Halloween Classroom Jeopardy

Pumpkins, bats, owls, and costumes: a gentle Halloween trivia board for elementary class parties. Copy it free and let kids buzz in on phones or tablets.

6 categories · 30 clues · Final Jeopardy · everyone buzzes in from their phone

For the classroom

Copies all 30 clues into an editor of your own. Free, no account needed.

Every clue on this board

This page is public, so anyone can read the answers — copy the board and swap a few clues before game day.

Perfect Pumpkins

$200
Pumpkins are usually this bright color, which shares its name with a juicy citrus fruit.
What is orange?
$400
Pumpkins grow on these long, leafy stems that creep along the ground.
What are vines?
$600
Before a pumpkin starts to grow, the vine makes big flowers of this sunny color.
What is yellow?
$800
Because pumpkins hold their seeds inside, scientists call them this kind of plant food, not a vegetable.
What is a fruit?
$1,000
Known as the Land of Lincoln, this Midwest state grows more pumpkins than any other state.
What is Illinois?

Bats and Owls

$200
Bats are the only one of these animals, which have fur and feed their babies milk, that can truly fly.
What are mammals?
$400
Bats and owls are both this kind of animal, awake at night and asleep during the day.
What is nocturnal?
$600
Many bats find insects in the dark by making sounds and listening for the echoes, a skill called this.
What is echolocation?
$800
Owls cannot move their eyes, so they turn this body part far around to look to the side or behind them.
What is the head?
$1,000
Owls cough up these little bundles of fur and bones they could not digest, and classes often take them apart.
What are pellets?

Creepy Crawlies

$200
A spider has this many legs.
What is eight?
$400
Spiders spin these sticky silk traps to catch their food.
What are webs?
$600
An insect has this many legs.
What is six?
$800
An insect's body is divided into this many main parts: the head, the thorax and the abdomen.
What is three?
$1,000
Spiders are not insects; they belong to this group of animals that also includes scorpions and ticks.
What are arachnids?

Costume Party

$200
This fairy-tale girl in a red hooded cloak met a wolf on the way to her grandmother's house.
Who is Little Red Riding Hood?
$400
Kids in costumes knock on doors on Halloween night and say this three-word phrase to ask for candy.
What is trick-or-treat?
$600
You wear this over your face to hide who you are at a costume party.
What is a mask?
$800
Superhero costumes often include this long piece of cloth that hangs from the shoulders and flows behind.
What is a cape?
$1,000
This green-skinned character from The Wizard of Oz melts when Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her.
Who is the Wicked Witch of the West?

Halloween History

$200
Halloween is celebrated on this date every year.
What is October 31?
$400
In an old Halloween party game, players try to grab these floating fruits from a tub of water using only their teeth.
What are apples?
$600
Halloween grew out of Samhain, a festival held by these ancient people of Ireland and Britain.
Who are the Celts?
$800
Irish and Scottish families who moved to this country in the 1800s brought their Halloween customs with them.
What is the United States?
$1,000
The name Halloween comes from All Hallows' Eve, the night before this holiday on November 1.
What is All Saints' Day?

Fall Harvest

$200
This November holiday in the United States, with a big turkey dinner, began as a celebration of the harvest.
What is Thanksgiving?
$400
Farmers stand this straw-stuffed figure in a field to frighten birds away from the crops.
What is a scarecrow?
$600
Farmers grow this crop on tall stalks, and in fall some cut mazes through their fields of it.
What is corn?
$800
Leaves change color in fall because trees stop making this green substance.
What is chlorophyll?
$1,000
The first day of fall comes in September on this day, when daytime and nighttime are about the same length.
What is the autumnal equinox?

Final Jeopardy — Jack-o'-Lanterns

Before pumpkins took over in North America, people in Ireland carved faces into this root vegetable for the holiday.

What is a turnip?

How to run this board

This board keeps Halloween fun rather than frightening: how pumpkins grow, why bats and owls come out at night, where jack-o'-lanterns came from, favorite costume ideas, and fall harvest facts. A science column sneaks in real facts about nocturnal animals and spiders so the party still has some learning in it.

Class parties are loud, so let each team pick one reader to repeat the clue to their group before anyone buzzes. Twenty minutes is plenty; save Final Jeopardy for the moment before treats come out, when you have everyone's full attention.

If some families skip Halloween, the board works just as well as a fall harvest game with the costume column swapped for another.

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