7 Awesome Halloween Writing Activities

If you want instant engagement without a single photocopy, Halloween picture prompts are a must-try. These no-prep Halloween writing activities are perfect for bell ringers, early finishers, or five-minute warm-ups during October.

Project a spooky or silly picture (think: a black cat in a wizard hat or a haunted carnival ride) and invite kids to write freely for a few minutes. Encourage them not to overthink; the goal is to build fluency and let ideas flow.

You can extend the activity by asking volunteers to share their favorite sentence or to turn their quick write into a longer story later in the week.

Retelling familiar stories with a Halloween twist gives kids a creative starting point. In this narrative writing activity, students reimagine a well-known story, like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, as a suspenseful Halloween tale.

Maybe Goldilocks wanders into a haunted cottage, or the “porridge” is replaced by something far creepier! Kids learn to use sensory language, vivid verbs, and dialogue to build atmosphere and tension.

You can teach mini-lessons on crafting suspense, writing powerful openings, and wrapping up with satisfying conclusions. Use it as a full narrative unit or condense it into a 1-2 day mini-project for Halloween week. Learn more on this blog post.

Here’s a fan favorite that secretly teaches communication skills while delivering plenty of laughter. In this Halloween-themed following directions game, kids pair up. One student describes a spooky picture card (a bat, cauldron, or pumpkin scene) while the other follows the directions to draw it without seeing the original.

When they compare drawings, chaos and giggles usually follow but so do valuable lessons about clarity and precision in communication.

It’s perfect for cross-curricular integration too: reinforce math vocabulary, measurement, or positional words as students give and interpret directions. To use as a Halloween writing activity, simply have students write directions rather than give them orally.

If your upper-elementary or middle-grade writers are ready for a challenge, this activity takes Halloween storytelling to the next level. Inspired by The Twilight Zone episode “To Serve Man,” it blends eerie fiction with serious writing skills.

After watching the episode, students explore themes, character motivations, and plot elements through creative writing, analysis, and perspective-taking. They might write a newspaper article, a social-media post from a character’s point of view, or even an alternate ending.

It’s an ideal way to bring in critical thinking, comprehension, and narrative craft — all while keeping things spooky and fun.

Revision doesn’t have to feel like drudgery, especially when the content is full of ghosts, potions, and haunted houses! In this Halloween writing activity, kids work with pre-written spooky paragraphs and practice improving them using specific revision strategies.

They might identify what’s working (“glows”) and what could improve (“grows”), compare two drafts of the same story, or rewrite a weak scene using vivid verbs and sensory details.

Because the drafts are already written, kids can focus on how to make writing better — not what to write about. It’s a fantastic way to model the revising process and build editing confidence.

Give kids the building blocks of storytelling — characters, settings, and plot ideas — and watch their imaginations take off. In this Halloween story starter activity, kids mix and match lists of spooky characters (like witches, skeletons, or trick-or-treaters), eerie settings (a foggy graveyard, a dark forest, or a candy-filled mansion), and wild adventures (lost in a maze, uncovering a mystery, or saving Halloween night).

This format helps even reluctant writers feel successful because it removes the “I don’t know what to write about” barrier. Add optional planning tools like storyboards, graphic organizers, or peer review checklists to make it as structured or freeform as you’d like.

When Halloween ends but the pumpkins are still on your desk, this fall narrative writing activity keeps the creativity flowing. Students use autumn-themed story elements (think: apple orchards, campfires, falling leaves, and forest adventures) to craft stories that celebrate the season.

It’s perfect for bridging October and November writing lessons, offering all the fun of creative storytelling without the ghosts and ghouls.

Homeschool families and co-ops love this one too. It’s flexible, no-prep, and adaptable for mixed-age groups.