Group students into pairs or teams of three to construct Halloween-themed dioramas. Display the dioramas on a Halloween piece of literature or a spooky scene. Challenge students to recreate a visual display of the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving or a haunted graveyard. A haunted house is another display concept for fifth-grade student groups to replicate.
Students can construct a decorative spider web wreath with a foam wreath found at a discount store and crepe paper. Wrap and glue black crepe paper around the foam ring to cover it and randomly stretch orange crepe paper over the center of the ring in various areas like a spider web. Adorn the wreath with paper spiders or twisted black pipe cleaners. Paper bag luminaries can be created by cutting out a ghost or pumpkin from only one layer of an orange gift or paper bag, inserting 1/2 cup of sand or gravel in the bottom and placing a tea light candle inside.
On a piece of black construction paper, challenge students to draw an original monster that has not appeared in movies or television shows. Students must use creativity and artistic expression to blend chalk colors or leave heavy chalk lines in drawing their creative monster ideas. Transform those ideas to create a monster mask from foam sheeting. Use fast-drying craft glue to attach facial features and cut the eyes from the mask before attaching string through punched holes to secure the mask to student heads.
Allow students to create edible Halloween treats using pears and wooden craft sticks. Press a craft stick into the bottom of a pear, dip into a bowl of melted moldable white chocolate and place chocolate chips or raisins on the pear for eyes, nose and a mouth. Refrigerate the pears until the chocolate is firm (approximately 15 minutes). To carry Halloween goodies, students construct a haunted house treat container from an empty and clean gallon milk jug. Cut out the spout area, leaving the handle, to reveal a cube-like shape, paint the outside of the jug like a haunted house using acrylic paint. Cover the rough-cut edges with clear tape before painting.