There are many different educational Halloween games that can be used to entertain kids and educate kids in the lead up to Halloween. Kids love to have fun at Halloween and they love to play games. But that doesn't mean that the games are just for fun. There are games that are also educational.
These games are ideal for school and can be used for a Halloween classroom party or can be used prior to Halloween as a treat for a class that has been working well. There are also educational Halloween games that are suitable for a few children to play together at home.
Here are a few that you might like to try at home or at school.
Halloween Hangman
This popular spelling game is ideal as a Halloween game. The traditional hangman diagram can be used and is most appropriate for this time of year. It can be played in the usual way but instead of using any word, a Halloween themed word can be used. You might use the words vampire, witches, potion and haunted.
A slightly different version can also be used. Instead of using just a word that has to be spelled out, try using a whole sentence. Create a spooky, Halloween themed sentence like, 'As we walked along the deserted road a fog surrounded us and we heard an eerie wailing close behind.' Draw a dash for every letter of the sentence leaving a space between the words. The game is then played in the same way as the traditional game. You probably won't get much of the hangman drawn but it is a good educational Halloween game that gets kids using their spelling skills as they try to work out the words in the sentence.
Halloween Riddles
If you are looking for educational Halloween games that will involve some reading or writing, you might like a try Halloween Riddle Match up or a progressive Halloween story.
To play Halloween Riddle Match Up, you will need about eight to twelve Halloween riddles. Write the question for each on a card and the answer for each on a separate card so that there are now two cards for each riddle. It is best to use a slightly different sized card for the answers so that children pick up a riddle card and an answer card each time. This game is played like the game of Concentration. All of the cards are turned face down and the players take turns to pick up two cards and see if they have a complete riddle. They keep the cards if they do or return the cards if they don't. The person who gets the most riddles is the winner.
Progressive Story
There are a few educational Halloween games that will get kids writing creatively. One of these is the Progressive Story. A simple way to do this game is to use a notebook. To begin, a story starter is written on the first page of the book. The first sentence might be, 'On a dark, moonless night three witches gathered around a caldron.' Each person adds a sentence to the story but the interesting twist is that as they do they are only allowed to read the preceding sentence. This does create a rather disjointed story but it is usually a humorous one that children enjoy reading over and over. They can also illustrate the story after it is completed.
There are many different educational Halloween games that can be used at school or at home. Kids deserve to have fun a Halloween but if you choose the right kind of Halloween games there will also be lots of learning that goes on too!
For your set of free printable Halloween games click here. www.kids-halloween-activities.com Teresa Evans is a parent and teacher who has created a range of printable educational Halloween games and activities at www.kids-halloween-activities.com.
A Christmas Carol - Speaking of Scrooge, no Christmas movie marathon is complete without his appearance, along with the ghosts that haunt him. Charles Dickens' novel is among the most beloved of literary classics, so why should the movie be any less popular? A Christmas Carol has been filmed numerous times for both the big screen and television, and most of them are pretty good. This story is too strong to mess up. So when you visit the movie store, take your pick.
Okay, okay. We know we left off your favorite, or maybe we included your favorite but left off another hit.
With so many choices, it wasn't an easy decision, but we gave it a shot.
Author Bio Jeremy White, a writer for Imaginary Greetings, Inc. (www.imaginarygreetings.com), is a regular contributing author specializing in features, sports, business and food writing, and frequently contributes to a variety of print and online publications. For additional tips on how to truly light up your child's eyes this holiday season like never before visit http://www.greetingsfromsanta.com.
International Project Management Day? Turkey with all the trimmings? Gathering around the Festivus pole and airing your grievances? What’s that? You don’t even known when IPM Day is?
OK, neither did I until recently. It’s Nov. 6, two days after Election Day. Once you recover from the sugar coma that is your kids’ Halloween candy, you might want to start planning. I’ll admit it seems like I’m being facetious – but I’m not. Celebrating International Project Management Day could be a great way to recognize the efforts of your staff, boost morale, and promote your department and business. It is possible to boost morale without breaking the bank. (After all, the assumption being you’re not going to hand out cash bonuses on International Project Management Day.) Entrepreneur.com has an article that could help. Entitled “Seven Ways to Boost Employee Morale,” it outlines cheap ideas it says could increase productivity. Here’s a look at some: Keep employees feeling their work is more than just a job. The article points out, “Everyone wants to feel that his or her work has a higher purpose.” Gather your employees and ask them to share what work accomplishment they are most proud of in the last 12 months. Grant time off to employees to pursue projects they are passionate about. “Personal projects can provide an energizing break from regular responsibilities and can serve as a source of innovation for a company,” says Entrepreneur.com. See if there is something your employees might want to spend Nov. 6 doing – it could be as simple as giving them the day off to spend with their kids. Just make sure it’s something that energizes them and doesn’t mean any project deadlines are missed. Your customers may not understand if you told them something was delayed because of International Project Management Day. Don’t forget to have fun. According to the story, “For the online discounter FatWallet, based in Rockton, Ill., fun is a regular part of the schedule. Its 55 employees are invited to play in a monthly Game Day, an in-house competition with activities ranging from Trivial Pursuit to Wii bowling matches.” So, pit your employees against each other. Cough up a few bucks for prizes and refreshments. It need not be anything fancy. Just make sure employees can have fun. Lisa Korotkin Rothberger is the human resources manager at JARC, a nonprofit organization based in Oakland County, Mich. As a non-profit executive she probably excels at doing things cheaply, which is why we share her advice. She wrote a piece for CorpMagazine.com with her tips. Leading her advice is this recommendation: “Get all upper level managers to have a pancake breakfast for staff. This is the perfect opportunity to involve managers in the fun. They can bring out their skillets, put on their chef hats and make pancakes for staff.” I worked for a legal newspaper earlier in my career. Once a quarter the publisher would do exactly that: make us breakfast. The law firms we covered did it, too. I would say the secret is to be enthusiastic – or at least fake it. Get creative. Make Mickey Mouse pancakes. Plus, there is the advantage of doing it when the day starts. You don’t need to break things up or worry about people focusing on lunch all morning. They come in, get served, and then slowly start the work day with full bellies. Along the same line as breakfast by the boss, Rothberger suggests, “Facilitate a bake-off between the various departments. Staff can compete for simple prizes like a pizza party for their department or an extra half hour for lunch one day.” This can be a great team building exercise, too. Have any suggestions for celebrating International Project Management Day? Comment below.
Halloween is among the oldest traditions in the world as it touches on an essential element of the human condition: the relationship between the living and the dead. The observance evolved from ancient rituals marking the transition from summer to winter, thereby associating it with transformation, which is still a central theme of the holiday.
Every recorded civilization has created some form of ritual observance focused on what happens to people when they die, where they go, and how the living should best honor those who have passed or respond to the dead who seem unwilling or unable to move on. Countries around the world today celebrate Halloween in one form or another, from Mexico's Day of the Dead to China's Tomb Sweeping Day. The modern-day observance of Halloween in countries such as the United States and Canada – where this tradition is most popular – share in this ancient tradition, even though some aspects of the holiday are relatively recent developments and can be traced back to the Celtic festival of Samhain.
Christian groups through the years have routinely attempted to demonize and denigrate the observance, in part by repeating the erroneous claim that Sam Hain was the Celtic god of the dead and Halloween his feast. This error comes from the 18th-century British engineer Charles Vallancey, who wrote on the Samhain festival with a poor understanding of the culture and language, and has been repeated uncritically since. It was actually the Church itself, however, which preserved the Samhain tradition in the West by Christianizing it in the 9th century, setting the course for a pagan Northern European religious tradition's transformation into a worldwide secular holiday which has become the most popular – and commercially lucrative – of the year, second only to Christmas.
Samhain
Halloween traditions in the West date back thousands of years to the festival of Samhain (pronounced 'Soo-when', 'So-ween' or 'Saw-wen'), the Celtic New Year's festival. The name means "summer's end", and the festival marked the close of the harvest season and the coming of winter. The Celts believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was thinnest at this time and so the dead could return and walk where they had before. Further, those who had died in the past year and who, for one reason or another, had not yet moved on, could do so at this time and might interact with the living in saying good-bye.
Further, there was a very good chance that the spirit of a person one may have wronged would also make an appearance. In order to deceive the spirits, people darkened their faces with ashes from the bonfires (a practice later known as "guising"), and this developed into wearing masks. A living person would recognize the spirit of a loved one and could then reveal themselves but otherwise remain safe from the unwanted attention of darker forces.
All Hallows' Eve
How long ago these rituals were included in the observance of Samhain is unknown, but some form of them were probably in place by the time Christianity came to Ireland in the 5th century. The hill of Tlachtga (Hill of the Ward) in County Meath was the site of the bonfire lighted on or around 31 October signaling the beginning of Samhain festivities when it was answered by the much more prominent fire from the Neolithic site of the Hill of Tara across from it. Archaeologists from University College Dublin have dated the excavated earthworks to 200 CE but note these are only the latest developments at a site first used for ceremonial fires over 2,000 years ago.
The hill is named for the druidess Tlachtga, daughter of the powerful druid Mug Ruith who traveled the world learning his craft. She was raped by the three sons of Simon Magus, infamous for his confrontation with St. Peter in the biblical Book of Acts 8:9-24, and gave birth to triplets on the hill that bears her name before dying there. The inclusion of a biblical villain in her story, obviously, places the legend in the Christian era and aligns Tlachtga with St. Peter in so far as they shared a common adversary. Scholars believe that the Tlachtga story, like so many Celtic legends, was Christianized after the coming of St. Patrick to Ireland and her rape by the sons of Simon Magus was added to a pre-existing account.
The Christianization of pagan symbols, temples, festivals, legends, and religious iconography is well established and applies to the Samhain festival as well as many others. Pope Boniface IV had set 13 May as All Saint's Day (All Hallows' Day), a feast day to celebrate those saints who did not have a day of their own, in the 7th century when he consecrated the great pagan temple of the Pantheon in Rome to Saint Mary and Christian martyrs, but in the 8th century, Pope Gregory III moved the date of the feast to 1 November. The motivation for this move is still debated. Some scholars claim it was done intentionally to Christianize Samhain by turning it into All Hallows' Eve, which is most likely true as the move follows an established Christian paradigm of "redeeming" all things pagan in an effort to ease the conversion process of a given population.
Prior to Christianization, 13 May had been the last day of the Roman festival of Lemuria (which ran 9, 11, 13 May), dedicated to placating the angry or restless dead. The festival developed from a pair of observances held earlier in the year, Parentalia – which honored the spirits of one's ancestors (13-21 February) – and Feralia – which honored the spirits of loved ones lost (21 February). On Feralia, the living were obligated to remember and visit the graves of the dead and leave them gifts in the form of grains, salt, bread soaked in wine, and wreaths, accompanied by violet petals.
Other Influences on Development
As it was with Parentalia, Feralia, Lemuria, and many others, so it was with Samhain. Previously, the Samhain festival was associated with all those who had gone on before, with the earth, and the change of the year; this transformation was marked by celebration and communal activities. Once the festival was Christianized, All Hallows' Eve became a night of vigil, prayer, and fasting in preparation for the next day when the saints were honored at a far tamer celebration.
The old ways had not died out, however, and bonfires were still lighted – only now in honor of Christian heroes – and the turning of the seasons was still observed – only now to the glory of Christ. Many of the rituals which accompanied this new incarnation of the festival are unknown but by the 16th century, the practice of "souling" had become integral. The poor of the town or city would go about knocking on doors asking for a soul-cake (also known as a soul-mass-cake) in return for prayers.
This practice is thought to have begun in response to the belief in purgatory where it was thought a soul lingered in torment unless elevated by prayer and, most often, money paid to the Church. After the Protestant Reformation, "souling" continued in Britain, only now the Protestant young and poor offered to pray for the people of the house and their loved ones instead of those in purgatory while Catholics continued the older tradition.
In the 17th century, Guy Fawkes Day added a new component to the development of Halloween. On 5 November 1605, a group of dissident Catholics tried to assassinate the protestant King James I of Britain in an attempt known as the Gunpowder Plot. The attempt failed and one of the group, Guy Fawkes, was caught with the explosives beneath the House of Lords and, although he had co-conspirators, his name attached itself famously to the plot.
Guy Fawkes Day was celebrated by the Protestants of Britain as a triumph over "popery", and 5 November became an occasion for anti-Catholic sermons and vandalism of Catholic homes and businesses even though, officially, the government claimed it was a celebration of Providence sparing the king. On Guy Fawkes night, bonfires were lit and unpopular figures – most often the Pope – were hanged in effigy while people drank, feasted, and set off fireworks. Children and the poor would go house to house, often wearing masks, pushing an effigy of Guy Fawkes in a wheelbarrow and begging for money or treats while threatening vandalism if they were refused.
Coming to North America
When the British came to North America, they brought these traditions with them. The Puritans of New England, who refused to observe any holidays which might be associated with pagan beliefs – including Christmas and Easter – kept the observance of Guy Fawkes Day on 5 November as a reminder of their supposed moral superiority to Catholics. Guy Fawkes continued to be celebrated up until the American Revolution of 1775-1783.
The rituals of Samhain arrived in the United States less than a century later with the displacement of the Irish in 1845-1849, during the potato famine. The Irish, largely Catholic, continued to observe All Hallows' Eve, All Saint's Day, and All Soul's Day along with the practice of "souling" but these festivals by now were infused with folk traditions such as the jack-o'-lantern.
Further Developments
The jack-o'-lantern is associated with the Irish folktale of Stingy Jack, a clever drunk and con man who fooled the devil into banning him from hell but, because of his sinful life, could not enter heaven. After his death, he roamed the world carrying a small lantern made of a turnip with a red-hot ember from hell inside to light his way. Scholars believe this legend evolved from sightings of will-o'-the-wisp, swamp and marsh gasses which glowed in the night. On All Hallows' Eve, the Irish hollowed out turnips and carved them with faces, placing a candle inside, so that as they went about "souling" on the night when the veil between life and death was thinnest, they would be protected from spirits like Stingy Jack.
The basics of Halloween were now in place with people going from house to house asking for sweet treats in the form of the soul-cakes and carrying jack-o'-lanterns. Shortly after their arrival in the United States, the Irish traded the turnip for the pumpkin as their lantern of choice as it was much easier to carve. Guy Fawkes Day was no longer celebrated in the United States but aspects of it attached themselves to the Catholic holidays of October, especially vandalism, only now it was indiscriminate: anyone's home or business could be vandalized around 31 October.
In the village of Hiawatha, Kansas, the morning after Halloween in 1912, a woman named Elizabeth Krebs grew tired of having her garden – and entire town – vandalized once a year by marauding children wearing masks and, initially using her own resources, organized a party in 1913 for the young people where, she hoped, she would tire them out enough that they would have no energy for destruction.
She underestimated their determination, however, and the community was vandalized as usual. In 1914, she involved the entire town, brought in a band, held a costume contest, and put on a parade – and her plan worked. People of all ages enjoyed a festive, rather than disruptive, Halloween. News of her success traveled outside of Kansas to other towns and cities which adopted the same course and established Halloween parties which included costume contests, parades, music, food, dancing, and sweet treats accompanied by frightening decorations of ghosts and goblins.
THE FAMILIAR TRADITION OF THE PRESENT DAY DATES TO THE 1950S CE AND HAS STEADILY BECOME POPULAR IN OTHER COUNTRIES.
Although Mrs. Krebs is sometimes cited as the “mother of modern Halloween”, this is not entirely true as she did not institute the practice of going door-to-door asking for treats. This tradition was a few centuries old by the time she put on her first event. Mrs. Krebs' original vision definitely did impact how people in America celebrate Halloween, however, and the Halloween Frolic of Hiawatha, Kansas, continues to be observed annually along with the many similar festivals it inspired.
The party as a distraction from destruction, however, did not catch on nationwide and, by the 1920s, so-called "mischief night" had become a serious problem, not only in the United States but also in Canada. How, exactly, the practice of destroying people's property on the night of 31 October morphed into going door-to-door asking for candy in return for leaving a home in one piece is unclear, but it was already established in Canada by 1927 when a newspaper article from Blackie, Alberta, Canada featured a story about children going door-to-door in this way and is the first known appearance in print of the phrase "trick or treat". The children were given the candy and the homeowner was left in peace.
This tradition continued in North America throughout the 1930s, was interrupted by World War II owing to the sugar ration which dramatically cut the candy supply, and reemerged in the late 1940s. The familiar tradition of the present day dates to the 1950s and has steadily become popular in other countries, following the same basic paradigm. Today, Halloween is not generally associated with any particular religion or tradition and is commonly viewed as a secular community holiday, primarily focused on the young, and a boon for businesses offering candy and decorations as well as the entertainment industry which releases films, TV specials, and books on paranormal themes.
Central Theme
For many Neo-Pagans and Wiccans in the modern day, however, the holiday continues to be observed – as closely as possible – as it was in the ancient past. The central theme of Samhain was transformation. The year turned from the light days to the dark, the dead crossed over into the land of the living or moved on to the other side, people disguised themselves as other entities, and entities might appear as people, animals were slaughtered and turned into food while grains, fruits, and vegetables were similarly transformed for winter storage and wood and bone went up in the flames of the bonfires as smoke.
Transformation is still central to the observance of Halloween. The mask and costume transforms the wearer from their everyday life to another persona. For a night, one becomes Darth Vader or a zombie or the Great Pumpkin. The best-known, and most popular, costumes also touch on transformation. The werewolf is a human who changes into an animal; the vampire can vanish into smoke or become a bat; ghosts were once people.
In pre-Christian Ireland, the goddess most closely associated with Samhain was the Morrigan, the deity associated with war and fate who led her people, the Tuatha de Danaan, to freedom in a battle against the Fomorians. The Morrigan, in every one of her stories, is a transformative figure and in the story from the Irish epic Cath Maige Tuired she changes the fate of her people, making them their own masters instead of slaves of other forces.
The transformation was often frightening but could also be inspiring. The werewolf figure developed in response to fear of animal attacks and the vampire, perhaps, as a response to the fear of the angry dead who returned to torment the living. In these cases, however – and many others – it was within human power to kill the monster and so their legends can empower people to recognize their own strengths in the face of perilous circumstances.
The masks of Halloween and the present-day traditions represent this same theme and touch on the most basic aspects of the human condition and the ancient observance of Samhain. The costumes people wear represent fears and hopes in the same way the people centuries ago wore their masks to deter unwelcome spirits and experiences while anticipating joyful reunions with loved ones.
Many of the costumes represent the universal fear of death and the unknown which, for a night anyway, is mastered as one becomes that which one would normally dread and, transformed, neutralizes that fear. At its most basic level, Halloween is – or can be – a triumph of hope over fear, which is most likely what it also meant to the ancient Celts at Samhain thousands of years ago.
A freelance writer and former part-time Professor of Philosophy at Marist College, New York, Joshua J. Mark has lived in Greece and Germany and traveled through Egypt. He has taught history, writing, literature, and philosophy at the college level.
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Questions & Answers
What is the origin of Halloween?
Halloween's origins trace back to the Celtic celebration of Samhain (pronounced "sou-when") when the veil between the living and the dead was thought to be thinnest and souls passed between realms.
What is the earliest observance of Halloween in the USA?
The earliest observance of Halloween in the USA was in Hiawatha, Kansas, in 1914. It was organized by Elizabeth Krebs, known as the Mother of Modern-Day Halloween.
When did trick-or-treating start?
The earliest mention of the phrase "trick or treat" and a description of the practice comes from a Canadian newspaper article in 1927.
What is the meaning of Halloween?
Transformation. At Halloween, the souls of the dead are thought to walk among the living, the living put on costumes and become other people or things, treats are passed between people, fires are lighted and food is shared -- all aspects of transformation.
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Mark, J. J. (2019, October 21). History of Halloween. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1456/history-of-halloween/
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Mark, Joshua J.. "History of Halloween." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified October 21, 2019. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1456/history-of-halloween/.
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Mark, Joshua J.. "History of Halloween." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 21 Oct 2019. Web. 24 Jul 2023.
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Submitted by Joshua J. Mark, published on 21 October 2019. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.
