Hooray for Halloween

Halloween is a really fun time of year. But in the midst of an 
emphasis of fear and spooky themes, I believe that the games that 
are played in my classroom should focus on teamwork, cooperation, 
and good, clean fun. This routine can be used in a classroom that 
will celebrate this time of year without emphasizing the negative 
dark aspects of this holiday. Get ready to work together and have 
some fun.

Materials:

Inflatable dice with Halloween pumpkins on it
Hula hoops
Pumpkin puzzle
Plastic skeleton
Labels of body parts
Large cut out of a pumpkin
Black beanbags
Number cards
Buckets 
Pumpkin bucket
Laminated black spiders
Matching fabric or laminated leaves
Plastic web tablecloth
Timer
Scarves

Pumpkin Dice Calisthenics 

Throw a dice. Have the children act out the number that appears with 
some kind of activity: four jumping jacks, five sit-ups, etc.

Pumpkin Puzzles

Take a hula hoop and put a simple 3-4 piece puzzle of a pumpkin 
inside of it. Time each student and see how long it takes them to 
put the puzzle together. See which pumpkin puzzle is easiest for the 
group to put together.

Pumpkin Toss

Take an orange pool noodle and cut it into little wedges. Draw faces 
on the wedges. Scatter hoops on the floor. See if your students can 
throw an orange pumpkin into the hoop. The group that accurately 
throws the most pumpkin wedges wins.

Skeleton Id

Hang a plastic skeleton on a wall. Have each child take a turn 
running to the skeleton and identifying the various body parts by 
putting that particular body part by the skeleton. The child that 
accurately identifies the most body parts wins.

Pumpkin Throw

Hang a pumpkin cutout on the wall. Give each child a turn trying to 
hit inside the pumpkin’s eyes, nose, and mouth. The child that 
successfully hits the most body parts wins.

Webster

Lay a plastic web tablecloth on the floor with various number cards 
scattered on it. Have children take a black beanbag and see if they 
can make their beanbag land on any of the numbers in the web. 
Generally, the numbers that are deep inside the web are larger. The 
child who gets the most points from the number hits wins.

Pumpkin Pursuit

See how many pumpkins disks (orange balls) can be thrown into the 
pumpkin bucket.  The student who throws the most balls into the 
bucket wins.

Spider Relay

Make a row of buckets and place a laminated black spider beside each 
bucket. Time each student and see how long it takes to put the 
spider into each bucket. When they have put the spiders in the 
bucket, they are to turn around the last bucket and run back to the 
start.  The goal is for the groups to race to complete the relay in 
the shortest amount of time.

Leaf Relief

Practice colors and shapes by having students go to the hula hoops 
and find the matching leaves. The goal of the game is for the group 
to match the most leaves in the shortest amount of time. Other 
shapes such as apples cutouts or scarecrows can also be substituted. 

Non-completive Skeleton says

Instead of Simon Says, have students follow the leader (skeleton) 
and perform locomotor movements or identify various body parts that 
the caller calls outs. No one is out, even if the skeleton does not 
say.

Scarf Play

Instead of focusing on white ghosts and black spirits, celebrate the 
fall colors of leaves and changing seasons with scarves. Play mellow 
music and have the children follow you as you teach direction and 
motion using the scarves. End the session with gentle stretching and 
slow movements.  

This series of games are appropriate for a variety of settings such 
as gyms, classrooms, church groups, recreational centers, and even 
daycares. I challenge you this holiday to take the approach of 
starting new traditions with this routine. With the focus on fun and 
fitness, you can teach new habits for life. 

Pumpkin Power!

Fall is a great time to enjoy cooler weather and get into fun and 
fitness.  Use this series of games in your next fall or seasonal 
party.  

The Great Pumpkin

Equipment: Cone markers and one flag or scarf per person
Make a large square with thirty-foot sides.  Choose one player to 
stand in the square’s middle and be the Great Pumpkin.  Divide the 
group into four teams (i.e. Bats, Spiders, Pumpkins, and Candy 
Corn).  Have each group stand in a line formation on one of the 
sides.   Ask everyone to have a flag tucked into the back waistband 
of their pants, with at least two-thirds of the flag visible.  
Remind players to move into open spaces to avoid collisions.  When 
you call out a group’s name,  that group runs around the square and 
the Great Pumpkin tries to grab their flags.  If a flag is captured, 
that person joins the square.  Continue calling out the names of the 
groups until you’ve called them all.  Once all groups have been 
called, select a new Great Pumpkin and play again.

Jack-O-Lantern Roll

Equipment: Parachute, 4-5large sponge balls with different jack-o-
lantern faces

Put the jack-o-lantern sponge balls in a basket.  Have the children 
stand and hold the chute.  Lay on jack-o-lantern ball on the chute.  
Encourage the children to work together and slowly roll the ball on 
the edge of the chute.  Then tell the children to stop.  The child 
nearest the jack-o-lantern grabs it and holds it up so everyone can 
see the face.  Everyone calls out how jack feels.  Have the child 
roll that jack-o-lantern under the chute.  Put another jack on the 
chute and play again.  To extend the activity, make a large puzzle 
from a picture of a pumpkin and scatter the pieces as you throw them 
up in the parachute. See which kids can find the most matched pieces 
for the puzzle the fastest.  

Pumpkin Bowling

Equipment: Plastic pumpkin, real pumpkin, and slide

Place a real pumpkin in position at the top of a small slide and a 
plastic pumpkin about five feet from the bottom of the slide.  The 
child climbs the ladder, pushes the pumpkin down the slide, and 
tries to knock over the plastic pumpkin at the bottom.

Pumpkin Gutter Ball

Equipment: Various sizes of balls and slides

Roll various sizes of orange balls from the slide.  Predict which 
ones will go down the slide the fastest.  

Pumpkin Parachute

Put various sizes of balls on a chute.  Predict which ones will 
slide off the parachute first.

Move and Seek

Equipment:  Pumpkins, cones or small boxes

Divide children into teams.  Hide miniature pumpkins under a few 
cones or small boxes arranged at the far end of the activity.  Have 
children run, hop, jump, or walk backward to the cones and lift each 
cone trying to discover which cones have pumpkins concealed 
beneath.  Once they have discovered a  pumpkin, have them children 
carry it back to the starting point, then go back to search for more 
pumpkins.  The team that finds the most pumpkins wins!

Pumpkin Throw   

Equipment:  

Beanbags
Balls
Large pumpkin sheet 

Cut a sheet of plywood or laminated poster board to create the 
outline of a huge, three-foot-by-three-foot pumpkin.  Cut a large 
mouth, a nose and two eyes out of the cardboard pumpkin and paint it 
orange.  Determine point values for the eyes, nose, and mouth in the 
pumpkin.  Take a lightweight ball or beanbag and encourage the 
children to throw it in the pumpkin’s face for points.  The student 
earning the most points wins.

Pumpkin Patch

Equipment:  Orange beanbags 

Have students stand five to seven feet from a partner and toss a 
beanbag using a correct underhand throw.  Students try to accurately 
throw a beanbag with correct underhand style five out of seven times.

Give these games a try if you are looking for a way to bring 
Halloween into your fitness games!

References:


Burk, Maggie C. Station Games. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2002.

Landry, Joanne M. and Landry, Maxwell J. Ready-to-Use P.E. 
Activities for Grades1-2. n.l.: Parker Publishing, 1992.

McCall, Renee M. and Craft, Diane H. Purposeful Play. Champaign, IL: 
Human Kinetics, 2004.

Wilmes, Liz and Dick. Parachute Play. Elgin, IL: Building Blocks, 
2000.