The Witches by Roald Dahl Book Activities

Your students will laugh out loud at the humor in The Witches by Roald Dahl.

⭐ About the Book: The Witches

The Witches by Roald Dahl is a wildly imaginative, darkly funny adventure that keeps readers on the edge of their seats. Told through the eyes of a nameless narrator, the story reveals a shocking truth: witches are real, and they despise children. Unlike the broomstick‑riding witches of fairy tales, Dahl’s witches hide in plain sight, disguised as ordinary women with wigs, gloves, square feet, clawed fingers, and an unmistakable smell.

When the narrator travels with his grandmamma to a hotel in southern England, he accidentally overhears a secret meeting of the witches. Led by the terrifying Grand High Witch, the witches unveil a plan to turn every child in England into a mouse using a powerful formula. The narrator is discovered, transformed into a mouse, and must team up with his grandmamma to stop the witches before their plan succeeds.

This Newbery Honor novel blends humor, suspense, and clever storytelling, making it a favorite among students. It’s an excellent choice for teaching theme, character traits, point of view, and Dahl’s signature use of exaggeration and imagination.

⭐ Book Details

Publication Date: 1983
Reading Level: Lexile 740L • Guided Reading Level R
Interest Level: Grades 3–7 (Ages 8–12)
Awards: Newbery Honor • California Young Reader Medal
Length: 224 pages
Estimated Word Count: Approx. 68,320 words
Estimated Reading Time: About 4 hours and 33 minutes
Audiobook Length: 4 hours and 28 minutes
Genre: Children’s Literature • Adventure • Fantasy
Setting: Norway (Grandmamma’s house) and the United Kingdom (Tree House and Hotel Magnificent)
Themes: Lies and Deceit, Appearances, Transformation, Hate, Cleverness
Point of View: First‑person (central, nameless narrator)
Memorable Quote: “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you.”
First Line: “In fairy‑tales, witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks, and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy‑tale. This is about REAL WITCHES.”

Activities to Use with your Novel Study for
The Witches by Roald Dahl

Book Unit Samples

Grab your free novel study samples. Vocabulary, comprehension questions, and a constructed response question are included.

You can get the free book unit sample by clicking the button.

Teaching Idea #1 – Comparing and Contrasting Two Witches

By teaching a novel with a theme, the difficult Common Core Skill RL.9 compare and contrast becomes much easier. Whether you are comparing themes, setting, and plots by the same author (3rd grade), similar themes and topics (4th grade), stories in the same genre (5th grade), or different forms (6th grade), using a Halloween theme makes the writing projects fun and interesting for students. In this set of free printables, you’ll receive this printable for students to compare the Grand High Witch from Dahl’s The Witches to the Wicked Witch of the West in Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Teaching Idea #2 – Comparing and Contrasting

The next printable has students comparing a number of well-known witches from children’s literature. These include several fairy tale witches such as the witches from Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel.

This handout contains all the witch activities.

Teaching Idea #3 – Comparing Witches Craftivity

Students will enjoy making this free-standing witchcraft activity. Four different witches from children’s literature are compared.

Teaching Idea #4 – Acrostic

An acrostic printable is also included. I purposely left off instructions for this page to make it adaptable for many needs. You can have students summarize one specific chapter from The Witches by using this form or witches in general.

Teaching Idea #5 – Witch Trivia

On the day of your Halloween party, many witch-themed activities make the party both fun and a learning experience for your students. This printable has students listing famous witches from children’s literature. I like to divide students into small groups. I time the activity. The group with the most correct answers at the end of the allotted time receives token prizes. This can be anything from homework passes to school supplies. Students love the friendly competition.

Teaching Idea #6 – A Witch’s Brew

Another activity I enjoy doing with my students is to have them bring in ingredients to make their own party snacks. Here we are creating a punch in a witch’s cauldron. The mixture bubbles and foams. Students love creating their own snacks and following directions can be taught. This printable includes this punch recipe.

If you missed the link earlier, here it is again.

The Witches by Roald Dahl Movies

The Witches has been made into major motion pictures twice. Check out the trailers for the 1990 and 2020 movies.

See the product that inspired this post.

The Witches Book Unit contains vocabulary, comprehension, constructed response writing, and skill practice.