Lesson length : 40 to 50 minutes

Class size : Small Group class

Preparation time : 30 – 60 minutes to prepare the “Halloween Escape Room” game, 5 – 10 minutes to prepare “The hidden Enemy” game and Halloween vocabulary flashcards.

Materials :

• For "Word associtation game" : A ball, balloon, or other soft object to throw around the class.

• For “Halloween Escape Room” : A printed copy of Appendix A for each team; a printed copy of Appendix B for each team; a printed copy of Appendix C for each team; a printed copy of Appendix D for each team; 3 boxes (with a printed picture of a lock taped to the top for full escape room effect) to place each stage of the puzzle inside; a pair of scissors for each team.

• For “Invisible Man” : A 6 sided dice; a printed copy of Appendix E; a printed copy of Appendix F, fully assembled as instructed on the appendix; a printed copy of Appendix G, fully assembled as instructed on the appendix. * With the provided materials, this can be played with 3 or 4 players. For a larger class, print and assemble further copies of Appendix G. There should be one card per student playing, and the deck should include one "Invisible Man" card.

Instructions :

1. Teachers brainstorm Halloween monsters with the class. If students are of a high enough level, teachers may also wish to quiz students with questions about the monster, like "What vegetable does a vampire not like?" (garlic), "What metal is dangerous for a werewolf?" (silver), "What is a vampire's favourite food?" (blood), etc.

2. Play a "Word association game" with the class, beginning with a monster or Halloween related item. Have the class form a circle. The teacher begins by saying a Halloween word, then passing a soft object, such as a ball, to the student next to them. They must then say of a word related to the first word, and pass the ball to the next student. That student says a word related to the second student, and the cycle continues. After the ball has travelled once around the circle and the students have understood the rules, play once or twice more, but this time giving students only ten seconds to think of their word.

3. Begin the "Escape Room" : Teachers tell students that they are now going to begin a series of challenges. If students can correctly identify the password from the clues of each challenge, they open the locks of the next box and continue to the next challenge. In total there are 3 challenges to complete and teams will only have 20 minutes to do so. And for an extra incentive tell students that if they cannot complete the challenges in that time, the teacher will lock the school door and students must spend their entire weekend at the school with 100 pages of homework to complete (This is a joke. Pretend to do so at if students can not complete in time, but do not actually do this!). For a fun competitive game, separate students into competing teams. Each challenge should have been placed into separate boxes, and students complete each stages as described below.

• First stage. Open box 1 and remove the printed copies of Appendix A from the box. Hand each team a copy of Appendix A. Tell students that each half of the worksheet contains a code that will reveal part of the password for the next box. The first word is seven letters long, and the second word is 4 letters long. When they know the answer, they should write the word on the answer spaces of th worksheet and secretly show it to the teacher, without any other team seeing. If the answer is correct allow them to open box 2. (The answer is "Vampire bats").
• Second stage. Open box 2 and remove printed copies of Appendix B and C from the box. Hand 1 copy of each sheet to the students. Tell them that they must first cut out the 9 puzzle pieces, then arrange them the board of Appendix B in such a way that the lines of the puzzle connect to the sides of the board and reveal the mystery sentence. (The answer is below. It should read "I eat humans"). Once students have brought a correct answer to the teacher they may open box 3, the final box.

• Third stage. Open box 3 and hand out 1 copy of appendix D to the students. Explain that they will need scissors to solve this code, and that once they know the answer, they should write it on the board. (If students cut along the dotted lines, then place their cut out card over the letters underneath, it should reveal the answer, "Happy Halloween"). The first team to write the word on the board wins.

* Teachers would be wise to try each stage of the escape room themselves before playing, to make sure they can fully understand the methods for solving each code, and are able to give advice to teams where needed.

* We also played an escape room at Christmas with our Junior High Schoolers one year. If teachers feel one of the clues provided might be too hard, they may prefer to adapt the clue below for their Halloween party (Currently the answer reads "Santa").

4. If there is still time, play a game of "Invisible Man" : This game plays similarly to the popular board game "Cameleon", but with Halloween words. Lay Appendix E, "Invisible Man board" in the centre of the table. Make sure that students understand each of the words of the board. Shuffle Appendices F and G together in a deck. The deck should comprise the same number of cards as players and include one "Invisible Man". Have each player randomly choose a card from the deck and keep it a secret from their classmates. Have a student roll the dice once to indicate the number of the left-hand column of the grid of their card, and once again to indicate the number of the row on the top. Students should then find when the row and column meet, and which grid coordinates of the "Invisible Man" board it refers to. Unless they have pulled the "Invisible Man" card from the deck, they should now know the secret word.

At this point students each say a single word that is related to the word of the grid, but does not easily identify the word to the "Invisible Man" - the word should be generic or obscure. The player with the "Invisible Man" card will not know which word has been chosen, and must make an informative guess based on his classmates words, and give their own generic and obscure clue. After all students have said their word, students must each guess who drew the "Invisible Man" card.

If the majority of votes are on one person, that person reveals their card to the class, and if they are not the "Invisible Man" card holder, the "Invisible Man" has won 20 points.

If the majority of votes are on one person, that person reveals their card to the class, and they are the "Invisible Man" card holder, the "Invisible Man" has one chance to guess which word from the board the clasmates clues referred to. If they guess incorrectly, their classmates each get 20 points. If they guess correctly, noone scores points that round.

When the round is completed, students shuffle the deck once more, pick new cards and begin round 2. Play as many rounds as time permits. The winning player is the one with the most points at the end of the game.