Halloween Performance, Games and Activity Ideas

Events and Recitals, Games, Group Lessons, Lesson resources, TeachersPayTeachers, Tips

Saturday was my yearly Halloween Piano Festival. It’s my most favorite performance of the year!

I love fall! It is my favorite time of year. The weather starts to cool down (still waiting on that one since it reached 94 yesterday- but at least we are out of the triple digits!) and we kick off some fun performance opportunities for the year!

I love to dress up too and this year since I had a Hollywood theme going on, I decided to dress up as one of my favorite old hollywood actresses, Lucille Ball as Lucy Ricardo in “I Love Lucy!” I knew I would have to explain to my students who I was, but I also had a parent that never heard of I Love Lucy, so if you haven’t either, be sure to look it up on YouTube.

Here is my transformation to Lucy Ricardo. My daughter was my wonderful make-up artist!

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During Halloween Festival I like to do some kind of game in between the performances. Last year we did a Halloween Trivia game (you can see the post about it here). You can download the trivia questions for free and use it however you like here.

This year I did one of my favorite halloween pass along poems that I found many years ago. In past years I have also done the “Right” and “Left” storylines. I begin with a prize of some kind when the story begins. Each time the word “left” is said, the item is passed from the person holding it to his/her left. Same for the word “right.”. I’ve also added “up” and “down” or “forward” and “backward” so I can make sure it goes to different rows. When the story ends, the person holding the prize gets to keep it.

Did I mention I love Halloween? There is so many spooktacular things that we can do in October! I thought I would share some of my favorites that I like to do with my students. (These are all available in my TpT store.) And then I’ll share a little more on Halloween Festival, plus a little surprise too! 😉

First let’s start off with a fun and easy rhythm game- Boo!  This one is a smashing hit with my students. It’s quick and easy. Prep is a snap! You can watch how it is played here.

Doing composition activities during lab time is my favorite! I love using composition games especially, like Witches’ Brew

witches-brew

In Witches’ Brew, students can create a spooktacular Halloween composition in this game by rolling dice and spinning for notes. It’s a great way to review note placement on the staff (stems going up/down), time signatures, rhythm, measures… all while creating a fun piece they can call their own!

Here is another composition activity, Creative Story Composition: Trick or Treat.

csc-trick-or-treat

In Trick or Treat students can create a Halloween story line along with their composition. They can color the pages or you can use the colored versions. Either way I love to see the end results of their halloween story!

Here is another Trick or Treat game that is perfect to use for a group activity!

trick-or-treat

Trick or Treat is a hot potato style game where students can earn treats or perform musical tricks.

Another really fun game to use with a group is the Halloween Body Beat Rhythm Game!

Similar to the game musical concentration, Halloween Body Beat has a fun body beat twist! 40 different Halloween rhythm cards to use with your group.

A couple more games to review musical concepts is Web-Mathsters and Spider Scales Puzzle.

web-mathsters

This is a quick rhythm review game using math skills (adding and subtracting).

Spider Scales Puzzle

Students will enjoy reviewing Major and minor scale patterns by adding notes in the scale to the spider scales puzzle.

I thought I would update this post to include some additional resources for Halloween that has been added since this post was originally published in 2016.

Don’t Eat Frank has become a student favorite. My students started asking when we were going to play it back in September.

If you have ever played the game, “Don’t Eat Pete!” that I grew up on, then you are going to love Don’t Eat Frank, a music note review game perfect for Halloween. Included are 8 different boards to choose from depending on the level of your students.

If you need a relaxing coloring activity where you can easily assess students knowledge, then you may like the Music Coloring Sheets for Halloween.

48 coloring sheets included! Perfect for stations, sub tubs, rainy days, assessment, and Halloween fun! Choose from 6 different designs covering: -Rhythm Names/Symbols (North American & British Terms) -Rhythm Beats/Symbols -Treble Clef Notes -Bass Clef Notes -Keyboard Notes -Intervals -Dynamics & Articulations

The newest resource in the store is perfect for beginners. Grab the bundle and save or available individually, Feed the Monster is a great way to review basic rhythms or keyboard intervals. Feed the Monster really could be played anytime of the year!

And let’s not forget some Spooktacular music students can play at Halloween Festival or group! These are some beginner Halloween originals you are welcome to use! If you have your students learn them, I would love to hear their performance!

After students perform at Halloween Festival they receive a Halloween Festival button and a little treat. In 2016 it was this treat topper with pixie stick. You can download Halloween treat topper for free here.

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And of course I can’t finish this post without sharing some pictures from 2016 Halloween Festival!

5-00pm

5-45pm

Have a SPOOKTACULAR halloween! Do you hold a Halloween recital or event? Play games, compose Halloween pieces? Have a favorite activity during fall? I would love to hear what fun things you have planned this year!

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2 Comments

  1. Anne Mileski

    What a fun idea!! Love your costume!!

    Reply

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