5th Grade Halloween Party Ideas

For some science fun, try making spooky glowing beverages. Tonic water glows bright blue under a black-light because of the quinine in tonic water. This Halloween activity is perfect after a science lesson on light. A fun activity to start a Halloween party, your students will have fun drinking glow-in-the-dark beverages. You can also make ice cubes out of tonic water and add them to a glass of soda. Or, you can use tonic water to make glowing Jello. If you do the latter, you can even cut the Jello in fun Halloween shapes like pumpkins and ghosts.

To get your fifth graders excited about Halloween and active in the classroom, play the mummy wrap relay race. To play, divide your class into group of three or four. Each group needs a "mummy" and a "wrapper." Using a roll of toilet paper, have each team wrap the "mummy' as fast as possible. Not only is this game fun and active, it also promotes team-building skills. You can have "wrappers" take turns, which makes sure everyone gets involved.

For a simple way to start off your Halloween party, have your students guess how much candy is in one large jar. You can use candy corn, jelly beans or other small candies. Have your students write down their guesses on a piece of paper. The student with the closest guess wins a prize or extra credit.

Similar to the guessing jar game, the heavy pumpkin activity extends the guessing activity into a classroom experiment. Bring in a pumpkin and have your students predict the weight. This works well after a lesson on measurements. Weigh the pumpkin. This time, ask your students to predict how many seeds are inside. Split your students in groups to count and add the seeds. Then, try planting the seeds in cups to see if they will grow.

Have your fifth graders play Halloween inspired word games. For instance, ask your students how many words they can make out of "scarecrow." Have them work in groups and then write these up on the board. You can also play other word games such as a Halloween inspired "exquisite corpse." In this game, one student writes down a line of Halloween-inspired poetry, folds it over and hands it to another student. This student repeats this action, without seeing the line above. This inspires creativity and creates a story instantly. Be sure to share the collaborative poem after writing.