The Shape Game

I needed a one-off lesson today as I had two halves of classes put together, each of whom were doing different things.  Recently I purchased Anthony Browne's The Shape Game as I thought that it would make for a good lesson idea.  I have used Anthony Browne books before - Silly Billy and Bear's Magic Pencil.  I quite often use a book in English to put some language work in context, to set the scene.

The Shape Game tells the story of Browne's visit as a child to a gallery where he discovered the world of art, and after which his mother introduced him to the Shape Game.  The idea of the Shape Game is that you draw a random shape on a piece of paper, and then give it to a friend who turns that shape into something recognisable.

The Children's Laureate website has some super resources to go with the Shape Game.  I started off by showing the children the gallery of creations using Anthony Browne's first shape - I love Quentin Blake's.  Then I gave them the first shape on this resource and they set about turning it into something recognisable.  The rabbit at the top is what I did with it!

Here are some of the things that the children created:

Creating the pictures is fun enough, but take a look at the suggestions for what you can do with them afterwards.  Browne suggests giving the character a name, adding a speech bubble and something the character would say, or describing the character and any special qualities that it has.  What would happen if two of the characters met?  There are lots of possibilities for language work.  I also like the creative activities suggested for the different key stages (EYFS/KS1, KS2, KS3 and above), particularly the Drawing to Music in the KS2 activities.