Use math problems to create a fun Halloween art project. Draw or copy a picture of a haunted house. Choose the colors that you would like students to use for the picture and assign each color a number. Write the colors and corresponding numbers down on a sheet of paper. Devise a list of math problems with answers that equal one of the numbers you chose. For example, if you listed blue as 14, you might choose 7 times 2, 10 plus four and 16 minus 2 as possible questions. Write the math problems in the spaces on the picture where you want students to use that specific color. Write the color key on the bottom of the picture or on the board. Make copies of the picture with the math problems written in and give one to each student, along with crayons. Show students how to solve the math problems to determine what color to use for each part of the picture.
Make a Halloween matching game to test your students' math and memory skills. Draw Halloween pictures on blank index cards. To make a pair of cards, write the number that corresponds to the picture on the other card. For example, you might draw three pumpkins on one card and write the number three on another card to make a set. Alternatively, use Halloween pictures to write math problems: For example, draw two haunted houses plus one haunted house and write the number three on the other card to make a set. Shuffle the cards and lay them out face down on a table. Let students take turns turning over two cards to try to make a match.
Turn your classroom into a haunted house and invite young students on a spider hunt. Hang fake spider webs around your classroom where your students can reach them. Hide plastic spiders all around your classroom: inside the webs, on the floor, and on shelves behind books and toys. Give each student a basket and ask him to try to find as many spiders as he can in two minutes. At the end of the two minutes, ask students to count how many spiders each collected. Give a prize to the student who collected the most spiders. Ask students to count how many spiders the entire class collected.
Turn your classroom into a haunted maze. Use shelving or bulletin boards to divide your classroom into several distinct spaces. Decorate with black fabric, spider webs and jack-o-lanterns to give it a spooky look. Ask parent volunteers to dress up in costume, and ask one volunteer to stay in each "room." Let students come into the haunted classroom in groups of two or three. At each room, have a volunteer ask students a math question; if students answer correctly, they may proceed to the next room. If they answer the question wrong, they must answer a new question correctly before moving to the next room. When students have navigated all of the rooms in the haunted classroom, surprise them with a few tasty Halloween treats.