With just a pencil and piece of paper for each student, you can at a moment’s notice fill a class period with a fun and educational activity. This interesting twist on a guessing game promotes critical thinking skills in your students. Students can either work individually or in pairs during this activity.
Step By Step Directions
Each student should have a piece of paper and a pencil out, ready to draw an item based on the teacher’s description. Although some students may complain that they are not good at drawing, explain that they are to do the best they can. Provide the students simple descriptive directions for drawing an object such as a key, a pencil or an umbrella. Be sure to use creative adjectives in your description of the object as a way to model for the students how to describe objects.
Guessing Game
Once you have finished describing the object for students to draw, have the students compare pictures with each other to attempt to guess what the object is. When making a guess, have the student explain why they think it may be whatever they think it is. For example, a student may say that they think the object is a pencil because of how long and straight it is and how it has a point only on one end.
Reinforce Careful Listening Skills
As you continue to have your students draw and guess different objects, explain to them how important it is to listen carefully. If appropriate, you may consider not repeating any directions, to cause each student to listen even more carefully. Ask the students what helps them understand what to draw, demonstrating the need for clarity in communication.
With extra time, have the students take turns describing objects for the rest of the class to draw. This can be done in small groups, pairs or as a whole class, depending on how much time you want to spend on the activity. The smaller the group, the faster the activity will be completed, as more students get a chance to describe an object at once.
This activity requires no advanced preparation and very basic materials that every classroom has on hand. This activity can be a fun introduction to a descriptive writing unit, or a review after completing the unit. It can also be a standalone activity to pull out on the day before a holiday, since it is difficult to keep students focused on learning anything new on those days.
You may be interested in other activities to do on days before a holiday.
Check out other lesson plan ideas.
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