Halloween Activities for High School – Literacy, Reading, Writing, and Games

Description

These Halloween activities are everything you need to survive October! Hook your students on spooky storytelling and lead memorable lessons that your classes will talk about long after Halloween ends. Includes short story units, targeted literacy activities, writing projects, games, and more! Suitable for online learning with digital resources for Google Classroom®!

☄️ Save over 90% with this special bundle price and additional discounts!

Included with this Halloween Activities Bundle for English Language Arts:

• Three Spooky Short Story Units –  Digital & Print
• • “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe
  • “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
  • “Lamb to the Slaughter” by Roald Dahl
• True Crime Nonfiction Literacy Unit –  Digital & Print
• Halloween Descriptive Writing Workshop –  Digital & Print
• Zombie Apocalypse Survival Manual –  Digital & Print
• Character Costume Design Project –  Digital & Print
• Manuscript Mystery Game –  Digital & Print
• Detailed Answer Keys, Student Examples, and Mentor Texts
• Teacher Instructions for using these resources

Resources in this Halloween Activities Bundle:

1. “The Lottery” Short Story Unit by Shirley Jackson
Examine conformity, superstition, and blind tradition in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” using this dystopian short story bundle! This engaging unit teaches students how to make predictions and how to write a comparison paragraph; it also explores literary devices including imagery, mood, and symbolism. Students will also read about global traditions with the real-life parallels examined in this unit. As one of the most thought-provoking Halloween activities, this resource encourages students to analyze the darker side of human nature and the dangers of blindly following tradition. The suspense and tension make it perfect for October lessons, offering opportunities for students to practice critical thinking while engaging in discussions about morality, conformity, and collective behavior. This short story unit transforms reading comprehension into an immersive experience, where eerie undertones and literary depth merge seamlessly. Whether students are annotating the text, analyzing the symbolism of the black box, or debating the story’s ending, “The Lottery” makes for an unforgettable Halloween activity that blends literary exploration with chilling reflection.

2. “Lamb to the Slaughter” Short Story Unit by Roald Dahl
A classic thriller and a student favorite! This short story unit for Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter” teaches reading strategies including making inferences and differentiating between direct and indirect characterization. Students will also learn about dramatic irony, puns, foreshadowing, and the different types of irony. With its dark humor and shocking twist, this resource is ideal for October Halloween activities that engage students in critical analysis while maintaining a sense of playful suspense. Teachers can use this story to explore how tone and irony work together to surprise readers and create humor out of horror. Through creative writing prompts and comprehension tasks, students dive deeper into Dahl’s use of irony and learn how to identify subtle narrative clues that foreshadow the story’s outcome.

This unit also includes opportunities for group discussions, Socratic seminars, and performance-based learning. Students might reenact scenes or design courtroom arguments defending or prosecuting Mary Maloney, fostering analytical thinking through creative expression. As one of the most versatile Halloween activities, “Lamb to the Slaughter” keeps students actively engaged while sharpening their understanding of narrative technique and theme.

3. “The Cask of Amontillado” Short Story Unit by Edgar Allan Poe
This modern short story unit for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” explores revenge, betrayal, addiction, and justice. It includes literary analysis activities, real-life parallels, an escape room game, and more! Explore setting, theme, mood, characterization, irony, and other literary devices. This Poe classic is a staple of Halloween activities, immersing students in Gothic imagery and psychological suspense. By analyzing Montresor’s motives and unreliable narration, students uncover the story’s moral complexities and emotional tension.

The included Halloween activity escape room game transforms comprehension into an interactive experience that challenges students to solve puzzles based on the story’s plot and language. Through guided analysis and collaborative tasks, learners engage in critical thinking while exploring Poe’s distinctive use of tone and setting. The haunting atmosphere of “The Cask of Amontillado” makes it perfect for Halloween week, encouraging both literary depth and seasonal fun.

4. “True Crime and Haunting Histories” Nonfiction Literacy Unit
Explore these true crime stories involving deception, conmanship, manipulation, and eccentricity with these Halloween reading comprehension passages! Students will read about attic-bound lovers, cryptocurrency scams, and other curious true crime cases from history. Students will also practice literacy using comprehension questions and targeted literacy activities provided with each nonfiction article. This nonfiction bundle adds a unique twist to traditional Halloween activities by connecting eerie real-life stories to reading comprehension practice.

Students can compare fact and fiction while analyzing motives, reliability, and human psychology—skills that bridge literature and informational texts. Each passage includes vocabulary and writing exercises, discussion prompts, and critical-thinking questions. As part of your Halloween activities, this set provides a perfect balance of academic rigor and engaging storytelling, allowing students to experience the thrill of true crime while developing literacy skills.

5. Halloween Descriptive Writing Workshop
Teach descriptive writing with these Halloween creative writing prompts! This creative writing lesson will teach students how to establish setting using the “zoom” method. As one of the most adaptable Halloween activities, this workshop helps students transform their writing by focusing on sensory detail and vivid imagery. Through guided exercises, students learn how to build suspense, describe eerie settings, and create mood-driven stories inspired by the Halloween season.

Students can write haunted house scenes, eerie forest descriptions, or suspenseful opening paragraphs that immerse readers into a chilling world. This activity strengthens descriptive writing and narrative focus, turning Halloween inspiration into a productive classroom exercise. Teachers can use the included rubrics and graphic organizers to support structured, creative writing practice as part of their Halloween activities.

6. Zombie Apocalypse Survival Manual
Your students will have a blast creating their own zombie apocalypse survival manual with this Halloween informational writing project! Teach information writing and guide students through planning, writing, and structuring their manual with the graphic organizers and writing templates provided. This is one of the most creative and fun Halloween activities for the classroom, merging academic writing with imaginative thinking.

Students learn how to use informational text features such as headings, bullet points, and diagrams while designing realistic survival guides. This activity promotes collaboration and research as students strategize survival techniques, identify resources, and design their manual layouts. The Halloween activity combines humor and horror, keeping students engaged while developing real-world writing skills in a lighthearted, spooky context.

7. Character Costume Design Project
Challenge your students to design a Halloween costume based on a character of their choice! This Halloween-themed character analysis activity invites students to design a costume for a literary character using textual evidence and characterization. As part of your Halloween activities, this project fuses literature and art, encouraging students to visualize how character traits can be represented symbolically.

Students justify their design choices in a written explanation, connecting costume elements to textual evidence and literary analysis. This fun and visually creative Halloween activity allows students to express their understanding in a unique way, combining critical thinking with creative design.

8. “The Case of the Missing Manuscript” Mystery Game
Transform your lesson on making inferences into a thrilling adventure with this solving-a-mystery game! Perfect as a Halloween activity, students will explore “The Case of the Missing Manuscript” to make inferences and solve the mystery. This game-based approach transforms critical thinking into an engaging classroom challenge.

Students follow clues, analyze character statements, and evaluate evidence to uncover the truth. As one of the most interactive Halloween activities, this mystery game promotes teamwork, logical reasoning, and reading comprehension in an exciting way. It’s ideal for both group and independent work, providing a memorable Halloween classroom experience that blends literacy and fun.

✨ Kindly note that due to copyright restrictions, this resource is not editable, except for the files specifically labelled as editable. This is a common practice within the online marketplace in order to protect the clip artists and software providers that have authorized their intellectual property for the development of this resource.

⭒ For classrooms utilizing Google Classroom® ⭒

To access the digital version of these worksheets, simply follow the instructions within the resource to copy the files directly to your Google Drive®.