Meg and Mog by Helen Nicholl and Jan Pienkowski is one of my favorite books to use for Halloween activities. Although it’s been around for over forty years, the story is as bright, colorful and fun as when it was first written. Kids of all ages love it and I would really recommend it to use in your class.
Meg and Mog – The story
If you don’t know the book already, Meg and Mog is the first in a series of books about a witch called Meg and her stripy black and white cat, Mog. The story takes place at Halloween when Meg gets ready to go to a Halloween party. She meets her witch friends there and they make a magic potion together with rather unfortunate results. The story is very simple but there are lots of details and sound effects. The brightly colored illustrations set off the story brilliantly. The book is fun to read and colorful and I know that the kids in your classes will love it.
How I use Meg and Mog in my Halloween activities
I use Meg and Mog as a teaching aid in my Halloween classes in three main areas:
- Witches and their clothes, food, equipment
- Halloween people and animals
- Magic potions
You could probably use it in other ways too but these are where I have found the story to be most useful over the years. Use your imagination though and you could probably find other ways to use it. Alternatively, you could just read the book with your class as part of a Halloween story time at the end of a lesson. If you need flashcards, I found these which would be perfect to use in your activities.
Witches
This year for Halloween, I’ve been doing a lot of work on witches. What do witches wear? Where do witches live? What do they do and what do they eat? I’ve been using Meg and Mog as one of the books for the kids in my class to find information. There is so much information here that you could use for your activities: Meg’s clothes, what she eats for breakfast, what her friends are like and her daily (or nightly) routine. You could practice asking lots of questions in a mingle or a pair share. Does Meg like red clothes? No, she likes black clothes. What does Meg eat for breakfast? What time does Meg get up? You could do a role play of a day in the life of a witch and invent different activities for Meg to do.
For smaller kids, you could cut out different clothes and practice clothes vocabulary by asking them to pin the clothes on a picture of Meg. Or practice pinning the hat on the witch by blindfolding one of the children and making the rest of the class give directions. You could also introduce a food topic with different foods they like or don’t like for breakfast. Use food flashcards and make them pretend to be witches and ask questions. Do you like eggs? Yes I do. Kippers anyone?
Halloween people and animals
If you don’t want to just talk about witches, you could use Meg and Mog as part of a more general Halloween lesson. Meg is getting ready for a Halloween party. Maybe you could have a class party too. What other Halloween people and animals could come to the party? Will they bring a present? What food will there be at the party? If you have the chance to dress up with your class and have a real Halloween party, this would be a really fun lesson. You could play Halloween games (pin the hat on the witch as above) and make Halloween decorations and Halloween food.
Make a magic potion
This is my favorite way of using Meg and Mog in class. Making a magic potion with children is so much fun. It’s a really good way to get everyone using their imagination and learning lots of useful English vocabulary at the same time. First of all, talk about the ingredients Meg and her friend use in their magic potion and also the equipment they use. Use lots of TPR for each ingredient and make them sound really spooky and horrible. If you can get plastic spiders, frogs, bats etc., that would be fantastic but flashcards will do just as well.
When you’ve all learned the vocabulary for the ingredients, it’s time to learn a spell. You can either use the spell in the story or make up your own. Repeat it a few times going faster and slower, louder and quieter until you are sure that the kids know it by heart. Then it’s time to make your potion.
If you can get a big pan to use as a cauldron, that would be perfect. Otherwise draw a big cauldron on the board. Give out the ingredients to the kids and then tell them that you are Meg and that you’re going to make the potion together. Ask each child in turn what their witch name is and what they will give you for the potion. E.g. My name is Cress and I will give you a frog. Then they can put the ingredient in the cauldron or draw it in the cauldron on the board. You can invent as many different witch names or ingredients as you want, the crazier the better. Once everyone has put in their ingredient, say the spell all together and stir the potion and make the magic happen!
Meg and Mog writing activities
If you want to do a writing activity using the story, there are lots of things that would be fun and great English practice. You could ask the class to write an invitation to a Halloween party. They’ll need to specify when and where it is to be held and how people should be dressed. They could also create a spooky menu for their guests and write and decorate that. Alternatively you could get your class to invent and write a recipe for their magic potion. What ingredients will they use? What spell will they say as they make the potion? These activities are a great way of getting the kids to use their imagination and practice the vocabulary you have been learning.
What are your favorite Halloween books to use in your classes? Have you used Meg and Mog or do you have another favorite? If you have any amazing ideas about how to use this book or any other Halloween activities, please share them with us in the comments. If you’ve enjoyed this, you can find other ideas about using books in your EFL classes here. You can also find ideas for autumn and Halloween activities. To stay up to date with new posts and teaching ideas, you can follow the GoogooEnglish Facebook page. Alternatively sign up for email updates below. Happy Halloween everyone!