October brings plenty of excitement into the classroom. Alongside the pumpkins and costume plans, there’s also room for conversations about culture, identity and respect.
I created my Halloween art activity bundle to bring those opportunities together. As a First Nations educator and artist, I wanted to offer Halloween art activities that connect creativity with cultural learning. The bundle includes pumpkin directed drawing, an introduction to Northwest Coast art shapes and a lesson about cultural appropriation at Halloween.
🎃 Explore the complete Halloween activity bundle.🎃
Begin with Northwest Coast Art Shapes
Before students begin their pumpkin artwork, introduce the art shapes they will be using.
The included lesson gives students opportunities to identify and trace shapes found in Northwest Coast art. Cultural context is part of that learning: Northwest Coast art belongs to distinct First Nations cultures and does not represent one universal Indigenous art style.
Keep that context connected to the art activity. Students are following a resource created by an Indigenous artist, learning about the shapes introduced in the lesson and using them within the provided project.
Create a Pumpkin Directed Drawing
With that introduction in place, students can follow the step by step pumpkin directed drawing.
This activity gives students practice observing shapes, following directions and bringing the parts of a drawing together. It also provides an opportunity to revisit their learning: Which shapes can they recognize in their pumpkin design?
Display the finished pumpkins alongside a short explanation of what students learned about Northwest Coast art shapes. That way, your October art display shares some of the learning behind the artwork, too.
For another way to work with the shapes, the bundle includes a Jack-o’-lantern face craft with cutting and gluing. Shape tracing and a pumpkin stencil activity offer additional fine motor practice.
Talk About Cultural Appropriation at Halloween
Halloween is also a useful time to discuss why cultures and identities should not be treated as costumes.
The cultural appropriation lesson helps students consider the harm caused by stereotypes and explore respectful ways to appreciate cultures.
You can extend the conversation with a question such as: How can we choose Halloween costumes that are creative without turning someone’s culture into a costume?
Plan this conversation before your school’s dress up day so students have time to reflect on their choices.
Bring the Learning Together with the Halloween Bundle
The complete bundle includes three printable resources and five creative activities, bringing cultural learning, drawing, tracing, cutting, gluing and fine motor practice into your October planning.
Begin with the lessons, then choose the art activities that suit your class. Everything described here is included in the same bundle.