Teaching High School Math

Fun Halloween Middle and High School Math Activities

What are you doing for Halloween in your math classroom? In middle and high school, we know the kids still want to celebrate Halloween, but they probably don't get to with a fun parade or a party! So, maybe we can celebrate in math class with fun Halloween problems or a game!

One thing I have found that kids like to do is get up and move around the room. If you shop at Target or Michaels, you might have noticed the fun foam shapes that they have for almost every holiday. Sometimes they have them in the dollar spot, but this time I found a package of 35 pumpkins in the art section for $5. They are two different colors.

Ideally, I like to play some kind of matching game with these. I put problems on each pumpkin and then have the students find their match. The trick is figuring out something you can match so that each student has to do some kind of work. For example, giving some students something to factor and some students something to multiply using FOIL works well because both students have to do some work. (I used this last year for Valentine's Day - see it in my store Valentine's Day Factoring Activity). Solving equations doesn't work so well because some students just sit there with a number on their pumpkin - they don't have to do anything.

This Halloween, I think I am going to do a graphing matching activity. Some students will have an equation, some students will have a graph, and some students will have to write the equation of a line given a slope and a point. They will find their 2 partners.

It is easiest if you can write right on the fun foam with a sharpie. That worked for my Valentine's activity, but I don't think it will work so well for graphing - at least for the graphs. So, I think I will print those out and then attach to the fun foam with glue dots.

If you aren't up for this matching activity, here is another activity you could try from my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. This set has a total of 40 task cards that can be used for students to review algebra skills. Each card has an adorable graphic on it from either Whimsy Clips or Dots of Fun. There are 10 different topics covered and 4 questions on each topic.

Halloween Algebra Review

You could use this as a stations activity or you could make a game out of it. Students could draw a card from the stack then compete against another team. The possibilities are endless :)

Hope you have a great week!

[ETA: Here is a link to a newer blog post which gives links to many more fun Halloween Math Activities]