Halloween celebrations are always a fun time for kids, but as they get older the way they want to celebrate changes a little. It can be challenging to find fun and safe Halloween activities for high school students. Once trick-or-treating is no longer an option, there are still plenty of fun activities and creative ways to keep your kids excited about celebrating at school and outside of school with their friends and families.
At School Halloween Activities
Entertaining kids gets a little more difficult when they become teenagers, but these school activities will definitely get them in the Halloween spirit.
School Halloween Party Activities
High Schoolers sometime need a little more help interacting during parties. If you can just get them started with an ice breaker and they start having fun, they’ll loosen right up. These games and fun Halloween activities are a simple way to challenge the students’ creativity and allow them to have fun at the same time.
Escape room games
Escape rooms are great for building critical thinking and teamwork skills. A Halloween escape room themed party is sure to get the attention of teenage kids.
Mummy wrapping contest
Teens tend to enjoy competitive games. This one is quick, fun, and a great icebreaker to get kids ready to be involved. For this game, teens will split into two teams. Each team gets a roll of toilet paper. They will have 1 minute to wrap a member in toilet paper, making them a mummy. Whoever has the best mummy at the end wins. You can choose to judge the competition or you can appoint a panel of judges.
Costume contest
Teens still love dressing up for Halloween, so a costume contest is a great way to get them excited about celebrating with you. Just make sure you set ground rules for school-appropriate costumes.
Photo booth with props
Teens love a good photo opportunity. A photo booth can be as simple as a cool Halloween backdrop, like a themed table cloth, and homemade props. You can have the class make props as another Halloween activity in the days leading up to your class Halloween party.
Scavenger hunt
Create a spooky scavenger hunt throughout the inside and outside of the school. You can even make it educational with a question and answer requirements to gather clues for the hunt.
Halloween charades
Charades are tons of fun for all ages and any celebration. Use index cards and list all kinds of Halloween topics, characters, and notable places.
Halloween pictionary
Students divide into teams, choosing one student at a time to select a piece of paper with a Halloween-themed object written on it from a container. Then they try to draw the object well enough for their teammates to guess what it is. This is always a funny game and you can make it even funnier by giving prizes for the winner overall, plus a prize for the worst drawing.
Halloween Learning Activities
Halloween may be a holiday, but school is school and those teens still need to be learning. You can use these learning activities and make them Halloween-themed.
Story pass & twist writing exercise
This writing activity is so much fun. The story begins with one student’s idea. They either write a couple of sentences and pass it on or you can set a timer for one minute (or less) and have them write until the timer goes off. Then the paper gets passed to the next student and they have to continue the writing but add a twist. This continues until everyone in the class has added to the story. Then you can read the story aloud and have lots of laughs.
Collaborative writing contest
Split your class up into pairs or small groups and have them collaborate on Halloween-themed short stories. Each story will be read aloud at the end of a specific amount of time. These can be a contest or just an exercise. Make sure you set some ground rules about spooky content in this creative writing exercise to keep it appropriate for school.
Pumpkin power science experiment
This science experiment is best suited for high school students. It’s a cool way to incorporate hands-on learning during science class with the use of pumpkins for Halloween.
Halloween history lesson
Work some Halloween history into your lesson plan this season. Older students of high school age will enjoy understanding the Halloween holiday more. You can even through in some urban legends that have been passed down for generations through the evolution of the holiday and ask the students to do a writing activity about a Halloween story they have always believed.
Halloween Party Activities
Another great way to help your high school-age kids celebrate Halloween is to let them host their own Halloween party. Here are some activities they can incorporate into their celebration.
Murder mystery
Murder mysteries make parties so interesting and fun for any age. It’s a great way to get a group of teen kids to interact with each other. You can make up your own if you’re feeling creative or you can purchase one that is already prepared and ready to go for our party. Learn more and find ideas here.
Halloween truth or scare
Everyone knows how to play truth or dare and it’s always a good time! For Halloween, you can put a spooky spin on it and make it truth or scare.
Fear factor: egg roulette
Hard boil 12 eggs and let them cool in the refrigerator. Place eggs on a table in front of the players. Tell them that there is one raw egg among the hardboiled eggs. Their Halloween challenge is to find it by choosing an egg and smashing it on their forehead. Each player takes a turn selecting an egg and smashing it on their forehead. If they choose a hardboiled egg, they sit down and the next player takes a turn. This goes on until the raw egg is found. If you have a larger group of kids, hard boil a larger number of eggs so the game isn’t too short.
Eating contest
If you want to add a little friendly and exciting competition to the party, try an eating contest. Even better, find ways to make normal food look like gross Halloween treats like severed fingers and eyeballs.
Halloween heads up
As the teens arrive, give them a piece of paper with a classic Halloween character written on it. They will stick the paper to their forehead. Throughout the party, they will try to guess their character by talking to other guests and asking questions.
Guess the gory feeling
Gather up some gross, slimy, and seriously strange feeling foods. Fill several bowls with different foods and have blindfolded kids guess what they’re feeling. Make sure you cover the bowls with a cloth so they can get a peek at what they’re feeling.
Halloween Night Activities
Big kids will probably want to do something fun and spooky on Halloween night to replace trick-or-treating. There are plenty of ways that they can have a great time with friends or family or both.
Hand out candy
Have your teen invite over a group of their closest friends to hand out candy. They can go all out with costumes and have fun in the safety of your home for Halloween.
Set up a garage or backyard haunted house
If your teen wants to start contributing to the neighborhood Halloween spirit, they can put together a haunted experience for trick-or-treaters to walk through. This is a good idea for a group of their friends to help with and another way to keep them home with you and safe on Halloween night. They can use their imaginations and items you probably already have in your garage, like boxes. They can even make their own easy Halloween craft decorations with cheap dollar store props like spider webs out of yarn or cotton balls and plastic spiders. With the help of a little creepy music and low lighting, they’ll have a spooky haunted house.
Have a pumpkin carving contest
On Halloween day or close to it, your teen and their friends can get together and carve pumpkins. Then on Halloween night, set them up with candles inside of them and put them on display in front of your house for trick-or-treaters to vote for their favorite. The winner can get bragging rights or a prize.
Have a movie marathon
With friends or just as a family, a scary movie marathon can be a fun way to spend Halloween night. Make it even more fun and spooky by setting up an outdoor movie theatre in your yard or on your porch.
Corn maze or haunted hayride
Find a local corn maze, haunted hayride, or even a haunted house. This would be a fun group activity for high school age kids and their friends. Or you can make it a family activity if everyone is up for it.
Take a group on a ghost tour
Chances are your town or a town nearby will be offering a ghost tour during the Halloween season. This is the perfect level of spooky for high school aged kids.
Backyard camping sleepover and campfire ghost stories
There’s something about being outside on Halloween night that is spooky enough as it is. If your high school age kid is into that sort of thing, they will love having a group of their friends over for backyard camping. Complete with s’mores and ghost stories.
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Hi, I’m Jessica! I am wife to Chris, and mom to Kaiper, Alana and Koa. I am a graphic designer, website developer and aspiring author. In this space, I share about everything from parenting, working from home, food we cook, and lots of things for kids! Learn more about me here.
