If you’re looking for a fun and interactive way to engage your students in a lesson on communication, descriptions, and deduction, the game “Who Has…?” might be the perfect activity! This classroom game challenges students to describe images in detail, pay attention to what their peers are describing, and use reasoning skills to match descriptions to images. It’s an activity the entire class can play at the same time. Here’s how to play the game and keep students actively involved and learning.
What You’ll Need
- 10 different pictures: Choose images that are easily describable but not overly simple. Each picture should contain unique elements for the students to focus on during their descriptions but can be similar enough that the details matter.
- A worksheet with 10 images: Create a worksheet with the 10 images and a grid below for students to place their guesses on who is describing which picture.
- 10 Images cut out: Take the same 10 images and print them out. Make them large enough for students to see and on heavy enough paper that students viewing the description can’t see through.
- Writing utensils: Students will need pens or pencils to mark their worksheets.
How to Play “Who Has…?”
- Assigning the Pictures: Begin by randomly distributing 2 images to 5 chosen students. The remaining students receive a worksheet with the 10 images on it.
- Explaining the Rules: Clearly explain the objective of the game to the class. The 5 chosen students will describe their assigned pictures to the class. The goal for the rest of the class is to determine who has which picture based on the descriptions provided. This may take 1 round or several rounds of descriptions depending on your class.
- Starting the Game: One at a time, each of the 5 chosen students takes a turn describing their picture. They should provide as much detail as possible without explicitly stating what the picture is. Encourage them to focus on the image’s elements, colors, shapes, and other descriptive aspects.
- Classmates Watch/Listen and Deduce: As each student describes their picture, the rest of the class watches/listens carefully and uses their worksheets to match each description to one of the 10 images on their worksheet. Students can write the name of the student describing the picture in the corresponding box beneath the image on their worksheet.
- Checking Answers: Once all 5 chosen students have described their pictures, the teacher collects the worksheets and checks to see if anyone answered correctly. If not, play another round. After someone has correctly guessed who has which picture the teacher reveals which student had which picture. Students can check their answers and see how well they matched the descriptions to the images.
- Discussion and Reflection: After revealing the correct matches, take time to discuss the game with the class. What strategies did they use to match descriptions to images? Which descriptions were particularly effective? This can help students reflect on their viewing/listening and reasoning skills.
- Feedback: Provide feedback on common signed errors and grammar if needed.
Tips for a Successful Game
- Choose varied images: Select images that are diverse in subject and style to make the game more simplistic. For a more challenging game, make the images similar.
- Encourage specific descriptions: Remind students to describe their pictures in detail, including color, shape, and context, while avoiding directly naming the subject of the image.
- Promote critical thinking: Encourage students to jot down notes during each description to help them match the descriptions to the images more effectively.
Ideas for Use
You can use this activity with all levels and with any subject matter. You can play using images that have an array of people’s emotions to practice feelings terminology or various people doing work around the house to practice chores. You can also use pictures of recognizable landmarks around the world to practice countries. The possibilities are endless.
Playing “Who Has…?” in the classroom is a fantastic way to improve students’ communication and deductive reasoning skills while creating a fun and interactive learning environment. Try it out in your classroom and watch your students thrive!
Are you looking for more great ideas and games like this one? Check out the Big Book of Activities. It is packed with a plethora of games, activities, and customizable templates just for you!
Get Social
If you have questions, let’s talk in the Creative ASL Teaching Facebook group. Join the conversation in our Facebook group.
Don’t miss out on a sale, FREEBIE, or new product. Follow Creative ASL Teaching on TpT.
Check out the teacher swag on Etsy.
