Characters Dressed as Other Characters for Halloween

Objective

Based on below-the-surface similarities, students decide which characters might dress up like others for Halloween and explain why.

Additional Character Examples

• Han Solo (Star Wars) as Wolverine (X-Men) - both are loners and rule-breakers who ultimately choose to do the right thing
• Syndrome (The Incredibles) as Darth Vader - both sought out training from a master who they eventually turned against
• Katniss (Hunger Games) as Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz) - both started as meek people who, because of an unexpected journey, transformed into leaders and toppled evil regimes.

Extension Activities

Beyond simply creating drawings and presenting them, you might try these ideas:

• Have students share the two characters they chose, but ask the class to explain why.
• Collect everyone's ideas and create a matching game. Which characters in column A would dress up like those in column B and why?
• Students could write a longer piece: an essay explaining their choice, a conversation in which the two characters meet, or a short story about a costume party where many characters interact and find similarities.
• This extends easily into social studies as well, bringing in people from history or present day.

Steps

1. Students brainstorm characters who have a parallel to another character and explain why they are similar.
2. Students draw one character dressed up as another and explain why.

Resources

• Worksheet Part 1 (PDF)
• Worksheet Part 1 (Google Slides)
• Worksheet Part 2 (PDF)
• Worksheet Part 2 (Google Slides)