I have a secret, but you have to promise not to leave after I tell you…
I’ve never really liked Halloween 🫣 Love fall, but could do without spooky season. The one saving grace for this holiday is children’s books. If you’ve hung around here a bit, you’ll know that I LOVE children’s books…no matter the holiday or season 🎃
So without further ado, here are five of my favorite Halloween read alouds and activities to go along with them!
You definitely knew that Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson would be on the list, and it’s up front and center, right where it belongs!! Alex’s gorgeous illustrations grab our attention and Julia’s incredible rhythmic story-telling keeps us engaged from start to finish.
As a FUN literacy connection after reading, students get to concoct their own magic potion…complete with rhyming word ingredients and a creative spell. Draw what might be floating in your cauldron then put it all together for an eye-catching Halloween display!
When I teach at the nursery school (ages 3-4), we read this classic book on repeat throughout October. The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams features beautiful illustrations by Megan Lloyd, and LOTS of fun and engagement as we act out the repetitive verses. In first grade, we use those repetitive verses to practice sentence structure in a hands-on pocket chart activity, and then we get creative by designing our own scarecrow!
And, of course, the literacy connections continue as we describe our scarecrows using as much detail (hello, adjectives!) as possible. BAM. Another great October bulletin board!
The Good, the Bad, and the Spooky by Jory John & Pete Oswald is the perfect SEL addition to your Halloween read aloud lineup! Begin by exploring the social-emotional learning concept of problem scale or “size of the problem” (i.e. big problems vs small problems) in a fun and CRAFTY way!
After learning about Mr. Seed and his perceived problem, students will have the opportunity to share their new wisdom with him by offering him advice on what we can do when problems arise. In the format of a seed packet, this craftivity is not only functional, but is the cutest read aloud companion ever!!
This one is another fan-favorite but it is absolutely MY personal top favorite Halloween book. So I had to share two extension activities for this one! It’s technically one primary template that has two different options… although the options are different enough that you could do both!
The first one is an exercise in syntax and teamwork. Put the scrambled words in order to build a sentence, then write about what it means to be a good teammate, what is something you’re good at that could help others, or share a time when you worked together with one or more people to solve a problem or achieve a goal.
The second option is a classic reading comprehension task; Sharing your favorite part of the story! No matter what option you choose, your bulletin boards will be bursting with creativity and learning 🎃✏️
Finally, I didn’t expect to have Pete the Cat on my list for Halloween, but here we are, thanks to the consistent opinion of my students 🤣 They will forever pledge allegiance to Pete, and this lift-the-flap book is no exception. And I certainly don’t mind because there is actually so much opportunity for learning in this seemingly-simple story!
One of the main things we focus on with this book is safety (I almost always get a Health & Safety mark for our progress report cards based partly on these Halloween safety activities ✅🙌). After revisiting how Pete was safe throughout the book, we brainstorm our own list of safe and unsafe trick-or-treating behaviors. Then, we put our brains to the test with this craftivity by sorting the pictures & creating this light (safe) & dark (unsafe) depiction of our learning. There are also blank cards provided so your early finishers and go-getters can add their own!
And because the kids shouldn’t be the only ones getting treats on Halloween, here is a little treat just for YOU!
These crack-the-code pages are one of my kiddos’ favorites every time I make them a new Fun Packet. So grab this cute Halloween joke sample HERE!
What is one of YOUR favorite Halloween read alouds? Comment below and I will consider adding it to the growing bundle of Halloween Read Aloud Activities!
Pin for later! 📌
