13 Spooky Halloween Songs For Music Class (2023)

Halloween is a fun time of year for your students. 

It’s one of the most universal Holidays in public schools (at least in America). 

As such, if you feel it’s appropriate for your students, it’s often quite fun to do some songs specifically for this spooky time of year. 

I decided to help by compiling a list of my 13 favorite Halloween songs for music class. And yes, I picked 13 on purpose (I think I’m clever sometimes!)

1. There Was An Old Woman All Skin And Bones
2. Five Little Pumpkins
3. There’s A Spider On My Head
4. Halloween Rap
5. Hey Jack
6. Pass The Pumpkin All Around
7. Fairies And Giants
8. In The Hall Of The Mountain King
9. Which Witch Fell In A Ditch?
10. The Skeleton Dance (Dem Bones)
11. Danse Macabre
12. Just Dance (Ghostbusters)
13. There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat

Read ahead for the songs/holiday activities below.

There Was An Old Woman All Skin And Bones

This is my favorite Halloween song for Elementary School. 

It’s fun, silly, and just scary enough to make some kids jump. 

Of course, I always know which ones of my students are sensitive to being spooked and prep them ahead of time. 

I’ve done this song for 12 years with no major issues as long as I prep them ahead of time. 

Not only is it just a good Halloween song, but it’s also perfect for teaching: 

• Minor keys
• Head voice
• Call and response

You get a lot of mileage off of this song. 

And even though it’s sort of “little kid-ish,” my older ones ask me for it again year after year. 

Five Little Pumpkins

5 Little Pumpkins is a chant that’s often in younger grades in book form.

In fact, the first place I ever heard this chant was from my oldest son’s preschool teacher (and he’s way past that point now!).

As a chant, you don’t need sheet music, just the lyrics.

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Lyrics:

5 little pumpkins sitting on a gate.

The first one said, “Oh my, it’s getting late!”

The second one said, “There are witches in the air!”

The third one said, “But we don’t care.”

The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run.”

The fifth one said, “Let’s have some fun!”

Woooh! went the wind, and OUT went the light.

And 5 little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

There’s A Spider On My Head

One of my personal complaints about doing too many Holiday-specific songs is how they take extra time to teach, but they don’t last throughout the year. 

This is when I realized the power of choosing songs that are a parody or use the melody of another well-known song. 

I didn’t use come up with this one on my own. I’ll admit I was a little slow on the uptake. 

Many music teachers, probably including you, are like: Duh! 

Well, if you use a song with a well-known melody and new words, then you don’t have to spend much time at all teaching it! 

This makes it easier to justify spending the limited time to learn and enjoy it! 

With all this said, here’s a song based on the tune, If You’re Happy and You Know It! 

Lyrics: 

There’s a spider on my head, knock it off! 

There’s a spider on my head, knock it off! 

There’s a spider on my head, and it’s filling me with dread. 

There’s a spider on my head, knock it off!

Other classroom ideas instead of “knock” include: 

• Spray it off
• Brush it off
• Let it go!

Then, have students create more lyrics and motions to do with the song. 

Halloween Rap

*Not affiliate

I’m not always into Music K-8, but they have some really fun gems hidden in their depths. 

Halloween Rap is one of those songs. 

But is it just me, or does this song give me strong “She’s my cherry pie!” vibes in the opening?

Hey Jack

Here’s another Music K-8 one.

The students seem to love this one a lot, and I’ve seen this song specifically mentioned on Facebook groups over and over again during the Halloween time of year. 

Pass The Pumpkin All Around

This is a song I use a lot leading up to Halloween. 

It’s great for teaching many concepts, including: 

• La-based scales (minor)
• Quarter notes, eighth notes. quarter rest
• Steady beat
• Passing to the beat
• Head voice

Lyrics: 

Pass the pumpkin all around.

Listen to the spooky sound. 

Ooh–ooh!

Will it stop on you? (Boo!)

Fairies And Giants

While this piece isn’t a strictly Halloween one, it does fit perfectly! 

This piece has great examples of text painting and range. 

The high sections are supposed to be like fairies, and the low sections are like giants. 

Many music teachers use this as a movement activity prompt and have the students move like both. 

During the Halloween season, switch up those prompts. 

Instead of fairies, be bats or ghosts! 

Instead of giants (which do work), use monsters or goblins or something.

Let the students get creative. 

In The Hall Of The Mountain King

I use this piece perhaps way more than I should in my elementary music class, but it’s so useful in so many capacities. 

Use it to teach quarter notes, eighth notes, quarter rests, and half notes rhythms! 

Use it for dynamics as the dynamic level grows the whole piece. 

The tempo increases too, so it’s a great launching point to discuss that. 

Or even the instruments in the piece themselves! 

This wasn’t imagined as a Halloween song, but it serves the role well and fits the mood of the season.

Which Witch Fell In A Ditch?

This song features some great call and response opportunities, along with a circle game.

See the video for how to play.

Lyrics:

Which witch fell in a ditch?

Picked up a penny and thought she was rich!

(Repeat)

Leader: Are you my children?

Group: Yes, we’re your children.

(Repeat 3x but on the third time)

Group: No, we’re not!

The person whom the witch is standing in front of on the word “not” becomes the next witch.

The Skeleton Dance (Dem Bones)

This one is great for younger kids (First graders are the oldest I’d do it with), and it serves the cross-curricular goal of teaching body parts as well.  

Danse Macabre

This piece by Camille Saint-Saens goes well with the season and has many fun graphics for the season. 

Use it to inspire movement or teach about orchestra and the mood of the music. 

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Just Dance (Ghostbusters)

I’m not always a fan of simply putting on a video and letting the elementary music students dance along with it. 

I’d rather have the students make the music instead of simply following the music. 

But sometimes, it’s just fun! And we shouldn’t neglect those opportunities either. 

This Just Dance is always a hit. 

And everybody loves Ghostbusters. 

I wouldn’t use it for a music program, but it’s still fun to play! 

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat

This original song is a classic, and I love it. 

There is a million variation of it, and you guessed it, there’s one for the Halloween season. 

Check it out at the link and button above on Amazon.