It’s always fun to dress up, and we got some extra use out of the kid’s costumes for our Halloween homeschool co-op this year! Here are some fun ideas for you to host your own Halloween homeschool co-op party with your group. Of course, there are a million ideas you could do, but these were winners with our group. Additionally, all of these Halloween homeschool activities are cheap and hands-on! A free printable with a list of supplies you’ll need is included!
Group Costume Picture!
First, of course, we took a picture of all the kids in their cute costumes. A mandatory thing to do!
Up and Over Game
We played “Up and Over” with 2 orange balloons (I drew spiders and jack o’ lantern faces on them) with music. Up and over is where they stand in a circle but facing the back of the person in front of them. Then one person passes the balloon over his head to the person behind him, and then she passes the balloon under and through her legs to the person behind her, and then so on all around the circle.
We started with two balloons with one at each end of the circle. Then they would all “freeze” when the music stopped. And then we’d start again when the music started back up. We played the game like this: when the music stopped, the balloon stopped too. This is kind of like “freeze up and over”, this way the kids weren’t “out”, and they could play the whole time.
If you want this game to be more crazy or have a larger group, go ahead and add more balloons to the circle. It’s a bit too slow if there is just one balloon to go around.
Monster Freeze-Dance!
Next, we had a monster freeze-dance, where we pretended we were monsters and danced to a Halloween music playlist. Then everyone had to freeze when the music stopped. Some kids were super into dancing, and others, not so much.
Sensory Organ Game
The best part was a fun sensory game where the kids have to guess “What organ is in the bag?” by feeling it and not looking. The kids LOVED this game! It takes a bit of prep work but it was totally worth it!
- WrIte the names of the organs in a random order on a medium-sized dry erase board so the kids can look at it and copy down the words if they need help with spelling.
- Then put each “organ” in a wide-mouth mason jar, and put the jar in a brown paper lunch bag so the kids can’t see inside of them.
- Next, number the bags 1 – 7, and have the kids write down the numbers with which organ they think it is on a piece of paper.
- Remind them not to peek in the bags! And don’t take anything out of the bag- only touch and feel and then leave it in there!
After they were all done guessing they washed their hands, and I showed them what was inside the bags. This activity actually took way longer than I expected, as most kids went through the “organ line” two or even three times. Lots of feeling and thinking going on. The banana was the only food that got all smooshed by the end of it.
The organs were as follows:
Individual Grapes = eyeballs
Cooked Spaghetti Pasta = intestines
Cauliflower = brains
Dried Apricots = ears
Dried beans = teeth
Slice of banana, cut length-wise = tongue
Jello, in a bit of a long, triangle shape = liver
You can prep most of it the night before and keep it in the fridge. Just the banana has to be cut the same day of the activity. Of course, you can make up your own food organs too. This took a bit of prep work but the kids absolutely loved this activity!
The look on their faces when putting their hands in the bags was priceless! This was a super fun one, and worth the bit of effort that went into it.
List of supplies needed:
- Two orange balloons (plus one or two extra in case they pop)
- Music player (my phone wasn’t quite loud enough)
- Dry erase board & dry erase marker
- Brown paper bags
- Wide-Mouth Mason Jars (or Ziplocks)
- Paper and pencil
- Food in wide-mouth mason jars (or ziplocks), and then put in numbered brown paper bags:
- Individual Grapes
- Cooked spaghetti pasta
- Dried Apricots
- Cauliflower
- Dried beans
- Slice of banana, cut length-wise
- Jello (in a long triangle type shape)
We were learning about the human body before this Halloween activity, so my son was familiar with all of the organs. Aside from Halloween, this could also be a fun, stand-alone activity after wrapping up a study on learning about the human body.
Red Rover for Outside Play!
Lastly, the kids went outside to play (as is usual for our group). They played maybe 50 rounds of Red Rover. The best game ever- not just for Halloween, but really for any time! I hope all of you homeschoolers have a fun and festive Halloween Homeschool Co-op!
If you enjoyed this Halloween homeschool co-op idea, check out Everything You Need to Host a Fun, Hands-On Homeschool Co-op on Composting Worms! Learning about composting worms could also be another fun Halloween homeschool co-op idea!
Read Next: How to Host a Fun Homeschool Co-op Christmas Party!
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