Object Hunt

Use the classroom as a treasure hunting ground.

In this game, students will be listing as many things as possible that start with a certain letter.

However, students have to be a little more flexible in how they describe the objects.
 
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Objective(s) of activity
Take turns spotting objects that start with a certain letter chosen by one of the players.

When a person is unable to spot an object satisfying this requirement during their turn, start with a new letter.
 

Directions
All the players first look around the place to get an idea of the objects in the classroom.

If your students like this game and you are bored of the classroom, you can turn this into a nice outdoor activity as well.
 
One player starts by choosing a letter, for example ‘p’.

The other player then has to come up with an object in the room that starts with that letter.

Suppose there is an image of a pear in the room. So, the next player can point to this and say ‘pear’ (or picture). So far, this is like ‘I Spy’, but in this game, you can use the properties of the object as part of the name.

Thus, the following would be valid responses.

Eg.
Pear                                        Purple elephant
Plane                                      Pink tongue

The first two objects clearly start with ‘p’ and are acceptable. However, you are also allowed to offer responses such as ‘Purple elephant’ and ‘Pink tongue’. Even though ‘elephant’ and ‘tongue’ do not start with ‘p’, using their properties (in this case colour) allows you to use these as responses.

The only requirements are that these objects are in the room and these objects really do have these properties.

Apart from colour, you can also use the size of objects to describe them, for objects that start with ‘t’.

Eg.
Tall man (perhaps pointing to yourself)                             Thin girl
Thick book                                                                             Tiny ant
 
Other physical properties like shape, state, number and taste can also be invoked in your responses.

Eg.      Triangular paper (shape)                 Torn paper (state)
            Two apples (number)                      Tasty soup (Taste)
 
You can also be more abstract in your descriptions by using actions.

Eg.
Touch (said during an act of touching)
Twist (said while doing the twist)
 
In these examples, we are going beyond physical properties. In these examples, we are using physical actions. As long as the action is carried out, it can be used as a response in this game.   

Modifications of verbs can also be employed. The following shows possible responses to the letter ‘s’.

Eg.
Slowly walk (said while walking slowly)
Sadly cry (said while pretending to cry sadly)
 
Because the students are going beyond just the names of the objects, this is a great opportunity for students to increase their vocabulary of modification, eg. Adjectives, and adverbs.
 
The game can thus be used as a segue way into a formal lesson on these parts of English grammar.





Comment and let me know how your students enjoyed the game!