Elementary students learn about graphing and surveys. Combine Halloween costumes and treats with an interactive math activity about these concepts. As a class, take a survey that asks kids which candy --- from a selection you've brought -- each likes best. Write down the answers so that all can see. Do the same for each candy and then have students graph the results. Divide kids into groups and ask each team to determine the most popular candy or the least popular. Ask students which type of Halloween costume each student is wearing and list each answer. Break the class into groups and have each group graph the results to determine which costume is most popular or which is the most unique.
As Halloween approaches, families often carve pumpkins to display outside. This tradition is also ideal as an interactive math activity. Divide students into small teams. Give each team a pumpkin; cut the top open beforehand. Students in each team will estimate how many seeds are in the pumpkin given and list each team member's guess on a piece of paper. The teams then clean the pumpkins out and divide the seeds from the innards to count them and to see how close each member guessed to the actual number of seeds inside. Older students can be challenged to average the team members' guesses into a single estimate before counting.
Kids in elementary grades learn about numbers and their groupings. Buzz is an interactive math game played to practice this concept. The game can be altered to give it a Halloween theme. Students sit in a circle and count. For example, the first player counts "one," and the second counts "two." When a player comes to the number seven or a multiple of seven, the player must say a Halloween word instead of the number. If the player says the number instead of the word, he is out. This game can be played with any number and its multiple.
Kids learn about weights and measures in math. There are several ways you can give this a Halloween theme that allows the class to interact and work together on a problem. Break the class into groups and set five pumpkins labeled A through E on a table or on different tables around the room. Give each student a worksheet with the pumpkins listed, have the teams first estimate the measurements of weight, circumference and height for each pumpkin, and then send the groups around to weigh and measure the pumpkins. Each group shares its result with the class. You can also use Halloween candy, asking kids about which type of candy weighs more than another. When the teams have finished measuring, ask each team to arrange the pumpkins in order of size.