Teaching Resources

There is a ton of teaching resources on Day of the Dead out there! We went through quite a few of them and added our favorites to this page so you didn’t have to. From activities on the movie Coco and music videos to infographics, crafts, and writing prompts, you can find a variety of activities to try in your K-12 classroom. The links on the “Teaching Resources” menu and on this page will take you to sources outside of this website.

Pages

  • Day of the Dead by Google Arts & Culture (page full of information, videos, tours, exhibits, etc.; in English)

Movies

  • Coco
    • Coco trailer Edpuzzle video (Trailer of Coco with comprehension questions throughout the video; in Spanish)
  • El libro de la vida
    • Comprehension slides (Slides with character information, plot summary, activities; in Spanish)

Videos and short movies

  • Day of the Dead: A celebration of life (6-minute video created by Google México explaining the significance of this celebration; in Spanish with English subtitles)
  • Día de los muertos animated short movie (3-minute CGI animated movie about a girl who celebrates her mother on Day of the Dead; no lines, just music and sound)
    • Comprehension slides and activities on animated short Día de los muertos
    • Compilation of reading activity, comprehension slides, questions, and picture collages on animated short Día de los muertos (page also has other general activities on Day of the Dead)
  • Danza de los muertos animated short movie (3-minute animated movie about a boy who celebrates his grandmother on Day of the Dead; no lines, just music and sound. It was a student’s senior project in college, which I think it pretty cool, even though the music is Spanish, not Mexican.
    • Compilation of reading activity, comprehension slides, and other activities on animated short Danza de los muertos
    • Kahoot! on animated short Danza de los muertos
  • Día de muertos animated short movie (4-minute animated movie about a grandmother who celebrates her grandchild on Day of the Dead; no lines, just music and sound. It’s a change from movies where children celebrate their elders)
  • Dante’s Lunch animated short movie (2-minute animated movie with Coco‘s Dante as the protagonist)

Songs and music videos

Infographs

  • Infograph on the elements of an altar (in Spanish)
  • More detailed infograph on the elements of an altar (in Spanish)
  • Yet another infograph on the elements of an altar (in Spanish)

Crafts, coloring, and printables

Writing activities (in English)

The following activities were created by the University of New Mexico’s Latin American and Iberian Institute. They are very detailed and include recommended grades, estimated time, background, and learning objectives.

Cooking activities

Glossary

  • Glossary in English with terms in English and Spanish from UNM’s Latin American and Iberian Institute

 

Questions? Broken links? Activities you’d want to add to the list? Email me!