Are you teaching Lord of the Flies? It can be a challenging text to teach for a variety of reasons.
It’s a little old, all of the characters are male, the premise and conclusion of the novel are a little unbelievable.
But it’s still a great book with relevant themes. And these twelve excellent Lord of the Flies activities and worksheets will make it easier to teach!
Now, we won’t list out a bunch of Lord of the Flies lesson plans here, but we will give you twelve fun and engaging worksheets and activities.
To make it easier for you, we’ve divided them into pre-reading activities, while reading activities, and review activities. Then you can pick and choose which Lord of the Flies teaching resources will best fit your needs.
Pre-reading activities for Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies starter activities are a great way to build anticipation for the text. When done well, they can also help students understand the context of the novel and foreshadow the themes within the novel.
1. Use quotations as writing or discussion prompts
One interesting Lord of the Flies introduction activity to do would be to use quotes from the text to get students to guess what the novel is about. A great way to do this would be to use the quote posters by Stacy Lloyd as a discussion or writing prompt.
The rustic style of the posters reflects the lost-on-a-desert-island setting and the quotes hint at major themes within the novel. The quotes are great discussion starters because they present debatable ideas such as the importance of rules and laws in society, the power of fear, the loss of innocence, and what it means to be ‘civilized.
2. Watch the Crash Course Literature YouTube video
Another great way to introduce the novel is to watch the free Crash Course Literature YouTube video about the novel. This video explains the context of the novel, gives information about the author William Golding, and discusses major themes and characters.
However, it does have plot spoilers (especially the ending). So if you are wanting to avoid those make sure you preview the video for spoilers you want to avoid and definitely stop the video by 10 minutes and 35 seconds.
If you think the video is a good fit, there are also visual note-taking worksheets for the Lord of the Flies video.
3. Lord of the Flies survival activity
One fun Lord of the Flies starter activity would be to run a survival challenge. An Island Mom explains how she runs a survival challenge to explain the real-life complexity of the book to students, who often expect the characters in the novel to behave like ‘Disney characters’ instead of real, complex humans.
In this Lord of the Flies simulation activity, students are presented with a survival challenge on either a desert tropical island or a mountainous island off the coast of Alaska. Each island has various pros and cons in terms of wildlife, access to water and weather etc.
Each also receives a resource card, and that is the only thing they have brought to the island. Resources include practical items such as tools, seeds, fishing nets, weapons, light sources, and rope etc.
After this, students begin the Lord of the Flies group activity and choose which other students they would like to form an alliance with. Then they have the option to swap their resource card with another group.
In their groups, students must then choose a leader and come up with a survival plan consisting of five group rules and prioritized goals to survive. Finally, students must decide on the group’s biggest weakness and how they plan to address it to survive on the island.
The wrap-up activity for the Lord of the Flies survival game is to create a written plan with the group rules, goals, weaknesses and strategies to overcome them. Through this plan, students have to anticipate real-life problems (and like some of those encountered in the novel) including:
- who to choose a leader
- what to do if the leader changes/vetoes the agreed-upon group rules
- identify major dangers to survival
- agree on group goals to help survive
- and anticipate weaknesses and try to overcome them
4. Do a pre-reading webquest
Another activity that can help students better understand the context of the novel is to send them on a webquest. This helps students understand the background of the novel, but means that you don’t have to give them a lecture. Instead, students find the information and take notes from the information they find.
Activities to complete while reading the novel
5. Analyze characters using Freud’s theories
One interesting Lord of the Flies lesson idea is to explore the psychological aspects of the characters in the novel. This activity explains the novel’s characters as representative of the different parts of the human psyche according to Freud: the id, ego, and superego.
This type of activity is great if you are asking students to do a final assessment such as a literary analysis of the text or a close reading of a text excerpt using literary theories.
6. Self-grading chapter quizzes
These self-grading chapter quizzes by The Daring English Teacher are a great way to help students comprehend the novel, identify gaps in understanding, and assess students while reading.
You can use them in class or as part of students’ homework. And you could use them either as formal assessment or to put towards a participation or effort grade.
7. Common core bell ringers
The Daring English Teacher also has a series of common core bell ringers that would be a great way to get each lesson started. You can use the bell ringers to give students practice writing using core-aligned prompts, which are quotes from the novel or the author William Golding.
They are great because they are thematically linked to the novel or taken from the novel itself. The activities are short and get students in the door, sitting down, and on-task quickly.
Plus they help you cover those all-important common core standards.
8. Lord of the Flies mask activity
A final activity from The Daring English Teacher is this mask project. In the activity, students create a mask that symbolizes Jack’s change.
Students pick symbols from the novel and other generic symbols to show Jack’s change and then use those symbols to decorate the mask. The project also has a symbol tracker worksheet that has writing prompts that get students to analyze more deeply. It also has a rubric.
Not only is this a fun task, students end up doing analysis without even realizing it. Plus you can then display their handiwork to brighten the walls in your classroom. Triple win!
9. Novel study flip book
Another option to use while reading Lord of the Flies is this flipbook by Danielle Knight of Study All Knight. The flipbook includes chapter study guide questions and teacher answer key, character chart fill and answer key, symbol chart and answer key, information about the author William Golding, a map of the island, and background information about the novel.
Study All Knight also has other Lord of the Flies products such as body biographies and a bingo review game (mentioned later).
10. Survival game (integrated into whole unit)
You can use this survival game by Bayering with Freshmen throughout the whole novel study unit. The aim of the game is to help students better understand the complexity of being stranded on an island and, in turn, to better empathize with the characters in the novel.
During the game, students win points by solving clues and making choices. The student tribe that has the most points at the end of the game wins.
This fun activity helps students better understand the choices that the characters in the novel make. Students also learn about how the choices they make affect their tribe’s strength, dignity, morale, and life.
Plus it’s a fun way to integrate the complex themes and ideas in the novel into your entire unit.
After reading the novel
Once you’ve finished reading and teaching Lord of the Flies you likely want to review the novel before some type of assessment.
11. Escape room review activity
This fun Lord of the Flies activity by Nouvelle ELA is an escape room that reviews the novel’s plots and characters, gives a close reading activity and a writing task. There is also a cooperative task at the end of the escape.
Optional extras include cards that increase the difficulty of the game. The escape room comes with teacher instructions, student answer sheets, a printing checklist, teacher set-up options, an answer key, and a door poster.
This fun activity would be a great way to review Lord of the Flies in a more in-depth way. You can run the activity as an escape room where students seek clues around the room or as a breakout task where students remain in their seats.
12. Lord of the Flies review bingo
This review bingo game by Danielle Knight of Study All Knight is also a quick way to review Lord of the Flies. This sort of task would be great to use as a review before a test.
Let us know how you go!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this round-up post of Lord of the Flies lesson ideas and teaching activities.
From what we can see, these activities look fun, engaging, and interesting. We have tried to find activities that have good reviews, but not all of the products have lots of reviews.
Please let me know if you try any of these activities and recommend them. I would love to update my blog post with more information for others who are looking for teaching resources for Lord of the Flies.
You may also be interested in:
- 8 awesome reasons to focus on study skills in ELA
- Easily teach your students to take effective Cornell Notes
- 5 easy examples of how to use Cornell Notes in English classes
