Mix-n-Match Similes and Metaphors

Have you ever seen those mix-n-match books, where you have the head, mid-section, and legs of one character, but you can flip on piece of it to make an entirely new combination of characters and story?  My daughter has one and it inspired me to get a little creative in my class!


We have been studying similes and metaphors in class.  To help the kids along, I read them "Quick as a Cricket" by Audrey Wood.  It is a very simple book, in which she uses simple similes to compare the main character to various animals.

After reading the book, the students created a divided circle map in which they listed all the adjectives they could think of that described themselves, then all of the animate and inanimate objects that would also be fitting for a self-description.














The next step was a tree map.  I had the students break their body up into 3 parts -- head, mid-section, and legs/feet.  They then used their circle map to create comparisons between themselves and the objects, all relating to that portion of their body.  For example, they could write "dark cave of thoughts" under head, or "fast cheetah" under legs.  The idea was to get them thinking about how different parts of their body could be compared to objects that were definitely not alike.

Once the Tree Maps were complete, I asked the students to choose their four favorite comparisons from each section.  They needed to write as many simple similes and  metaphors from those comparisons.   Again, we used a divided Circle Map (can anyone tell I love using Thinking Maps???)

Finally, they chose the two favorites from each category and, on a separate piece of paper, they made those simple similes and metaphors complex.  For example, using the dark cave from above, a student may have written, "I am a dark cave of emotions after watching a scary movie."  or  "I am an active volcano ready to spurt out my knowledge during the trivia game."

This is the finished product (minus cover), when it is all closed up.

Once these were done, the fun began.  The students were given a four pieces of paper with a person figure on each.  I had pre-drawn a line separating their head, from the midsection, and then the legs.  On each section, they put either a simile or metaphor.  They then drew a that part of the body to resemble the metaphor.   The students then cut the slips, so that you could mix and match the different parts...all of which came together to make the author (mimicking the last line of Quick as a Cricket).

When you open up the flaps, the "story" changes.  You can make any mixture you want!

Another view with different flaps open (sorry it is so blurry! iPhone does that sometimes)