students take turns solving math problems using the numbers in the spider web. For example, they might need to find two numbers that add up to 10.
Ghostly Math Fact Practice
Create ghost-shaped cards with math facts (addition, subtraction, multiplication) on them. Have students draw a card and solve the math fact before passing it to the next student.
Haunted House Geometry
Use Halloween-themed images of haunted houses and ask students to identify geometric shapes within the images. For instance, they can find rectangles for windows, triangles for roofs, and squares for doors.
Candy Sorting and Counting
Provide students with a bag of assorted Halloween candy. Then ask them to sort the candies by type (e.g., chocolate, gummies), count how many of each type they have, and discuss the results as a group.
Every day is a good day when candy is involved. So prepare for students to indicate that this activity is the best way they have ever learned anything!
Halloween Measurement
Use Halloween-themed objects (e.g., plastic spiders, mini pumpkins) for measurement activities. Students can measure the length, width, and height of these items using rulers or non-standard units like candy corns.
Morning meetings provide a structured routine that students can rely on, which can help them feel secure and ready to learn.
The best part about these themed activities, games, and conversation starters is that you can easily change things up so you can reuse them for other holidays throughout the entire year.
Incorporating new ideas like Halloween morning meeting slides or digital games takes your morning meetings to an entirely new level where students get excited about coming to school and starting their day.
