The nights are getting longer, the air is getting crisp, and there’s a buzz of excitement in the halls. That can only mean one thing: Spooky Season is officially here! To celebrate, we’ve cooked up a cauldron full of classroom treats to help you transform the ordinary lesson plan into something downright magical.
As a special thank-you for being part of the EMC² Learning community, we’re treating our newsletter subscribers to two spooktacular free resources — the Google Slides Costume Creator and the beloved Spooky Season variant of the Candy Bar Challenge!
And just like those halcyon trick-or-treating nights of yore, these activity treats are completely free — no paid membership required and no strings attached. Both resources are ready-to-use and fully editable for any content area, built for fun, flexibility, and full-class engagement. Snag your freebies below and bring a little Halloween magic to your classroom today!
Trick or Treat Yourself to Two Seasonal Freebies
Sweeten up your next review session with this Halloween-ready twist on the classic Candy Bar Challenge! Students race to complete content-based challenges and rack up sugary points in a game that rewards collaboration, quick thinking, and a touch of mischief. All fun. No tricks. 100% free.
Trick or treat! Each October, the Spirit Halloween costume meme takes social media by storm. And here at EMC² Learning, we wanted to cook up an easy to use template that could help educators join in the fun. Want to try your hand at a clever costume inspired by your content? Just give a click to join in on the parade!
Even More Resources for Site Members
Inside EMC² Learning, paid subscribers unlock year-round access to 1,100+ ready-made, fully editable resources — from seasonal favorites to everyday engagement gold. To celebrate the arrival of All Hallows’ Eve (and The Great Pumpkin, naturally), we’re shining our full-moon spotlight on ten of our all-time favorite spooky challenges, creative review games, and deep-dive lesson designs.
So sink your teeth into this frightfully fun lineup of classroom hits, and keep your students learning (and loving it) all year long!
Bone Up on Your STEM Review
A horde of zombie skeletons is hot on your trail! The only way to escape these boneheaded baddies? Teamwork. Students must collaborate to construct a massive escape bridge using limited materials before time runs out. It’s STEM-meets-survival in a race against the clock!
A Sweet Way to Use Up All That Leftover Candy
Save those tasty sweets before it’s too late! The haunted halls are closing in, and only teamwork will save you. Students solve riddles, complete challenges, and collect tools to rescue trick-or-treat bags before they vanish forever into the Candy Corn Vortex.
Penny Wars with a Spooky Twist
Double, double, toil and trouble! EMC² Learning’s latest addition to our Halloween collection is bubbling with possibilities. And in the all-new Cauldron Chaos, rival squads race to complete academic challenges and put a review-based spin on a classic “penny war.” This high-energy favorite is equal parts strategy, speed, and seasonal spirit.
Scare Up Hidden Role Hijinks
Don’t Get Ghosted is a hilarious game of secret identities and spooktacular bluffing. As students trade coded messages about course content, “ghosts” hide in their midst trying to uncover the secrets. Perfect for critical thinking, communication, and a few eerie laughs.
Close Reading So Fun, It’s Scary
Fire up a close reading activity full of tricks, treats, and surprises! Haunted Pumpkin Pick ’Em challenges students to read closely, infer cleverly, and outwit their classmates in a ghoulishly good game of comprehension and strategy.
Stack Some STEM into Any Review
Mini pumpkins and candy corn collide in this hands-on building challenge! Students craft towering structures from seasonal materials while balancing design, dexterity, and delight. It’s a gourd-geous blend of STEM and seasonal spirit.
Get Your Students on the Same Wavelength
Can you read my mind? In Mind Meld, teams try to predict one another’s thinking through a series of rapid-fire connections. It’s a simple, low-prep review that’s surprisingly deep — and eerily effective for strengthening schema and teamwork.
A Twisted Take on Schema Theory
Spin your way to victory! Seven Deadly Spins challenges teams to build twisted webs of connections between course concepts, earning the chance to draw cards that can help or hinder their progress. Perfect for creative thinking and content mastery.
Low Prep for Endless Replay
Witches, ghosts, and monsters face off in this haunted battleground! Students answer spirited review questions, slide past tombstones, and sink unclaimed spaces to trap their rivals in this all-out classroom showdown.
Shuffle Up Student Engagement
Break the curse of the ho-hum review with Two-Do Voodoo! This super low-prep card game transforms any deck of playing cards into a powerhouse of participation, where luck, logic, and learning collide.
Whether you’re brewing up a low-prep review or building a full-on haunted house of engagement, EMC² Learning has you covered. Our mission is simple: to help teachers everywhere transform the ordinary lesson plan into something truly extraordinary — no costumes required (but highly encouraged).
The activities featured in this blog post are just a handful of the 1,100+ resources available and on their way to arrive shortly in the EMC² Learning library. This entire library is available to all members with an active Engagement Engineer or Engagement Engineer PLUS account, and is included with your annual site membership. We hope you’ll consider joining us as an Engagement Engineer to unlock a full year of site access. For complete details including our exclusive limited time offer for annual site membership, click here.
