10 Activities for Teaching Lord of the Flies

Teaching Lord of the Flies can be a fun and exciting class novel. There are deep themes on innocence, building civilizations, and the dangers of mob mentality. If you’re needing some ideas to refresh your lesson plans, read on.

Here are 10 Activities for Teaching Lord of the Flies

1. Lord of the Flies Self-Grading Quizzes

Self-grading quizzes via Google Forms are seriously a game-changer. Setting it up is a great way to quickly assess if students are keeping up with the reading or to assess comprehension. Students can immediately see their grades and you can collect real-time data. My digital chapter quizzes for Lord of the Flies includes a quiz for each chapter, the option to print, and the ability to adjust the point value to fit your class structure.

2. Lord of the Flies Mask Project

Students can create masks to symbolically represent Jack (alluding to his face paint). It’s a way for students to dig deeper into the text and think about how they would symbolically represent Jack. You can go as in-depth as you are able, and be as creative as you can.

Students who are more artistically inclined can make literal masks with various materials, or you can simply provide drawing options. My Mask Project resource includes an introduction to the activity, an assignment with templates and a symbol tracker, a writing prompt, and a rubric.

3. Lord of the Flies Map Project

An ongoing project you can try is creating a map of the island the boys are stranded on. Students will have to look for specific text details to create their map. It’s a great assignment after those first few chapters. This is another artistic-type assignment that be adjusted depending on student interest. My Map Project is a great option if you need something ready-made, and it includes two different assignment handouts, a rubric, and sample quotations to guide the activity.

4. Lord of the Flies Escape Rooms

Escape rooms are so great because you can pack a lot of skills and analysis options into one assignment. Your escape room can be done as a review or re-cap of a section of reading, or you can use it as an ongoing assignment you complete as you read. This is also an assignment that can easily be tiered to student ability and can be an individual assignment or a group activity.

I have two Escape Room challenges I like to use in class. This mid-novel review covers the first 6 chapters and has students sort more than 40 timeline events from the novel. This escape room challenge covers 6 tasks to review content from Lord of the Flies like close reading, characterization, and symbolism.

5. Lord of the Flies Bell Ringers

These are tried and true, but they don’t have to be boring. Try visual journal prompts with an aesthetically pleasing background to get creative juices flowing. Set up a lightning round share where students select one sentence to share with the class. A quick writing prompt is an ideal way to begin class and start getting minds engaged for the lesson. This resource includes 30 common core aligned bell ringers that ask students to write a quick argument, informational or narrative pieces based on the quotes given.

6. Digital Interactive Notebook

If you’re looking for something eco-conscious to a foldable or interactive notebook, try a digital one instead. The possibilities are endless and many interactive notebook activities can easily be implemented digitally. You can find an editable Digital Interactive Notebook here that will seamlessly fit into your classroom. With the ease of Google Slides, you can easily copy and paste to create your own student notebook.

7. Interactive Bookmark

A comprehensive alternative to the interactive notebook or foldable is a bookmark version. Use durable paper, fold into a bookmark, and by using both sides of the paper, you can pack many activities into a tight space. Think about reviewing vocabulary, answering quiz questions, writing prompts to bell ringers, or keeping a timeline.

The bonus is this Lord of the Flies bookmark is small enough to fit in the book your students are reading. The Interactive Bookmark you see here includes four bookmarks to use throughout the novel and contains vocabulary, detailed reading comprehension questions, quotes, a timeline, and symbols. It is an entire Lord of the Flies teaching unit in one!

8. Sticky Note Analysis

I love sticky notes. They just add a little something extra. Plus it helps students practice being concise with answers (since they only have the space of a sticky note to answer) and also gives the illusion that they just need to write “a little bit” to fill the sticky note. It’s a great way to keep students engaged. I created an entire literary analysis packet that can be used anywhere in the novel. It includes 13 organizers, including 6 that have built-in writing prompts. Students will cover figurative language, characterization and development, conflict, symbols, tone and more.

9. Character Analysis Graphic Organizers

Focus your graphic organizer game by having students look just at character development. These graphic organizers will help students identify key elements of characterization including textual evidence. You can also have students trace character emotions and motivation throughout the novel. Having a graphic organizer in place means students can keep track of information for all the characters and have an easy place to refer back to key information as they continue through the novel and eventually work on analysis writing prompts.

10. Essays and Research

Essays and research projects are still a staple in my classroom. Take a look at this argument essay that you can use to end the novel. It combines Lord of the Flies with a nonfiction article (included in my resource) as well as all the steps of the writing process for your students to write an amazing argumentative essay.

There are two different rubrics, peer editing forms, outlines, and a collaborative brainstorming poster activity. You can also check out this group project which is better suited for the beginning of the novel as an introduction. It helps students become more familiar with the historical context and parallels of the novel. You’ll find the assignment, topics, websites for students to visit, group evaluation forms, teacher rubrics, and example PowerPoint templates.

Bonus

If you’d like more resources, or can’t decide on which ones you like the best – why not try them all? My unit bundle for Lord of the Flies includes these ideas plus a number of other resources that you can have for a great deal. Find the unit bundle here.

Want more ideas for teaching Lord of the Flies?

What have been your favorite activities to keep students engaged with Lord of the Flies? If you have innovative ideas you’d like to share, I’m always looking to add to my own toolbox of tricks and activities. Don’t forget you can find me on Instagram for more great ideas.