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

Find more ideas, tips, and free resources for teaching English to preschool and kindergarten learners.  Come follow me on Facebook! Clock here:

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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 ELLs

 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.

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.

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.

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.

  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.

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!

Halloween Colors Activities for Elementary ESL | Flashcards, Games, Worksheets & Puzzle

 This resource is also included here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Colors-Unit-for-Elementary-ELL-Starters-3629423

Instead of learning colors in isolation, students connect them to Halloween. It builds cultural understanding alongside vocabulary.

 Draw the grid on the board and place the Halloween characters flashcards in each box. Call out “A2!

Students: It’s the witch!
Teacher: Yes! What color is the witch?
Students: green! She’s a green witch.

Draw the color splotches on the board and have the students start sorting according to color. Ask questions: What is brown?

Students: the tree, the coffin, the Werewolf.

Place any flashcard in a clear plastic sheet. Using a whiteboard marker students write sentences about the image.

Spin the bottle using the small cards. Students will sit in a circle with a plastic bottle in the middle. Display the cards in a line in front of the children. One of them can spin the bottle and the others wait until it stops. The bottle is pointing to a student and has to pick a card say what it is or a sentence. 

The small cards work well for short paragraph writing.

Play match the word to the picture, juts cut the word out of each card.

Go upstairs with the small cards. Place clear masking tape on the ladder part of the card and hand in to an individual child or group along a dry erase marker. Cut the words from the small cards and students arrange them into a pile. When the student recognizes a Halloween card correctly he checks a space on the stair. The first one to make it to the top wins.

Halloween Coloring Worksheets. Each worksheet has Halloween characters and objects for students to color according to the color word provided.

Color Recognition Practice. Students identify the color word (orange, green, black, purple, etc.) and color the picture correctly.

As an extension students make simple sentences after coloring: “The tombstone is gray. ”The ghosts are yellow, black, red, purple, brown, white, orange, blue, green, and pink.

Students will strengthen color vocabulary in context in this worksheet.

Another benefit is that the worksheets give students a clear visual connection between the written color word and the object, helping them build stronger word recognition skills.

 

Puzzle Match & Say.  Students take turns picking a piece (picture or word). They find the matching piece and say the full phrase: “Purple haunted house.”

I added letter tiles with Halloween features to make crosswords of the color words

or to write the Halloween words.

There is the Thanksgiving version included in this resource:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/10/thanksgiving-colors-activities-for.html

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