Learning
October 26, 2020

Virtual Halloween Games to Play with Students

GoGuardian Team
An illustration of spider webs on a dark background with the GoGuardian logo

Spooktober is here, and it is the perfect time to roll out inventive games for some spooky-themed adventure. Halloween games keep kids engaged and adults occupied throughout the days leading up to Halloween, whether at home or in a classroom setting. With social distancing in mind, there will be limited movement of little monsters this year. But who needs a haunted house when you can enjoy virtual Halloween party games online with your class?

Top Virtual Halloween Party Games

There are countless virtual Halloween party games that teachers can consider for their Halloween celebrations. We have picked a few to try during virtual classes so that your students can enjoy a Halloween like no other. These games will be a blast and forever memorable. All you need is some ingenuity and a spirit for adventure.

Ghost Stories

Halloween cannot be complete without a variety of spooky ghost stories. It is no different at a virtual event. Teachers can read from storybooks for all age groups to get their students into the Halloween mood.

Make it even better by challenging the bigger kids to create and narrate their own ghost stories. This is a great option for virtual language art lessons in which you prepare students for Halloween by writing and sharing such stories throughout the month. Challenge them even further by having them create ambience in their rooms while they share their stories over video chat. A flashlight and some fog could add to the spooky factor!

Pumpkin Carving and Decorating

Pumpkins are always a big part of Halloween, and there are incredible ideas to incorporate them into the virtual party for kids during a class video session. As a teacher, take it upon yourself to create a list of pumpkin carving/decorating activities to be done by all students. Divide them into respective age groups, and assign shapes to be carved and decorated from their own homes.

It becomes more fun when you allow students to design crazy and scary faces of choice. Summarize it with fun competitions, and award the most unique, funniest, creative, and scariest pumpkins. Kids enjoy competition, and when it happens over Halloween, it is unbeatable fun.

For younger kids, keep your pumpkin decorating safe by having them use finger paints and stickers to decorate pumpkins. This keeps little fingers safe from sharp carving tools and can be a fun way to inspire creativity around the holiday. When the pumpkin carving is complete, have all of the students take a group photo with their pumpkins on the video call, or have each student send a photo of their pumpkin so you can create a collage with them.

Watch a Scary Movie

If we can enjoy great movies online, then kids can too. Halloween movies are spooky fun, and kids will love the experience. Halloween-themed options for kids will depend on the age of the students. You can host a movie watching party by playing the movie on your own device and sharing your screen.

Get in touch with parents in advance to make arrangements for your movie session, and prepare kids in good time. Parents may want to buy popcorn for their kids, let them wear Halloween costumes, and leave them in the hands of their teachers for the duration. Breaks should be organized during the movie for bathroom use.

Scavenger Hunt

You can never go wrong with a Halloween-themed scavenger hunt. It is an ideal activity for elementary to middle school kids for many occasions, and it can easily be socially distanced for safe fun during the pandemic. An indoor scavenger hunt gives a terrific opportunity for kids to get creative around their homes, while outdoor hunts can help them get out into the fresh air.

Parents can also be a big part of the fun by collaborating with teachers to hide items in mysterious places around the home and yard. Items can be hidden under or around scary-looking objects to give the Halloween adventure more meaning. Ideas for little kids include writing different words using objects and letting the kids find them. Send a list of items to all participants beforehand, and see which student emerges victorious by finding the most objects.

If you live in an area where many houses decorate for Halloween, put together a generic list of spooky decorations like ghosts, witches, giant spider webs, skeletons, and jack-o-lanterns. Then have each child take pictures of those decorations in their neighborhood. Bonus points can go out to students who find a house with a prop that’s animated (jumping spider, anyone?) or has sound. Students can then have fun sharing the spooky house decorations they discovered on the hunt.

Halloween Charades

Kids enjoy fun and active games, especially when they can team up with their friends. There is no better way to get kids laughing than with charades. Prepare a bunch of Halloween prompts, and send them privately to the child acting out the charade. See who in your class can guess the word first, then let that student take a turn acting out a word.

Game Time

Playing games over virtual platforms can be a lot of fun. If you have children of different age groups, try to split them into sessions to cater to the demands of each. Ideas for the game night range from creating Halloween characters, filling out printable Melissa and Doug Halloween activity pages, Sudoku, word searches, BINGO, and Halloween trivia contests.

Virtual Costume Contest on Video

Halloween parties go hand in hand with themed costumes, and that includes the virtual Halloween experience. To set the mood right for the celebrations, invite all the participants to join a video call dressed in Halloween attire. It would be more fun if you can set a dress code for the party.

Virtual costume ideas include:

  • Movie monsters
  • Disney characters
  • Classic commercials
  • Guests from the future
  • Anything but humans

An organized virtual costume contest can up the fun. Announce the categories to be judged before the party kicks off. Give awards for the funniest costume, the most creative costume, and the scariest costume, among other categories. Voting for the winners can be done privately or via a free video polling feature. Spice it up by awarding the winners with unique awards like Amazon gift cards or Starbucks.

Well, that sums up our epic virtual Halloween games you can try this year! These games can easily be adapted for elementary to middle school children. With a little creativity from teachers and parents, activities can turn out to be the most extraordinary experiences for their kids. Who said a socially distant Halloween can’t be just as fun as other years? Happy Halloween!

For more activity ideas or other resources, visit the GoGuardian blog today.

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