Halloween Games Online for the ESL Classroom

Halloween is the one week of the year when even the quietest class wants to play – and that is exactly why it is worth planning. A good Halloween game brings back the same ten or twenty words again and again, but children remember the pumpkin, not the practice.

Below are two ready-made 45-minute lessons, 22 free online games grouped by level with a note on how to use each one in class, a Room on the Broom lesson for young learners and tips for playing on the classroom board. Everything runs in the browser, and nobody needs to sign up.

📝 Two ready-made Halloween lessons

45 minutes each, built from the games on this page. Swap any step for a game you like better.

The idea is the same at every level: wake the class up with something quick, give them the words, let them use the words in a game, and finish with something calm. The times are a guide – with a lively class the game step usually takes longer.

🎃 Word games for young learners

First Halloween words through play – for pre-A1 and A1 kids.

All six games use the same 25 words – bat, pumpkin, ghost, witch, spider, lollipop and the rest – so the order does not matter: whichever game you start with, the next one repeats the words. Present them first with Halloween Vocabulary – Level 1, then play.

Halloween Eyes A1Glowing eyes in the dark – whose are they? Watch the clip, guess the word, then see who was hiding.In class: whole class, 7 rounds. A perfect warm-up: let everyone shout out a guess before you click.Play → Halloween Boo A1Look at a Halloween picture for 20 seconds, then click on everything you remember.In class: whole class or pairs, 11 pictures. Ask the class to say each word aloud before a child clicks it.Play → Memory Game A1Flip the cards and find the pairs: bat, pumpkin, ghost, witch, spider and more.In class: pairs or two teams. House rule: you keep a pair only if you say the word.Play → Halloween Puzzle A1Put a Halloween picture back together while its word stays on the screen.In class: individually or in pairs, 5 puzzles. Good for fast finishers.Play → Halloween Hangman A1Guess the Halloween word letter by letter before the drawing is finished.In class: teams on the board, each team suggests one letter in turn. Spell the letters in English.Play → Haunted House A1Put thirteen labels on a haunted house: witch, ghost, chimney, porch, jack-o’-lantern.In class: whole class, 13 labels. Children come to the board one by one and drag a label.Play →

🦇 Vocabulary games for A2

35 more Halloween words – from broom and cauldron to scarecrow and trick-or-treat.

The second set is for children who already know the basic words and for older beginners. The words are introduced in Halloween Vocabulary – Level 2; the games below recycle them through memory, spelling and reading.

Memory Match A2Flip the cards and find the pairs among 35 words: vampire, mummy, skeleton, cauldron.In class: pairs. For a challenge, a pair only counts with a sentence: “A mummy lives in a pyramid.”Play → Word Search A2Find the Halloween words hidden in the grid – bat, witch, spider, monster and more.In class: individually. Made for a computer or the classroom board, not for phones.Play → Spelling Game A2Listen to a Halloween word, type it and check your spelling.In class: individually, 5 rounds. A quick spelling test without paper.Play → Halloween Witches A2Read a description of a witch’s hair, eyes and clothes and pick the one it fits.In class: pairs, 18 descriptions. Follow-up: students describe a witch for a partner to draw.Play →

🧹 Room on the Broom: a book companion

Ten activities on Julia Donaldson’s picture book – the perfect Halloween story for young learners.

A kind witch, a greedy dragon and a broom that’s getting crowded

The story has everything a young class needs: a small set of words that keeps coming back, a refrain to join in with and a happy ending. The book companion turns it into ten activities plus the animated story – every button below opens one.

StoryLabel & SayTrue or FalseQuestionsRetellPicture MatchWord SearchWord SortWho Said It?Irregular VerbsListen & Choose

Open the book companion →

A Room on the Broom lesson in four steps. The tasks follow the story, so go through them in this order – one step per lesson for the youngest, all four in one lesson for older children.

1. WatchStart with the animated story. Children who know what happens next enjoy every task more.
2. Learn the wordsLabel & Say and Picture Match – hat, bow, wand, cauldron, broom.
3. Check the storyTrue or False, Questions and Who Said It?
4. Use the languageRetell and Word Sort; stronger groups go on to the irregular verbs.

Into the Cauldron A1Tap a thing near the cauldron and write the verb in the past. Every three things, something funny pops out!In class: individually or in pairs, for stronger groups. Past simple: has – had, flies – flew.Play → Interactive Retell A1Listen to a sentence from the story and act it out – 24 steps from start to finish.In class: whole class after the story. Children take turns at the board, one step each.Play → Label and Say A1Label the witch’s hat, bow and wand – each correct label brings the picture to life.In class: whole class. After each label everyone says the sentence: “The witch’s hat is amazing!”Play → Word Search A1Twelve words from the book in every puzzle – tap or drag to find them.In class: tablets or the board. Press New puzzle for a fresh set of words.Play → Word Sort A1Sort fourteen pictures from the book into Clothes, Things and Places.In class: pairs. Say each move aloud: “I put the hat in the Clothes box!”Play →

🏆 Quizzes for the whole class

Put them on the board, split the class into teams and keep the score.

Quizzes work best as the last part of the lesson, when the words are already there. For older students they can be the whole lesson: two Jeopardy boards take about 40 minutes.

Halloween Jeopardy 1 A235 questions in five categories: riddles, songs, movies, Room on the Broom and trivia.In class: 3–4 teams, about 20–30 minutes. Teams choose a category and a value; you keep the score.Play → Halloween Jeopardy 2 B125 questions on treats, songs, movies, monsters and trivia.In class: teams, about 15–20 minutes. The same rules, a step harder.Play → Halloween Trivia B1Nineteen questions with four options: Dr Frankenstein, what Dracula means and more.In class: teams. Read each question aloud and give the teams ten seconds to agree.Play → Halloween Riddles A121 riddles in three rounds: pick the picture, solve harder riddles, then type the word.In class: whole class. Read each riddle aloud and let the class guess before anyone clicks.Play →

For team games there are also Open the Box and Flashcards with Halloween questions.

🎬 Watch and listen

Cartoons and stories with the questions right under the video.

Short videos give a lesson a calm middle part after the noisy games. Watch once for fun, then a second time with the questions.

Peppa Pig’s Pumpkin Party A1Eight tasks on one episode: watch, choose the picture, true or false, retell, spot the difference.In class: whole class. Three or four of the tasks fill a lesson.Play → Pete the Cat A1–A2Watch “Pete the Cat: Happy Halloween” and answer fifteen questions about it.In class: whole class. Pause after each scene and answer together.Play → The Jack-o’-Lantern Legend A2–B1Watch the legend of Stingy Jack and his lantern, then decide: true or false? Ten statements.In class: individually or as a class. A good start for a talk about Halloween symbols.Play →

There are eighteen more recordings and videos in Halloween Listening.

💡 Tips for playing on the classroom board

What makes online games work with a real class, not just one child at a computer.