Día de los Muertos for Kids at School: Crafts, Games, and Activities

Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday celebrated on November 1st and 2nd that honors loved ones who have died and celebrates the memories they left behind. A Día de los Muertos lesson for kids introduces students to the holiday’s history, traditions, symbols, and cultural significance through age-appropriate books, artwork, stories, and discussion. Día de los Muertos for kids is a great way to explore Mexican culture while learning how fall holidays around the world are celebrated. 

Get creative with Día de los Muertos symbols

Your students may have seen the movie Coco and wondered, “What is Día de los Muertos?” Fill their wonder with color, creativity, and cultural learning through Día de los Muertos crafts for kids. These hands-on projects give students a chance to explore Mexican traditional symbols and decorations. 

• Turn Egg Cartons into Marigolds: Cut the cups of egg cartons into flower shapes and paint them. Students can then create a class bouquet. 
• Create Calavera Suncatchers: Cut sugar skulls from black cardstock and fill the openings with tissue paper for a stained glass effect. 
• Design a Memory Lantern: Decorate tissue paper lanterns with flowers, stars, hearts, and other patterns. 
• Build a Shoebox Memory Scene: Transform a small box into an ofrenda, a traditional offering place in a home. 
• Make Marigold Stained-Glass Art: Use wax paper and tissue paper to create translucent floral designs to display in the windows. 
• Transform Cups into Calavera Characters: Stack and decorate paper cups to create silly standing skull characters with flowers, hats, and other fun details. 
• Draft a Día de los Muertos Collaborative Quilt: Give each student a paper square to decorate with different symbols or patterns for the holiday and assemble them on a bulletin board. 

Dia De Los Muertos Craft Skulls Coloring Pages Day of the Dead Craft Activities
By Sweet Sensations
Grades: PreK-1st
Subjects: ELA
Standards: CCSS RF.K.1d 

Create personalized Día de los Muertos crowns that support fine motor skills and creativity. These Día de los Muertos coloring pages for kids include 20 editable name fields and sugar skull templates. 

Day of the Dead Reading Comprehension Activities Skull Craft Día de los Muertos
By Heart 2 Heart Teaching
Grades: 2nd-5th
Subjects: Classroom Community, Social Studies, World History

Bring Día de los Muertos for kids to life with engaging reading passages, vocab activities, videos, and comprehension questions. The resource also offers hands-on crafts for students to immerse themselves in the holiday. 

Dive into Día de los Muertos activities for kids

Turn your fall activities for kids into a fun exploration of Mexican culture. Día de los Muertos activities spark curiosity about why celebrating remembrance is so important. 

• Decode an Ofrenda: Show students an image of an authentic ofrenda and have them identify objects, make observations, and offer inferences. 
• Compare Two Celebrations: Have students compare Día de los Muertos to Halloween, noting how each reflects the culture and values of the people. 
• Write a Fictional Calavera Literaria: Introduce students to calaveras literarias, humorous poems, then have them create their own fictional one. 
• Uncover the History: Using a timeline, have students examine how Día de los Muertos came to be a holiday. 
• Trace a Memory: Have students write about a strong memory they have about someone or something they have lost and why that memory is so important. 
• Create a Cultural Soundscape: Using age-appropriate music from the holiday, allow students to examine the mood, sounds, instruments, and how this contributes to the experience. 

Virtual Field Trip Day of the Dead Día de los Muertos Digital Resource Grade K-1
By MagiCore
Grades: K-2nd
Subjects: Latino and Hispanic Studies, Other (Social Studies), Reading

Get interactive with custom videos and engaging Google Slides that take students on an immersive virtual field trip with this 15+ page resource. Bring the experience to life while building reading comprehension, writing, and social studies skills. 

Play your way through Día de los Muertos

Exploring Día de los Muertos with kids is a fun way to review Spanish vocabulary, reading comprehension, cultural facts, geography, and informational text. Games can bring extra energy to world language, art, social studies, and ELA lessons. 

• Ofrenda Face-Off: Show an image or give a clue from an ofrenda, and the first student to name the item wins, then goes on to the next round. Play until one student wins. 
• Mystery Symbol: Reveal a Día de los Muertos symbol one piece at a time. The first team to correctly name it wins. 
• Ofrenda Auction: Give teams a set number of points. Present a cultural clue and let them secretly wager points on knowing the answer. The team with the most points after a few rounds wins. 
• Día Dash: Place answer cards around the room. Read a clue, and students must race to the answer they believe is correct. 
• Marigold Minute: Give students 60 seconds to name as many appropriate Día de los Muertos traditions and symbols as they can. The most correct answers win. 
• Skull or No Skull: Read a statement about Día de los Muertos. Students must choose skull if it’s correct or no skull if it’s false. The team with the most correct answers wins. 

Day of the Dead ESCAPE ROOM Activity – Día de los Muertos
By Think Tank
Grades: 4th-7th
Subjects: Informational Text, Social Studies

In this PDF escape room resource, students read engaging passages, solve secret puzzle phrases, and use differentiated decoders to build comprehension while exploring the holiday’s history. The resource is 15+ pages, and an answer key is included. 

Write from the heart with Día de los Muertos prompts

Writing prompts give students a way to explore Día de los Muertos through an ELA lens. This helps to broaden their understanding of cultures and traditions beyond their own experiences. Teachers can use these prompts to practice CCSS ELA standards in point of view, descriptive writing, narrative structure, dialogue, and even research, while encouraging students to consider the significance of the holiday. 

• You discover a tiny door in an ofrenda. Where does it lead? 
• A trail of Marigolds has appeared outside the classroom. What happens next? 
• Imagine a decorated calavera could talk. What would you ask it about Día de los Muertos? 
• A friend has never celebrated Día de los Muertos. Given what you’ve learned, how could they celebrate respectfully? 
• Create a fictional calavera with a personality, favorite food, and unusual talent. 
• Write a scene set during Día de los Muertos that engages all five senses. 
• Draft a recipe for the perfect memory, using ingredients such as smells, food, music, laughter, and family traditions. 
• Rewrite a favorite memory as a story with a beginning, middle, and end. 

Diwali & Dia de los Muertos Paired Reading Passages and Comprehension Questions
By ideas by jivey
Grades: 4th-6th
Subjects: Close Reading, ELA Test Prep, Reading Strategies
Standards: CCRA.R.1, R.2, R.3

This three-week resource includes differentiated reading passages for multiple grades, questions, printable PDFs, Google Slides, and Google Forms. Everything is wrapped up in an easy-to-follow answer key. 

Celebrate learning with a Día de los Muertos showcase

Bring your Día de los Muertos bulletin board to life with symbols and traditions that help students understand the holiday’s meaning. In addition to having students reflect on family and memories, you can add a brief cultural explanation about symbols that are important to the celebration and enhance their Spanish vocabulary. 

Symbols to include are:

• Marigolds
• Candles
• Photographs
• Papel picado
• Sugar skulls
• Crosses
• Musical instruments
• Map of Mexico
• Butterflies
• Flowers

El Día de los Muertos Bulletin Board Set Day of the Dead Spanish Word Wall
By Sra Cruz
Subjects: Spanish, World Languages

Celebrate Día de los Muertos with a colorful 29-page bulletin board set featuring 12 traditional symbols, a title, and three versions to support different learners. Choose word and image decorations to create a meaningful word wall. 

Dig into Día de los Muertos traditions with TPT

Día de los Muertos opens the door to meaningful conversations about family, remembrance, culture, and the many ways different cultures honor those they’ve lost. Whether you’re planning a craft, reading activity, writing lesson, or cultural study, the right resources can help you approach the celebration with respect. Find more school resources for Día de los Muertos to bring this meaningful tradition into your classroom and turn learning into a cultural connection.