Do you celebrate Halloween in the classroom? I know some school systems are moving away from holiday celebrations. My school has a Halloween ‘snack’ – not a party. The students do not dress in costumes at school. It is a very low key day. But, what if you are interested in something that is a Halloween topic? Maybe you need something that will work for the fall season. I have resources that are perfect for October. Here’s the best news. These resources are perfect for all year long. So, you can add a little to your Halloween/fall/October festivities or try these activities at any time! #winwin
Here’s a Peek…
- Spiders Escape Room
- Spider Cage STEM Challenge
- Skeleton Escape Room
- Robotic Hands STEM Challenge
- Spider Flipper Booklet
- Skeleton Task Cards
It’s a great collection, so stick with me and I will give you the high points and a few tips!
Spiders Escape Room
Spiderwebs and spiders and bright red-orange- oh my! And it’s an Escape Room!
Students complete three tasks to open locked boxes. Task 1 is a math page with a riddle. The answer to the riddle leads students to clues for the lock code. The clues just happen to involve spiders.
Task 2 use a coordinated grid and students have to determine which spider to find on the grid. This leads to clues to open the second box.
The last box is opened when students sort insect and spider facts.
Sounds like fun, right?
TIP: I use a plastic toolbox that I found at the Dollar Tree. They are a perfect size and also- one dollar. For the locks, I found a number lock at Home Depot and purchased three. Yes, that is an investment, but we have used them over and over again.
BUT THERE’S MORE! You don’t have to use toolboxes or locks. My Escape Rooms come with a ‘paper lock’ system. You can make copies of the paper locks and have students bubble in the lock code numbers. When they show you the correct bubbles on the paper lock, they have ‘unlocked’ the box.
Guess What? There is even more!
Spider Cage STEM Challenge
This challenge is the ending event to the Spider Escape Room. The challenge is included. Students build a spider cage!
Students must use the materials to build a spider cage that will comfortably hold a specific number of plastic spiders. The cage must also have a viewing window!
TIP: I found my plastic spiders at the Dollar Tree. You can also find these at Wal Mart. The spiders are actually rings. I just cut off the ring part.
If you can’t find these try Amazon:
Skeleton Escape Room
Here’s another fabulous Escape Room that is perfect for October, but can be used all year. It’s all about skeletons.
In this locked box event students will complete math problems for task 1. The answer to a riddle will lead to clues. Many of the clues are hidden on skeletons or bones that students must find.
Box 2 has teams piecing together a skeleton puzzle, but a piece is missing. They have to determine what that missing piece is to get the lock code.
Task 3 has them finding the area of arrays and then the total area of all the arrays. What a spectacular set of tasks!
This Escape Room also has a Skeleton newspaper that students use to help find answers! Now, think about all the skills being used in this activity- math, area, arrays, bone names, and more! #Fabulous
BUT IT GETS BETTER! Wait until you see the STEM Challenge that is included in this resource!
Robotic Hands STEM Challenge
“Hands-Down” the best ever!
My students loved making these so much. It is fascinating to watch them as they pull strings to make the fingers lift and bend.
We tried this one using two very different methods. Students either cut a cardboard hand or used a plastic glove. The task was the same. They attached strings to the ends of the fingers and then worked to make them pull the fingers up, but they also had to release the finger back to its flat position. #amazing
TIP: We tried tying the string to the fingers, but the knots were hard to make and came apart. Tape worked very well.
This challenge is included in the Escape Room but can be purchased separately. (Click on any of the images to see more!)
Spider Flipper Booklet
Have you tried a mini-flipper booklet? These are a small size, but this just means you can glue them into folders or notebooks.
The spider flipper has five pages and choices of covers. Students will be listing facts about spiders and insect (which just happens to be part of the Spider Escape Room, too). They will label the parts of a spider and research about spider webs and venomous spiders.
TIP: Have students complete and color the entire booklet before cutting it out.
Skeleton Task Cards
My favorite set ever! I started inventing these ‘newspaper’ style task card sets when I still taught third grade. My students loved Time for Kids magazine and I would make worksheets for them based on the articles. We also pored through the magazine and labeled the text features. This was great for reading, comprehension, vocabulary, and text features, but the articles were not always a topic we needed. So, I made my own!
This set is all about bones! The four newspaper pages have trivia, facts about bones, basic facts, comparisons of bones, and more. There are 54 task cards covering vocabulary, comprehension questions, and open-ended tasks.
But, here is the absolute best part. Each page of the newspaper has the text features labeled. So, some of the task cards focus on those features. Students must identify the feature or its purpose. #fabulous Students love these sets!
Okay, friends, which spider or skeleton item are you excited to try!
In this post, for your convenience, you may find Amazon Affiliate links to resources. This means that with your purchase of items Amazon will pass on small percentages to me. This will not create extra costs for you at all! It will help me keep this blog running!
