WhirlPicker10 no-prep Halloween party games for the classroom
A Halloween party with thirty children and one adult needs games that start in seconds. Here are ten, each with a ready-made version you can open on the projector.
How to use this list
Every game here needs nothing but a projector or a laptop, and most have a button that opens a ready-made version. Mix a loud game with a calm one, and finish with something everyone can join.
Games for the whole class
1. Halloween bingo
Thirty spooky words, printable cards and a caller with a ball machine on the board. There's a clue version too, for listening practice.
Open Halloween bingo How to run it
2. The spooky quiz show
A game-show board with four categories: Spooky creatures, Monster maths, Words and Halloween facts. Split the class into the Pumpkins and the Ghosts. Teams pick a tile, the clue fills the screen, and points fly to the scoreboard. One tile is secretly worth double.
3. The silent spooky story
Turn on the Shushometer and read a spooky story aloud. The class's job is to keep the sleepy creature asleep the whole way through, gasps included. It's surprisingly hard, and a lovely way to calm the room after the quiz.
Creative games
4. Spooky story starters
Spin for the first line of a story, then everyone writes the next three sentences. Pass the papers round and keep going.
5. Halloween drawing challenge
Spin for something to draw, set a two-minute timer, and hold up the results. “A spider wearing shoes” never disappoints.
6. Halloween charades
One person spins, acts out what they get without speaking, and the class guesses. Swap actors every round.
Quick games and fillers
7. Would you rather: Halloween edition
Spin a question, then everyone moves to one side of the room for their answer. Ask one person from each side to say why.
Open the would-you-rather wheel
8. Costume parade order
Paste your class list into WhirlPicker and use Random order from the ⋯ menu to decide who walks the parade first. No arguments about who goes when.
9. Mummy wrap race
Make random teams of three with the group generator. Each team wraps one volunteer in toilet paper, and the neatest mummy after two minutes wins. Keep-apart pairs mean you can split up the friends who'd be too silly together.
10. Party jobs
Give every child a job for the party (music, sweets, tidy-up, photographer) with the classroom job wheel. It picks different people for each job and rotates fairly next time.
A simple running order
- Party jobs, so everyone has something to do.
- Costume parade.
- Halloween bingo.
- The spooky quiz show.
- Story starters or the drawing challenge.
- The silent spooky story, to finish calmly.