While we do usually teach Halloween words, for us the main aim of a party class is to give students a break from studying, relax, and learn a little about western culture. Traditional games played in England for Halloween include bobbing for apples, and the classic game of trying to eat marshmallows hanging from string, and it would certainly be fun to teach these games, students may have allergies, or may just refuse to eat the food on the grounds that they dislike the taste. Also, with the current problems with the Coronavirus parents may take issue with children eating at the school. For these reason, despite pumpkins being an intrinsic part of the Halloween festivities, the games here do not include any food.
Lesson length : 30 to 40 minutes
Class size : Small Group class
Preparation time : 20 – 60 minutes to prepare the “Splat the Rat” game (Depending on the level of detail), 20 – 30 minutes to prepare the “Halloween Can Stacking”, 30 minutes per tumbler (Because this craft requires glue to dry, prepare atleast a day before) to prepare “Terrifying Transforming Tumbler”, 20 – 60 minutes to prepare the “Witch's Hat Hoops” game, and flashcards.
Materials :
- For “Splat the Rat” game : A long board with a tube (kitchen roll tubes glued together will be sufficient), a soft plastic hammer, a rat to drop down the tube (A ping pong ball will work fine)
- For “Witch's Hat Hoops” : A set of witch's hats with points written on made with cardboard (or paper if you can trust your students not to crush them), a set of hoops to toss at the hats
- For the “Terrifying Transforming Tumbler” : 6pieces of construction paper cut into 9cm by 13cm rectangles, strong glue, string, decorative tape
- For “Halloween Can Stacking Game” : Empty tuna cans; large Halloween images that can be cut and glued around the sides of the tuna cans; a timer; a tool to pick up each can, made from 4 pieces of string tied equidistant around the edges of an elastic band
Instructions
1. Teachers show the flashcards to the class, and have students repeat the new Halloween vocabulary after the teacher. If students have come in costume, and any students are wearing the same costumes as the flashcards, match those to the students.
2. Play “Splat the Rat” : This game has been played for many years, and can often be seen at carnivals in England. The board is propped up so that it is sloped. The teacher drops a ball( or rat) down the tubing and a student waits at the other end of the tube with a hammer. If the student is able to hit the ball as it comes out of the tube, they have won a point for their team. Play a couple of rounds and count the points to decide the winner. The level of difficulty can be increased or decreased by the degree of slope the board is raised to.
3. Play "Witch's Hat Hoops" : Split the class into teams. Each turn a student tries to hoop the hats to score points. After a student has thrown 5 hoops, it is the other team's turn to throw. After all students have thrown and taken their turn, the final score is counted and the team with the most points wins the game.
4. Make the "Terrifying Transforming Tumbler" : This will require a lot of preparation in order to get the tumblers ready to be decorated for class. The instructions for making a tumbler are in a video which you can access from the link below. Students will color their tumblers in class.
5. Play "Halloween Can Stacking Game" : If students are a little older and have a steady enough hand, play the “Halloween Stacking” game in teams with the elastic band, however this can be a little harder to coordinate with younger students, so teachers may just wish to play the game as a simple puzzle, with students working together to pick up and place the cans on top of each other using their hands, and creating the images. Left click the button below to see full instructions for the "Halloween Can Stacking game"
Our Splat the Rat game was made with a piece of wooden fence and a plastic tube. For those teachres who do not have a fence available, cardboard will work just as well. It was pointed in traditional carnival colours.
The back of of Witch's Hat Hoops game is more fence, and the hats themselves are made from cardboard, with the pointed end of the hats blunted, just in case. Our kindergarten students have been busily decorating the hats with points over summer.
A game of Halloween Can Stacking being played in a Halloween party class.