Emma Radebaugh
Halloween is an exciting time of the year for children of all ages. The holiday involves fun colors, creative costumes, and enough candy to last them weeks. A fun way to add to their enjoyment is to hang some festive decorations around the classroom. You can bring some of your own and DIY a few with your students. To help kickstart your project, we’ve come up with six tips on how to decorate your classroom for Halloween.
1. Paint Pumpkins
If your students are a bit young to carve their own pumpkins, they can have some fun with paint instead. Bring some pumpkins—real or plastic—to the classroom and encourage your students to get creative as they paint on designs. After the paint has dried, place the pumpkins around the classroom.
2. Decorate the Door
Cut out some fun Halloween shapes with your students: ghost, pumpkins, bats—whatever gets your class excited. Have your students write their names on the shapes and hang them on the door. You can also hang festive streamers or spooky pictures to add something extra.
3. Bring in Festive Lights
Holiday lights aren’t only for Christmas! Find some Halloween string lights with a soft orange glow that will add a fun ambiance to the room. You can also get lights in fun shapes such as mini pumpkins.
4. Have a Candy Basket
One of the best parts of Halloween is the collection of candy one receives from their neighbors. Set out a bowl of candy a week or two before Halloween and award students with a piece whenever they do something good, such as answer a question correctly or help out a classmate.
5. Coloring Pages
As you most likely know by now, students love to see their work displayed. Print out some Halloween-themed coloring pages and set aside time for your students to color them in. When they’re finished, have them hang the pictures up on the wall so that the kids can look at them throughout the Halloween season.
6. Stuffed Mascot
Every student loves a mascot. Bring a stuffed black cat or another spooky critter into the classroom and have it act as your class’ mascot for the Halloween season. You can even move the mascot around the room every day and challenge your students to find it.
