Halloween ESL Activities for Little Kids: 4 Lessons, Pumpkin Crafts, Party Games & FREE Worksheet
Looking for fun Halloween activities for your preschool or early primary English classroom? Here are four Visual English lessons, four creative Halloween activities, five party games and a FREE Jack-o'-Lantern worksheet to make Halloween unforgettable! Halloween is one of my favourite times of the year at our language school. Over the years, we've organised Halloween parties filled with costumes, music, pumpkin decorating and plenty of laughter.
And I've learnt something important: young children don't need complicated activities to enjoy learning English. They need pictures, movement, repetition, music and opportunities to participate. Here are some of my favourite ways to bring Halloween into an English lesson!
1. Four Halloween ESL Lessons for Little Kids
Visual English offers four fun Halloween activities across three books: 0A, 0B and 0C. Each lesson combines colourful visuals, songs, vocabulary and speaking activities to help young children learn English naturally.
Lesson 1: Five Little Monsters
Visual English Book 0A, Unit 18 A playful introduction to Halloween for the youngest learners. Children count five little monsters, match their shadows, decorate a pumpkin and sing Five Little Monsters and Go Away, Scary Monster. Learning focus: counting, colours, monsters, listening and repetition.
Lesson 2: Baby Shark Halloween
Visual English Book 0B, Unit 17 Baby Shark joins the Halloween fun! Children sing Baby Shark Halloween, count sharks dressed in different costumes, match shadows and design their own Halloween costumes. Learning focus: numbers, costumes, listening, matching and creativity.
Lesson 3: Make a Happy Face
Visual English Book 0C, Unit 18 – Pumpkin feelings activity Can you make a happy face? How about a grumpy or scared one? Children recognise emotions, copy facial expressions, draw pumpkin faces and sing Can You Make a Happy Face?
Learning focus: happy, sad, grumpy, sleepy, scared, eyes, nose and mouth.
Lesson 4: Trick or Treat
Visual English Book 0C, Unit 18 – Halloween costumes activity It's time to dress up! Children listen, identify and match Halloween costumes, practise naming characters and sing Trick or Treat. They can then act out a simple knock-knock, trick-or-treat conversation.
Learning focus: Halloween costume vocabulary, listening, speaking and role-play. Make a Happy Face and Trick or Treat are two activities from the same unit, Book 0C Unit 18, presented as separate mini-lessons. -
2. Four Fun Halloween Activities for Little Kids
Activity 1: Make a Jack-o'-Lantern Face
FREE Worksheet: Roll a Jack-o'-Lantern! Every Jack-o'-Lantern needs a face, but what will yours look like? Give each child our free worksheet, a dice and some crayons. Children roll the dice to choose their pumpkin's eyes, nose and mouth. Then they draw the features on the large blank pumpkin.
The results are always wonderful! Some pumpkins have enormous eyes, some have funny mouths and others look rather surprised. Practise English while drawing:
- Roll the dice!
- Draw two eyes.
- Make a big mouth.
- How many teeth has it got?
- Is your pumpkin happy or scary?
When everyone has finished, let children show their pumpkins to the class. Extra speaking challenge: My pumpkin has got two big eyes and four teeth. It's scary!
Worksheet 1: Roll a Jack-o'-Lantern!
Click to download PDF Worksheet 2: Roll, Look and Draw
Click to download PDF
Activity 2: Carve a Real Pumpkin
There's something magical about transforming a real pumpkin into a glowing Jack-o'-Lantern. First, let children draw their pumpkin designs on paper. Then bring out a real pumpkin and explore it together.
Introduce the vocabulary: pumpkin, stem, seeds, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth. Children can help scoop out the seeds, count them and describe what they see. An adult should handle all knives and cutting tools. For preschoolers, decorating pumpkins with washable markers and stickers is an excellent alternative.
Finally, place a battery-operated LED candle inside your Jack-o'-Lantern. Let's speak English!
- What's inside the pumpkin?
- Can you see the seeds?
- Has your pumpkin got big eyes?
- Is it scary or funny?
Teacher tip: Display the finished pumpkins around the classroom for your Halloween party.
Activity 3: Make a Pumpkin Face Online with Starfall
Not every Halloween activity needs paper, scissors or glue! The Starfall pumpkin activity gives children another way to create a Jack-o'-Lantern. Children choose a pumpkin and design its face online.
** Play the Starfall Pumpkin Game:** https://more.starfall.com/info/apps/pumpkin.php This is ideal for an interactive whiteboard, a computer-based lesson or an at-home Halloween activity. Let's speak English!
- Choose a pumpkin!
- Where are the eyes?
- Make a funny face!
- Is your pumpkin happy or scary?
Teacher tip: After playing, ask children to draw the same pumpkin on paper. Can they remember what it looked like?
Activity 4: Trick or Treat! Knock, Knock!
This is such a simple activity, but children absolutely love it! Create a pretend Halloween door in your classroom. You can decorate an ordinary door with paper pumpkins, bats and ghosts.
Let children dress up as witches, ghosts, monsters, pirates or pumpkins. Now it's time to go trick-or-treating! Practise this little conversation:
Child: Knock, knock, knock! Teacher: Who's there? Child: Trick or treat!
Teacher: Happy Halloween! Child: Thank you! Use pretend sweets, paper treats or Halloween stickers.
Let children take turns being the visitor and the person opening the door. Teacher tip: Start by modelling the conversation several times. Younger children can simply say Trick or treat! and Thank you! while older children practise the whole dialogue.
3. Five Halloween Party Games That Kids Love
Halloween is the perfect excuse to get children moving! Here are five party games that are easy to organise and work particularly well with young English learners.
1. Wrap the Mummy
Divide children into small teams and give each team some toilet paper. One child becomes the mummy while the others carefully wrap them up! Play some spooky music and see which team can create the funniest mummy.
English practice: Wrap! Stop! Turn around! Look at our mummy!
Keep faces uncovered and make sure children can move freely.
2. Pin the Wart on the Witch
Draw a large witch's face and attach it to the wall. Give children a paper wart with reusable adhesive. One at a time, children close their eyes or wear a blindfold and try to place the wart on the witch's nose, with adult guidance.
Their classmates can help! English practice: Left! Right! Up! Down! Stop!
3. Eyeball Relay
Give each child a spoon and a lightweight plastic eyeball or a decorated ping-pong ball. Children walk from one side of the classroom to the other, trying not to drop their eyeballs. For younger children, keep the distance short and make it a walking challenge rather than a race.
English practice: Ready, steady, go! Walk! Slowly! Be careful!
4. Halloween Costume Parade
Turn on some Halloween music and invite children to parade around the classroom. Everyone gets a chance to show off their costume! Ask:
What are you? I'm a witch! I'm a ghost! I'm a monster! Encourage children to describe colours and accessories too. English practice: costumes, colours, I'm a…, I'm wearing…
5. Musical Black Hats – The Magic Hat Dance
Forget musical chairs. For Halloween, we play musical witch hats! Place black witch hats on the floor, with one fewer hat than the number of players. Play some Halloween music and let the children dance around them.
When the music stops, everyone must find a hat! Remove one hat after each round, just like musical chairs. English practice: Dance! Walk! Stop! Find a hat!
Teacher tip: Use soft hats, leave plenty of space and remind children not to push. For preschoolers, you can play without eliminating anyone.
4. Five Halloween Songs for Little English Learners
I always include songs in my Halloween lessons. They help children remember vocabulary, practise pronunciation and join in even when they're not yet confident speakers. Here are five songs that work beautifully with our four Visual English Halloween lessons:
- Five Little Monsters – Counting down from five.
- Go Away, Scary Monster – Monsters, movement and simple instructions.
- Baby Shark Halloween – Halloween costumes and counting.
- Can You Make a Happy Face? – Feelings and facial expressions.
- Trick or Treat – Practising Halloween phrases.
Don't worry if children don't sing every word. Encourage them to copy actions, point to pictures, make faces and repeat familiar phrases. The more actively they participate, the more English they absorb.
5. FREE Halloween ESL Worksheet: Roll a Jack-o'-Lantern!
Recommended ages: 3–7 Looking for a quick, no-preparation Halloween activity? Our Roll a Jack-o'-Lantern worksheet combines drawing, numbers, facial features and speaking practice. How to use it:
- Give each child a worksheet and a dice.
- Roll to choose the pumpkin's eyes.
- Roll again to choose the nose.
- Roll a third time to choose the mouth.
- Draw, colour and describe the finished pumpkin!
Every child creates a different Jack-o'-Lantern. Use it as a classroom activity, a Halloween party station or a fun take-home worksheet. Download Worksheet 1 (PDF) · Download Worksheet 2 (PDF)
Happy Halloween from Visual English!
For me, the best Halloween English lessons are the ones where children forget they're learning a language because they're having so much fun. They sing, move, laugh, make funny faces, knock on pretend doors and proudly show off their pumpkins. And along the way, they're listening to English, repeating new words and learning to speak with confidence.
I hope these Halloween ideas bring a little extra magic to your classroom this year! Happy Halloween and happy teaching! Visual English – See it. Say it. Speak English.