Find Halloween songs and music activities for elementary music that engage and delight with movement, Orff arrangements, minor scales, improvisation, and more!
And let’s add some fun Halloween games and vocal exploration! Boo! Awoooooo! Bwahaha! AaaaHaaa!!!!!!
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It’s just one day but lighting effects, bulletin boards, and door decorations are so fun for Halloween!
This super EASY door decoration is just tape, paper plates, and a little construction paper.
Halloween Songs & Music Activities
NEW! The Amber-Eyed Cat
The Amber-Eyed Cat is a Halloween song and 2-part round that keeps students engaged through catchy Orff parts, playful movement, and cat-themed GAMES they’ll love. Check it out on TPT!
Multi-lesson low/NO PREP resource!
Old Abram Brown, Goodbye
Older kids will LOVE this reworking of the sad tale of Old Abram Brown! Check it out on TPT!
🎃 A NEW MELODY to the old poem.
🎃 A countermelody that almost ANY class (3-5) can sing.
🎃 Orff accompaniment with a 60s FUNKY bass vibe.
🟢 And a BALL TAG game!
Ghost of Tom
The Orff arrangement for this Halloween classic, Have You Seen the Ghost of Tom? (aka Ghost of John) is simple enough to be learned quickly to give plenty of time to learn movement to go with the round that can be sung in 2 or 4 parts.
With its quarter, eighth, and half-note patterns pitched in delightful D minor, kids will love the spooky mood it sets. Check it out on TPT!
The Halloween Canon
I rewrote the lyrics of The Fruit Canon and changed the fruit to Halloween words. Your kids will LOVE the SOUND EFFECTS-FX!
Group project-Have students get in groups of 6 and pick words that fit a NEW theme then perform their new song in canon. YES!
Fun, collaborative, assessable, and engaging!
Free sheet music
Here’s the sheet music with an Orff arrangement plus BONUS Four Season verses (fall, winter, spring, and mango/summer)!
🔥 Grab this free Orff arrangement by signing up for my newsletter where you will get instant access to the Subscriber Spot—a library of music freebies, including this one!
Miss White Had a Fright
Halloween music activities that use poems are perfect resources for exploring, creating, and improvising. First, experience the poem through beat and rhythm. Check it out on TPT!
Then, explore the poem by learning a melody on barred instruments, improvising on recorders, and/or creating a melody using Boomwhackers. Examine what you’ve learned by identifying the rhythms of the poem. In both PowerPoint and Google Slides versions.
Skin and Bones
This multi-lesson resource for the classic Halloween song, “There Was An Old Woman All Skin and Bones” will guide you as you take your younger students (PreK, K, 1, 2) from singing to movement to playing instruments. Check it out on TPT!
The simple Orff arrangement in 6/8 uses steady beat ostinati, a bordun, and the refrain on mi, re, do, la which is great for learning about melodic direction. A song video sets the mood for this D minor delight about the big surprise behind the door. Boo!
B.O.O.
This resource will write a couple of weeks of lesson plans FOR YOU! Check it out on TPT!
In both PowerPoint and Google Slides versions, this 25-slide presentation includes mp3s of the song arrangement with a Kodaly process, Orff approach, and movement, game, and a melodic assessment.
Decor & Props for Halloween
Squishmallows
Pumpkin & Bat for Halloween games!
Affiliate links.
Pumpkin Eyes
Take the classic canon, “Ah Poor Bird”, add new lyrics, and you have the perfect Halloween/October song!
Teaching Process
Extensions
Add xylophone on a D minor bordun.
Add some color with percussion instruments on “eyes, “bright”, “creatures”, and “night.”
Prominent melodic elements include the opening la, ti, do and do, re, mi and then the ending do, ti, la.
Rhythmic elements-quarter note, half note, eighth notes.
Add ukulele. The D minor chord is fairly easy because it’s the fingering for F with an added third finger. Play D minor for the entire song.
Halloween Music Games & Activities
As if Halloween isn’t fun enough on its own, let’s add Halloween GAMES!
One Dark October Night-VOCAL Exploration Lesson
A lesson plan for a FABULOUS good time exploring the sounds “One dark October night…”
Let’s Get This Game Started HALLOWEEN (Grades 3-5)
A fun ice-breaker activity your students will beg to do over and over!
Pass the Pumpkin (Grades K-3)
Click the link above for a great beat passing game and chance to play mi-re-do-ti-la on instruments! FUN! Halloween music activities with GAMES are a WIN-WIN!
Halloween Movement Activities
The Monster Mash
Multi-day lesson plans that include dancing, instrument playing, stick routine, ukulele parts, and so much more!
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