10+ Fun and Engaging Halloween Themed Centres for Kindergarten

Even my non-scissors loving kiddos loved picking up a pair of scissors and giving Frankie a “hair cut”! Students can choose a Frankie with lines or use the blank template to give him a unique hair cut 🙂

*All of the activities shown in this pack can be found in my “Kindergarten Halloween Centres: Literacy, Math, Fine Motor & More!” pack here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Halloween-Centres-Literacy-Math-Fine-Motor-More-12268795

2. Halloween Themed Play Dough Tray

Play dough trays are one of my favourite ways to incorporate fine motor + open ended play during centre time! For this tray I started by adding some play dough, the cookie cutters (here are the links for the web and the skeleton) and jack-o’-lantern picks (I got these from Michales last year and didn’t see them this year but they have other Halloween treat toppers like this if you are looking for something similar!).

Then I thought I’d be great to have them make spiders (rolling a ball and sticking in the pipe cleaner legs are both great for developing those finger muscles!) so I added the googly eyes and cut up pipe cleaners.

Then I remembered that I had little spiders that would work perfectly with the web cookie cutter so I added the spiders. I saw my bag of mini bones when I got my spiders and thought the bones would be perfect for making letters with so I added those as well.

Finally I added a few letters cutters (beginning sounds for spider, web, skeleton, bone so they could match it to things in the tray/things they make) + the letters to make the word web to give the kiddos who can the opportunity to encode a word 🙂

My own kids loved this tray and we did so many things with it! They made lots of spiders, monsters/ghouls, made patterns, letters, counted the spiders on the web etc! So many literacy and math opportunities!2. Halloween Themed Writing Activities

Themed activities are an easy way to get students excited about doing the same activity again and with a skill like printing, Kindergarten students need lots of practice and repetition to master it! So I always pop in a themed tracing uppercase tracing sheet and lowercase tracing sheet into the dry erase/writing centre when October hits!

3. Halloween Themed Writing Activities

Another holiday staple are my word charts and mini books! I simply pop the word chart on a stand in the writing centre for students to use as a resource and copy, slice and staple these Halloween mini books and offer them at the writing centre too!

There are 3 levels for the mini book so all of your learners can be successful/challenged! The easiest version is to trace the word, the harder version is to trace the word and then print it on their own and the third version is to simply copy/spell it on their own!

4. Dab & Read It

Kindergarten students typically needs lots of practice with letter formation, so this one is another staple and you’ll see it in many of my seasonal and holiday packs!

I use the black and white version with bingo dabbers and the colour version with magnetic chips and wands! There is also a decodable sentence at the bottom so students can practice beginning reading strategies, like tracking print and reading left to right.

I’m always asked where I get my bingo dabbers and magnetic wands + chips so I’ll link them here:

• magnetic wands and chips
• bingo dabbers

5. Halloween Build & Trace

Here’s a hands-on centre using a manipulative you hopefully already have in your classroom.. snap cubes! The students always really love snap cubes and it’s a great way for them to work on building their finger muscles too!

6. Counting Spider Eyes

This is a simple activity to work on 1:1 correspondance! My own little guy (3.5 years old at the time) loved adding the eyes to these little spiders! I happened to already have this plate in my Halloween bin (you’ll see it again in a patterning activity a little bit further down) so I used it as a placemat. I got if from Michales!

7. Witch’s Brew Counting

Out of all of the Halloween activities my little guy tried, this one was by far his favourite! He loved choosing new cards and making various brews! A common question on Instagram when I posted about this activity was where I got all of the loose parts so here is the source list:

• Candy Corn: Michaels last year, I didn’t see them this year
• Witch Fingers: Michales
• Eye Balls: Wal-Mart
• Bones, Bats, Spiders: Dollarama

I purposely made multiple options so if you don’t have all of these things you can just choose 3 or 4 of the loose parts you do have and just print the cards for those!

8. Trace/Draw a Jack-o’-Lantern Face

Another skill Kindergarten students need a lot of practice with at the beginning of the year is drawing shapes! Drawing shapes is foundational for both printing and drawing pictures so I try to provide centres that practice this skill as often as I can!

The book, “It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse!” by Laura Numeroff goes well with this activity as mouse paints a variety of different faces on his pumpkins!

9. Sorting “Spiders”

This is a fun way to practice sorting by colour and working on fine motor skills at the same time! I love these tweezers, I have had them for years and not only are they sturdy they have a great amount of resistance that makes you feel like you are really working on developing those hand muscles! I bought them from Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3Nr42Q5

10. My Halloween Patterning Mini Book

My classes always love mini books so I decided to make a patterning version for Halloween! There are a bunch of different versions, so you can differentiate and print the pages that best fit your group/class!

All of the printables shown in this post can be found in my “Kindergarten Halloween Centres: Literacy, Math, Fine Motor & More!” on TPT by clicking here or on the image below:

11. Spider Ring Patterns (Freebie!)

Here is a fun, hands on way to practice patterning! I stuck a paper straw into a small pot of play dough (you could also just make a ball and squish it a bit so it stays upright) and then offered the patterning cards. My boys loved following the cards and building these spider ring patterns!

The straws are old (I think from Michaels but years ago) and the plates and spiders are from Michaels (this year).

Want to try this? Click on the button below to download it for free from Google Drive:

12. Build a Web for the Spiders

This is a fun STEM centre that really works on fine motor skills! Balancing the popsicle sticks and the spiders are both surprisingly tricky!

Want my little photo I used (I also made a little sign you can print out in case you don’t have a chalk sign)? Just click below to grab it for free!

12. Build a House for the Ghosts

This STEM activity works perfectly with the book Ten Timid Ghosts by Jennifer O’Connell. I simply put out some magnetic tiles (I used all purple but you can do any colour) some ghosts (these are the ones I have) and a sign with the prompt!

Hope you were able to find a few ideas to make planning for Halloween a bit easier!