Halloween Present Continuous Activities for Elementary ESL Students | Witch Action Flashcards, Games & Worksheets

Teach the Present Continuous with fun Halloween witch activities! Includes ESL flashcards, speaking games, worksheets, writing activities, sentence building, grammar practice, and printable resources for elementary ELL students. This resource is found here:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Present-Continuous-for-Elementary-ESL-4403402

In this Halloween theme they see a witch flying, cooking, or dancing, which helps them understand what is happening right now — the core meaning of the present continuous.

Why Teach the Present Continuous with Halloween?

Young learners remember grammar more easily when it is connected to meaningful themes. Halloween naturally encourages students to describe what characters are doing, making it one of the best topics for introducing and practicing the Present Continuous tense.

TPR Activity with the Halloween Actions flashcards: What Is the Witch Doing? Students respond physically and verbally to the witch flashcards to understand and use present continuous actions. Show a flashcard and say the sentence clearly: “The witch is walking.”
Mime the action as you say it. Have students repeat the sentence and copy your movement.

Students can easily describe what the witch is doing on the flashcards: “She is flying.”
The repetitive sentence pattern helps beginners gain fluency and confidence.

What Is the Witch Doing? – Present Continuous & Collocations. 

 Learners describe what each witch is doing while completing meaningful verb + noun collocations in context.By combining the Present Continuous with common collocations, students expand their vocabulary and develop more accurate, complete sentences. 

This activity is ideal for guided practice, whole-class instruction, literacy centers, partner work, or independent grammar review during your Halloween lessons.

Put a flashcard and have the students give you more collocations for just one action.

What Is the Witch Doing? – Present Continuous Questions & Answers

Students learn to ask and answer questions in the present continuous tense using Halloween-themed actions. 

Display one Witch flashcard and ask: "What is the witch doing?"

Model the answer clearly: "She is drinking a potion."

This activity is ideal for whole-class practice, pair work, small groups, literacy centers, or quick oral reviews throughout your Halloween unit.

Question-and-answer practice gives students repeated exposure to one of the most useful grammar patterns in English. 

The Witch Action Grid – Make and Write Sentences.

This interactive activity encourages students to build and write Present Continuous sentences by selecting a flashcard from a grid. The combination of pictures, coordinates, and sentence writing keeps learners actively engaged while reinforcing grammar in a meaningful way.

Arrange the witch action flashcards on the board to create a grid labeled with letters and numbers. Call out a coordinate, such as B2 or C3, and have students identify the matching flashcard. They then make a complete Present Continuous sentence based on the picture.

For example:  B2: The witch is drinking.

Categorize the Verbs (Spelling Rules).

 Help your students master the spelling changes needed to form the Present Continuous tense with this engaging Halloween Spelling Rules activity. Using the witch action flashcards, students observe each verb, identify the correct spelling pattern, and classify it into the appropriate category before changing it into its -ing form.

This activity is perfect for introducing, reviewing, or reinforcing spelling rules while keeping students engaged with a fun Halloween theme.

Small cards for talking about activities. 

Connect grammar to writing and creativity. Students choose a small card and write a sentence about it.

Write about what the witch is doing in affirmative, and in negative sentence based on any card.

Write Yes/no questions and suggestions with Let’s!

Students practice writing short descriptive sentences using clothing vocabulary and the present continuous tense.

Speaking Chain. 

Practice fluency in question-answer patterns. One student picks a card and asks: “What is the witch doing?”  The next student answers: “She is drinking.”
Then takes a new card and continues the chain.

Cut-and-match games build word recognition

 Cut the words out the card and play match.

Worksheet 1. Match sentences to the correct witch picture by coloring the frame and sentence in the same color.

Worksheet 2. Answer the question: What are you doing?

Worksheet 3. draw a line from the word to the matching picture, after completing the verb with the missing vowel.

Worksheet 4. Match the verb to the picture.

Worksheet 5. Complete all the verbs and use it as pictionary.

Worksheet 6. Complete the Sentence with the verb.

Sentence Association Game: What Is the Witch Doing?

Students match the witch picture, and the sentence to practice the present continuous tense. Students can work in pairs to match all actions.

Halloween Present Continuous Flip Book Activity: What Is the Witch Doing?

Make grammar practice interactive with this hands-on activity.

Students begin by cutting the flap page and gluing it onto the writing page. They then look at each witch illustration and write a complete Present Continuous sentence under the matching flap. Once the flap book is assembled, students can lift each flap to check their sentences, read them aloud, and review the grammar independently or with a partner.

This flap book transforms a traditional grammar worksheet into an interactive learning experience. 

This resource is also available individually here:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Halloween-Witch-Actions-Present-Continuous-Grammar-for-ELLs-14615876

Present Continuous with School Actions –for Elementary ELLs is included in the complete pack.Go to the blog post, here:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2026/03/present-continuous-with-school-actions.html

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Made the covers using Creative Fabrica, here is my affliate link:    https://www.creativefabrica.com/product/cute-witch-digital-paper-halloween/ref/2670802/?sharedfrom=pdp

Halloween Skeleton Body Parts Activities for Elementary ESL & ELL Students

 This resource is included in the Body Unit for Elementary ESL. Link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Body-Theme-for-Elementary-ELL-1836555

The Halloween skeleton adds a playful, spooky twist to the traditional body unit, keeping students motivated and excited to review words like head, arm, leg, foot, hand, and ribs.  Includes flashcards, worksheets, games, crafts, puzzles, and speaking activities for Elementary ESL and ELL students.

Skeleton Flashcards

These skeleton flashcards make learning anatomy fun, visual, and interactive. Their clear illustrations and simple labels help young learners quickly identify and remember the main parts of the skeleton while building essential science and English vocabulary. Perfect for whole-class instruction, small groups, learning centers, games, and bulletin boards, these flashcards keep students engaged and support confident learning through hands-on activities.

Label the parts of the body on the skeleton

The teacher places a skeleton flashcard on the board.

 

Students come up one by one to label the body parts using word cards, sticky notes, or by writing directly on the board with markers. This promotes whole-class participation.

Students label the parts of the skeleton directly on a flashcard placed inside a clear plastic sheet using whiteboard markers. They can write the words for head, arms, legs, feet, ribs, bones, and pelvis, then erase and repeat for practice. Students engage with the vocabulary by writing it themselves, reinforcing spelling and word recognition.

Students sort the skeleton body part flashcards into two groups — left and right.

 

For example, they place left arm, left leg, left hand on one side, and right arm, right leg, right hand on the other. This can be done on the board, in a pocket chart, or on their desks as a group or partner activity.

Students use the skeleton flashcard to count how many of each part the skeleton has. For example:  The skeleton has one head./ The skeleton has two arms./ The skeleton has three fingers.

Skeleton Small Cards Activities

The small cards can be used for forming simple sentences (e.g., The skeleton has two legs. / This is the skeleton’s head.), allowing students to practice speaking.

As a speaking activity: 

Cut out the word from each small card and then match it to the correct picture. This will strengthen their reading comprehension and vocabulary recall.

Students use the small skeleton body part cards to write simple sentences such as: This is the skeleton’s hand./ This is the skeleton’s leg./ This is the skeleton’s head.  They can write the sentences on paper, mini whiteboards, or in their notebooks after choosing or drawing a card.

Skeleton Body Part Worksheets

Label the Skeleton Worksheet. Students write the correct word next to each body part.

Read and Color the Skeleton Worksheet. Students read simple descriptive sentences about the skeleton and color each body part accordingly.

Students look at pictures of the skeleton’s body parts on a worksheet and draw lines to match each picture with the correct word.

Students can complete this worksheet on their own, making it ideal for assessment, centers, or homework.

Skeleton Craft

  This craft-style activity perfectly combines art, language, and kinesthetic learning. Students build their own skeleton craft by gluing the body part cutouts onto a frame made with chenille stems (pipe cleaners).

They color each piece, assemble the skeleton, and glue or tape it onto construction paper. Once their skeletons are complete, students describe their creations to the class using full sentences, such as:  This is my skeleton./  It has two arms and two legs. / The skeleton’s head is gray.

 

Here I am with my description:

Students match each word to the correct skeleton body part by connecting or assembling puzzle pieces. Each piece includes a word and a corresponding picture of that part on the skeleton. Matching words to pictures helps ELLs connect spoken and written English naturally, reinforcing comprehension through a hands-on activity.

👉 Click below to download the complete resource from my Teachers Pay Teachers  store:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Halloween-Skeleton-Body-Parts-Activities-for-Elementary-ELLs-14594791

Teach body parts with fun monster-themed ESL flashcards, worksheets & games — includes labeling, counting, left/right practice & more for young learners, all included in the complete resource. Check the blog post here:    https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/06/monsters-and-body-parts-fun-and-hands.html

Find more creative ideas and engaging resources for teaching young learners by visiting my blog for preschool teachers here: EFL Preschool Teachers Blog. You'll find practical activities, tips, and resources designed to make learning fun and effective for little ones!