Day of the Dead Activities: A Round-up for Teachers

Inside: Day of the dead activities, crafts, videos, and lesson plans for the Spanish classroom.

After the unprecedented box-office numbers of Pixar’s Coco, celebrating Día de muertos is more familiar than ever to the average student. Doing Day of the Dead activities in Spanish class is twice as relevant and meaningful, too!

Though not celebrated in every Spanish-speaking location, Día de Muertos has deep roots in many parts of Latin America, and especially Mexico. It’s a mixture of pre-Hispanic customs, and the Christian traditions brought in by the Spanish. According to National Geographic,

“Today Mexicans from all religious and ethnic backgrounds celebrate Día de los Muertos, but at its core, the holiday is a reaffirmation of indigenous life… Day of the Dead originated several thousand years ago with the Aztec, Toltec, and other Nahua people, who considered mourning the dead disrespectful. For these pre-Hispanic cultures, death was a natural phase in life’s long continuum. The dead were still members of the community, kept alive in memory and spirit—and during Día de los Muertos, they temporarily returned to Earth.”

As a new Spanish teacher, I used to be unsure of how to treat holidays. I wanted to include culture, but teaching low-frequency words like “marigold,” “candle,” or “skeleton” seemed a poor use of time. Now I’m discovering part of the reason comprehensible input is magic: I can use any theme or topic to give my students whole, living language.

And thankfully, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. There are TONS of resources out there, in Spanish and English, and these are my favorites! Below you can browse my giant collection for Day of the Dead activities, and of course let me know what I’m missing.

Day of the Dead Activities & Ideas

Here’s what you can find in this post (in this order):

• Books for Day of the Dead
• Lesson Ideas and Plans
• Authentic Infographs in Spanish
• Crafts and Printables for Día de Muertos
• Day of the Dead Songs
• Short Films for Movie Talks
• Videos with Info on Day of the Dead

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Books for Day of the Dead

Here are some titles in English and Spanish for learning more about Day of the Dead traditions: 

Day of the Dead Lesson Ideas

• Pre-teach key unfamiliar vocabulary. Infographics or videos are a nice way to introduce words like calavera, vela, etc.
• Choose a short film for a MovieTalk. (You can find my favorites embedded below). If you teach various levels, make it easy on yourself by choosing one film to use for all the classes and adjusting the language for each group.
• Create an ofrenda with your students (see how other teachers have done Day of the Dead ofrendas with their students).
• Research and compare Día de Muertos traditions across Latin America. This post has info, links, and YouTube videos. 
• Watch Coco on Netflix (or buy the DVD).  There are some great free and paid resources on TpT to go with Coco. I loved this free Coco PPT from Arianne Dowd, and this EdPuzzle.
• Watch El Libro de la Vida. For The Book of Life, you can use: A basic guide with questions from Kara Jacobs, and/or this free guide for novices from Mis Clases Locas.

• Create a story with your class, using Day of the Dead as a theme. Remember that you don’t have to come up with a story from scratch. You can always choose an authentic story like the one below, and re-tell it to your class in simplified language.

Google Arts and Culture has some amazing resources as well, for exploring Day of the Dead. I really like the video that introduces the holiday with vivid images, and there’s even an interactive altar!

Infographs

Infographs are a great way to use authentic language in short bits (with illustrations and graphic for support) while learning about Day of the Dead. These are fun to to prompt discussion and give the students a chance to see what they can understand from an authentic resource.