20+ Fun and Interactive Shakespeare Activities for the Modern Classroom
Kate Baker —
Bring the Bard to Life with 20+ Interactive Shakespeare Activities for the Classroom!
Shakespeare’s plays are essential reading, but archaic language, complex themes, and traditional worksheets can make his works feel inaccessible. Fortunately, digital tools like BookWidgets can help reimagine how we teach Shakespeare—making it more interactive, engaging, and meaningful for today’s learners.
Whether you’re exploring Shakespeare’s sonnets, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, or other plays like Hamlet, Othello, or A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the activities in this post are designed to support creativity, close reading, and critical thinking across grade levels for any high school English curriculum or middle school ELA class. These activities are also inspired by best practices from my own classroom and the greater ELA community—including the Folger Method devised by the Folger Shakespeare Library, which emphasizes close reading, performance-based learning, and student ownership of Shakespeare’s original language. You can make a free copy of the lessons shared below to your BookWidgets account, or you can navigate to this BookWidgets group folder where you can find them all together.
Use the links below to jump to each section and access the ready-to-use Shakespeare activities.
Quick Navigation
- Why Shakespeare Still Matters in Middle and High School Classrooms
- Challenges Teachers Face When Teaching Shakespeare
- How Digital Tools Can Make Shakespeare More Interactive and Accessible
- 20+ Creative and Customizable Activities to Bring Shakespeare to Life
- Wrap-Up: Reimagining Shakespeare with Edtech in the ELA Classroom
Whether you’re new to teaching Shakespeare or looking to refresh your lessons, these ideas will help you inspire deeper learning and student connection with the Bard.
Before we begin: If you are new to BookWidgets, BookWidgets is an all-in-one platform that supports the entire learning process, allowing teachers to create interactive activities and evaluate their students’ understanding from start to finish. When BookWidgets is integrated into a Learning Management System like Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Moodle, Canvas –& more!–, teachers can use “Live Widgets” to keep an eye on their students’ progress in real time to give feedback and support when needed. Interested in purchasing BookWidgets without committing to a full year subscription or waiting for the next budget cycle? Learn more about our special, limited-time pricing for schools and groups of teachers.
Why Shakespeare Still Matters in Middle and High School Classrooms
More than 400 years after his death, William Shakespeare’s work continues to be a cornerstone of English literature curricula around the world. But why does his writing still matter in today’s classrooms?
Timeless Themes with Modern Relevance
At its core, Shakespeare’s work explores timeless themes—love, ambition, power, jealousy, identity, and justice—that remain deeply relevant to students’ lives. His characters grapple with moral dilemmas and emotional struggles that mirror the challenges young people face today, even if they wear doublets and speak in iambic pentameter. From the impulsive passion of Romeo and Juliet to the haunting introspection of Hamlet, Shakespeare offers rich material for discussion, analysis, and personal connection.
More Than Language: Skills That Stick
In addition to thematic relevance, studying Shakespeare sharpens essential academic skills. His complex texts build reading stamina, expand vocabulary, and deepen literary analysis. Exposure to Shakespeare’s rhetorical devices and dramatic structure helps students become more confident readers, writers, and critical thinkers. And because his influence reaches across literature, film, and popular culture, understanding Shakespeare equips students with cultural literacy that enriches their broader education.
The Folger Shakespeare Library emphasizes that students don’t need simplified versions of Shakespeare’s plays—they need active engagement with the original text. When educators scaffold learning and give students the opportunity to interpret Shakespeare in their own voice, the result is deeper understanding and confidence. This method aligns with research-backed approaches to building reading stamina, vocabulary, and cultural literacy.
Shakespeare may be centuries old, but his work still speaks to modern students—if we help them hear it.
Challenges of Engaging Modern Readers
Introducing Shakespeare to today’s students can feel like an uphill battle. While his themes remain timeless, the language and format often feel anything but. Many learners are immediately put off by the unfamiliar vocabulary, dense sentence structures, and cultural references that seem far removed from their everyday lives. That intimidation alone can cause students to disengage before the first scene even begins.
The Paper-Based Problem
Traditional methods—like reading guides and vocabulary worksheets—often fail to capture students’ attention. These static tools don’t offer the interactivity or immediacy that modern learners expect. For students used to apps, videos, and on-demand content, a printed packet can feel more like busywork than meaningful engagement. Even reading a play aloud in class can come across as awkward or disengaging when students aren’t given context or agency in the experience.
Too Much Content, Too Little Time
Teachers face the added pressure of covering complex texts within tight instructional windows—often while differentiating for a wide range of learning needs. Making Shakespeare meaningful, accessible, and engaging isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a necessity. But it takes more than a well-worn copy of Macbeth and a list of comprehension questions to get there.
Some educators resort to modern translations to make Shakespeare more accessible—but this can unintentionally diminish the richness of his language. The Folger Method shows that even struggling readers can thrive when they engage directly with Shakespeare’s words, especially through performance, group discussion, and strategic scaffolding. What students need is not a rewrite, but the right tools to unlock meaning. Students are more likely to connect with the text when the experience moves from passive reading to active exploration.
How Digital Tools Can Make Shakespeare More Interactive and Accessible
Teaching Shakespeare today means meeting students where they are—digitally fluent, curious, and eager to engage. BookWidgets helps teachers bring Shakespeare’s works to life through interactive, flexible, and accessible activities.
📽️ Integrate Multimedia to Build Context
Embed videos, audio, and images directly into assignments. Students can hear soliloquies, watch performances, and explore Elizabethan culture—all within the activity.♿ Support Accessibility for All Learners
Features like text-to-speech, multilingual support, and customizable formatting help all students access Shakespeare’s language and meaning.🧩 Boost Engagement with Interactive Learning
From escape rooms to character-sorting games, BookWidgets turns reading into active exploration. Students think critically, collaborate, and have fun.⚡ Deliver Instant, Actionable Feedback
Quizzes, flashcards, and matching games provide immediate feedback, helping students build confidence and comprehension in real time.📝 Streamline Grading and Differentiate with Ease
Auto-grading and analytics save time and support personalized learning. Teachers can scaffold content and adapt activities for every learner.🎭 Return to Shakespeare’s Roots: Entertaining and Interactive
Shakespeare’s plays were written to entertain. BookWidgets captures that same spirit—inviting students to engage with the Bard’s work in creative, meaningful ways. BookWidgets supports the principles of the Folger Method by providing interactive scaffolds that guide students through Shakespeare’s original text. From embedded performances to self-paced annotation activities, digital tools empower learners to explore the Bard’s language firsthand—without relying on translations or summaries.
20+ Creative and Customizable Activities to Bring Shakespeare to Life
Bring Shakespeare’s works to life with these 20+ creative and customizable classroom activities for middle and high school students, ideal for both high school literature units and middle school ELA lesson plans. Whether you’re teaching Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, or Shakespearean sonnets, these interactive lessons made with BookWidgets help students build literary analysis skills, explore character and theme, and engage deeply with the Bard’s language. Aligned with ELA standards and adaptable for any play, these activities transform how students experience Shakespeare in the classroom.
Jump to a Section
- 🎭 Interactive Shakespeare Games and Icebreakers
- 🌍 Explore Shakespeare’s World
- 📜 Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Iambic Pentameter Activities
- 🎬 Analyzing Key Scenes from Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth
Interactive Shakespeare Games and Icebreakers
Shakespeare isn’t all doom and drama—his plays were the popular entertainment of their day, filled with wordplay, insults, and clever twists. These interactive activities tap into that playful spirit, using humor, games, and a touch of competition to help students connect with the Bard. Whether they’re sorting lines between hip hop lyrics and Shakespearean quotes or playing games to memorize drama terms, students will be laughing and learning.
1. Flashcards Game: Hip Hop or Shakespeare?
This engaging digital Shakespeare activity challenges students to identify whether a poetic line was written by William Shakespeare or a hip hop artist like Tupac, Eminem, or Blackalicious. Created with the Flash Card widget, this classroom activity sparks discussion about language, rhythm, and cultural connection in literature.
2. Pair Matching Game: Hip Hop or Shakespeare Remix
Reimagine the activity above by importing it into a Pair Matching widget. This version turns the same content into an interactive matching game where students pair each line with its correct author—perfect for reinforcing understanding through repetition and play.
3. Flashcards Activity: Bad Bard Jokes
Lighten the mood with this fun Shakespeare humor activity. In this Flash Card widget, students read Shakespeare-related puns and jokes that are guaranteed to get a laugh—or at least an eye-roll. A great way to humanize the Bard and break the ice.
4. Randomness Spinner: Shakespearean Insult Generator
Use this Shakespearean Insult Generator to explore the Bard’s sharp wit and inventive language. Built with the Randomness widget, this spinner generates humorous, over-the-top insults using authentic Shakespearean phrasing. Great for character dialogue practice, creative writing prompts, or simply adding laughter to the lesson.
5. Randomness Spinner: Whimsical Compliment Generator
Balance out the insults with a bit of kindness. This Whimsical Compliment Generator, made with the Randomness widget, delivers fun, Shakespeare-style compliments. A great bell-ringer, writing prompt, or feel-good exit ticket.
6. Shakespeare Drama Terms Word Search Activity
This Word Search widget offers a fun and collaborative way to reinforce key Shakespearean drama terms. In this interactive vocabulary activity, students work with a partner or group to find each drama-related word, then define any unfamiliar terms. Afterward, they “turn and talk” to share definitions and examples, deepening comprehension through discussion.
💡 Pro tip: Increase the challenge by hiding the word list and allowing words to be placed in all directions—horizontal, vertical, diagonal, and reversed.
7. Shakespeare Drama Terms Crossword Puzzle
This Crossword widget reinforces Shakespearean vocabulary through a quick and engaging format. Created using BookWidgets’ import feature, this digital crossword is ideal as a bellringer, Do Now, or even as a competitive classroom challenge when shared via an LMS.
💡 Pro tip: You can also use crossword puzzles inside other widget types like a Quiz, Worksheet, or Video Quiz using the Crossword question type.
Explore Shakespeare’s World: Background Knowledge and Historical Context Activities
To help students connect more deeply with Shakespeare’s works, it’s important to explore the historical and cultural world in which he lived. These interactive BookWidgets activities are perfect for building background knowledge before diving into plays or sonnets. Whether you’re teaching Shakespeare in middle school, high school, or preparing for standardized tests, these digital tools will support historical understanding, reading skills, and engagement, and are easy to integrate into middle school ELA lesson plans.
8. Interactive Shakespeare Jigsaw Puzzle with Audio-Based Note-Taking
This Jigsaw Puzzle widget turns a classic puzzle into an engaging digital note-taking activity. As students complete the Shakespeare-themed puzzle, they unlock an audio recording that shares key facts about Shakespeare’s life and works. Students are prompted to write down three facts they learned, making this an ideal introductory activity for a Shakespeare unit. It also encourages collaborative learning—after listening, students can “turn and talk” with classmates to compare what they discovered. You can adjust the difficulty by changing the number of puzzle pieces in the widget editor.
💡 Pro tip: Create a series of Shakespeare puzzle activities by duplicating this widget and swapping in new themed images and audio recordings. Use AI tools like ChatGPT to generate brief scripts and record your audio directly in BookWidgets.
9. Shakespeare’s Life and Times WebQuest Activity
This WebQuest widget guides students through a digital exploration of William Shakespeare’s life, Elizabethan England, and the structure of a Shakespearean sonnet. Along the way, students complete tasks and end the activity by composing a sonnet of their own—making it perfect for cross-curricular learning.
10. SAT Reading Practice: Split Worksheet with Shakespeare Passage
This Split Worksheet helps students build confidence and endurance with SAT-style literary analysis. Students read a Shakespeare passage and answer timed, standards-aligned questions. A built-in timer helps students pace themselves, while the Scratchpad allows them to organize their thoughts for each question. After completing the activity, students can review the rationale for each question to better understand why answer choices are correct or incorrect. This activity supports reading comprehension, test prep, and metacognitive reflection.
11. Globe Theater Digital Worksheet: Explore Shakespeare’s Stage
This Worksheet widget introduces students to the history and architecture of the Globe Theater—Shakespeare’s iconic stage in London. With short-answer questions, images, and a virtual tour, students develop key context to better understand how and where Shakespeare’s plays were performed.
Shakespeare’s Sonnets and Iambic Pentameter Activities
Help students master poetic structure and close reading with these interactive activities focused on iambic pentameter and Shakespeare’s sonnets. From analyzing rhyme schemes to visually interpreting Sonnet 130, these digital tools make Shakespeare’s language more accessible and engaging.
12. Video Quiz: Why Did Shakespeare Use Iambic Pentameter?
In this engaging Video Quiz built with a TED-Ed video, students explore the question: Why did Shakespeare write in iambic pentameter? This interactive poetry activity combines comprehension questions with a whiteboard prompt, where students annotate a sonnet and practice identifying poetic meter.
13. Interactive Identify the Rhyme Scheme of Sonnet 130
This Worksheet widget is a quick and effective way for students to practice identifying the rhyme scheme in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130: My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun. Using the mark sentence question type, students receive instant feedback and reinforcement of poetic structure. Great as a Do-Now or Exit Ticket.
💡 Pro tip: Duplicate this widget and swap in other Shakespearean sonnets to build a collection of quick annotation practice tasks. You can even combine them into a single quiz by using the import from widget feature.
14. Split Whiteboard Activity: Draw the Mistress in Sonnet 130
This Split Whiteboard poetry activity encourages students to visualize and interpret Sonnet 130 through art. After reading the poem, students use the whiteboard tools to draw the speaker’s mistress based only on the poem’s literal descriptions—highlighting how Shakespeare challenges idealized beauty in love poetry.
15. Split Worksheet: Analyzing Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130
Take the analysis deeper with this Split Worksheet on Sonnet 130. Students view the poem on one side and respond to a mix of multiple choice, open-ended and creative questions—including a Whiteboard drawing task—that focus on tone, figurative language, and Shakespeare’s subversion of poetic conventions.
16. How to Write a Shakespearean Sonnet
In this Video Quiz, students can learn about the structure of Shakespeare’s sonnets and practice composing their own.
17. Composing Sonnets with Images
Teachers can harness the power of imagery to inspire students using the Random Images widget. By providing vivid, thought-provoking images, educators can stimulate students’ imaginations and encourage them to explore their thoughts and feelings through verse and poetic techniques learned in the other interactive poetry activities. This approach not only aids in the development of creative expression, but also enhances observational skills and emotional literacy, providing a rich foundation for students to craft their unique poetic voices.
💡 Pro tip: No need to scour the world wide web! Use the Pixabay integration to locate images for inspiration.
18. Contrapuntal Poetry with Shakespeare’s Foils
This creative Shakespeare poetry activity asks students to compose a contrapuntal poem using lines from two contrasting Romeo and Juliet characters who serve as foils—such as Romeo and Mercutio or Juliet and the Nurse. By arranging selected lines side-by-side and blending them into a unified voice, students explore duality, voice, and character perspective through poetic structure. This extension task is ideal for advanced middle school ELA lesson plans or as a performance-based writing piece in a high school English curriculum.
💡 SEL Connections for Contrapuntal Poetry:
• Encourage students to choose foil characters whose perspectives reflect real-world conflicts or emotional tension. This builds empathy as they step into opposing viewpoints.
• Ask students to reflect: What emotions or values drive each character? How do their words reveal fear, pride, love, or loss?
• Use the poetic structure to spark dialogue about respectful disagreement and how contrasting voices can coexist in powerful, expressive ways.
• Invite students to write a short reflection after the poem: What did you learn about perspective, voice, or emotional expression through this activity?
Analyzing Key Scenes from Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth
These interactive Shakespeare activities are designed to support close reading, textual analysis, and evidence-based interpretation of key scenes. Aligned with ELA standards for grades 6–12, each example models how digital tools like BookWidgets can help students analyze complex texts and cite textual evidence. Use these examples from Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth as inspiration for designing your own lessons for other plays in your curriculum, such as Hamlet, Othello, or Julius Caesar.
19. Romeo and Juliet Annotation Activity with Blended Learning Video Quiz
This Quiz widget provides a powerful blended learning activity for teaching Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Record yourself annotating a printed copy of the Prologue using a document camera, upload the video to YouTube, and embed it into the widget. Students follow along, annotating their own printed texts as they pause and rewind the video. To check participation, include a Photo question so students can upload their work, plus add auto-scored questions to assess comprehension.
💡 Pro tip: Want to make your own explainer videos for Shakespeare’s plays? Check out these blog posts for tips on flipped classroom strategies and video lesson best practices:
• The 5 Most Important Questions about Flipping the Classroom with Edtech
• How Your Video Lessons Can Be Even More Successful When You’re on Screen
20. Romeo and Juliet Balcony Scene Analysis Split Worksheet
In this Split Worksheet widget, students study Act II, Scene II —the famous balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet. One side of the screen displays the original text, while the other includes questions and an embedded video of a performance. Students analyze the scene for meaning, tone, and character motivations, then respond to two audio questions sharing their personal reflections on Romeo and Juliet’s choices.
21. Condensed Macbeth Play Study: Interactive Scene-by-Scene Worksheets
This Planner widget offers a complete interactive Macbeth unit in one place, featuring 13 linked Split Worksheet activities created by educator Oona Abrams. Each scene features a condensed excerpt of Shakespeare’s Macbeth on one side of the screen and standards-aligned comprehension and analysis questions on the other. Students track their progress by checking off each scene on the Planner as they go.
Condensed versions like this one present excerpted scenes using Shakespeare’s original language, rather than modern translations or simplified summaries. This approach aligns with the philosophy of the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Folger Method, which advocates for direct student interaction with the text through performance, discussion, and collaborative exploration. By focusing on key passages instead of every line, students stay engaged, reduce overwhelm, and strengthen close reading skills. As mentioned earlier in this post, tools like BookWidgets make Shakespeare more accessible without sacrificing rigor—turning complex texts into interactive, meaningful learning experiences.
Wrap-Up: Reimagining Shakespeare with Edtech in the ELA Classroom
Teaching Shakespeare in middle and high school English classes presents both challenges and opportunities. By combining the richness of Shakespeare’s original language with interactive digital tools, educators can help students build deeper understanding of plays like Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and the sonnets. These 20+ classroom activities demonstrate how technology can support literary analysis, close reading, and creative interpretation while aligning with ELA standards. Whether used as models or adapted for other texts, these examples show how Shakespeare can be taught in ways that are both rigorous and relevant, making them a valuable addition to any high school English curriculum.
Want to learn more about creating engaging lesson activities with BookWidgets?
✔️ Sign up for upcoming free webinars and view recordings on the BookWidgets Teacher Academy Page.
✔️ Learn more about our special, limited-time pricing for groups of teachers for purchasing BookWidgets now without having to wait for the next school year or budget cycle.
✔️ Follow BookWidgets on BlueSky and LinkedIn and join our teacher community on Facebook!
✔️ And, be sure to connect with me, too, on BlueSky, Facebook, and LinkedIn!
