Halloween brain breaks

The best Halloween brain breaks are short, a little bit spooky and never actually scary: freeze like a statue when the monster turns round, walk like a spider, tiptoe past a sleeping cat. Here are eight that take a minute or two and need little or no prep, for a classroom or the living room.

1. Monster freeze dance

Play spooky music and let everyone dance like a monster: stomping, wobbling, wiggling claws. When the music stops, freeze. Anyone who moves becomes a "zombie" and helps spot the next round's wobblers.

2. Skeleton says

Simon Says with bones: "Skeleton says touch your elbow bone… skeleton says rattle your knees… touch your toes!" Anyone who moves without "Skeleton says" sits out one round, then jumps back in.

3. Spider walks

Crab walk to the door and back, then try it with one "leg" in the air. For a bigger group, make it a slow spider race with eight legs: two kids side by side, linked at the elbow.

4. Pumpkin patch path

Lay paper pumpkins (or cushions) across the floor as stepping stones. Cross the patch without touching the floor, then move one pumpkin each round so the gaps grow.

5. Tiptoe past the sleeping cat

One child is the black cat, asleep at the front with eyes closed. Everyone else tiptoes closer. When the cat wakes and turns, freeze. Anyone caught moving goes back to the start. The first to touch the cat's shoulder is the next cat.

6. Ghost, bat or pumpkin

Call a shape and everyone makes it: arms floating up for a ghost, arms flapping for a bat, curled up small for a pumpkin. Speed up the calls, then finish slow.

7. Witch's brew stir

Stand in a circle and "stir the cauldron" with big arm circles, ten one way and ten the other, adding an ingredient each round: a frog jump, a bat flap, a spider wiggle.

8. A spooky movement game

Sneak is a tiptoe-and-freeze game kids play by moving in front of the camera on a laptop, tablet or phone: creep up on a sleeping tiger together, and when it peeks, freeze or hide as a tree or a rock. For something free, Monkey Mirror has kids copy a monkey's poses, and Hopadoo is a jungle race over hurdles. One or two kids play at a time, so in class it works as a station.

Play free

Keeping it fun, not frightening

• Keep the monsters friendly: silly voices and wobbly walks, never chasing or jump scares.
• Make space first: arms out, and if you can touch someone, take a step.
• End calm: finish with "melt like a candle" (sink slowly to the floor) or three slow ghost breaths.
• Let kids lead: the next "monster" or "skeleton" calls the moves.

Questions

More ideas: Classroom brain breaks for K–2 · Rainy-day activities · All guides