25 Ideas for Short Activities
1.
Odd one out Create laminated cards with four boxes e.g.
MP
Peer
Councillor
Queen
Students have to discuss which is the ‘odd one out’ and why - there’s no ‘right’
answer but lots of peer teaching takes place as they discuss. As an alternative, put
pictures/facts and figures/people etc on board and students have to decide in
pairs/groups which is the odd one out.
2. Shoot out! (or Splatt!) Put lots of answers to questions about (e.g.) Parliament on
the board. Students stand back to back in pairs, teacher asks question, and first
person in each pair to turn round and ‘fire’ the answer at their partner gets a point.
3. This is the answer – what’s the question? Teacher writes up several answers on the
board to do with (e.g.) Voting (18, 1918, Polling Station, Suffragettes, Emily Davison).
Teacher then asks a question and students work in pairs or groups to shout out the
answer.
4. Articulate Arrange students in groups. One chair from each group is positioned
with its back to the board and a student from each group sits in the chair. The
other members of the group then get their fellow student to say the word on the
board which they can’t see. The first group to elicit the word gets a point.
5. TENsion Teacher writes down ten things to do with (e.g.) politics on a card.
Students try to guess which words are on the card with teacher helping with
definitions if necessary. Students can then make up their own cards in groups and
then try them out with other groups.
6. Word Cloud Get students to create a ‘word cloud’ in the shape of (e.g.) Parliament
– students fill it with related words, phrases, facts and figures.
7. Listen and Draw Teacher reads out words to do with Parliament – students visualise
each word and draw it. They then compare in pairs/groups.
8. Q&A Create an even number of laminated cards with questions on one side and
answers on the other. One student begins and reads out the question on their card
and whichever student has the answer on their card answers. They then read out
their own question and so on.
9. p4c Get students to consider statements about society on cards and they decide
which statements would work better (e.g.) ‘no-one in charge of the country’; ‘one
group in charge of the country’; ‘two groups in charge of the country’ or ‘a teacher
treating you better because they like you’; ‘a teacher treating you better because
you are like them’ …and extend to (e.g.) patronage in politics, discrimination etc.
For further ideas see Philosophy for Children at www.p4c.com
10. ‘I wonder what would happen if…’ (e.g.) ‘we didn’t have rules in the classroom’ and
then extend to (e.g.) ’we didn’t have a government’ i.e. encouraging pupils to
speculate, develop logical reasoning etc
11. My favourite things Get pupils individually to think of five things they like e.g.
chocolate, swimming, riding a bike, the countryside, computer games. They can
then compare with a partner and/or group and see if they have anything in
common. They then think about laws related to each of them (e.g.) health and
safety; environmental protection etc
12. Fact Cards Create fact cards about people (one set in a particular colour about
each person). Give first card with picture and basic description (e.g.) runs her own
business/has got a lot of money etc.
The students then decide which person should be able to (e.g.) vote/stand for the
local council/for Parliament etc. Further fact cards which add to the description of
each person are then read out and pupils adapt their ideas in light of the new
information.
13. Prioritise Create a diamond template with moveable laminated segments labelled,
for example:
Teacher shows the significance of the position and numbers i.e. the one at top is
the most important, the two in the upper half are very important, the three across
the middle are of medium importance, the two in the lower half are of less
importance and the one at the bottom is the least important.
Teacher then gives students people/roles/institutions/personal liberties/laws etc and
they have to position them as they think fit. They can do it individually first, then
pairs, groups, and plenary. Rather than force pupils to come up with a strict ranking
(first, second etc), this allows them to hold certain elements as of equal importance
(e.g. at the middle levels). Again, no right answers.
14. Wants and needs – a bit like ‘what would you take to a desert island?’ students
come up with essentials of (e.g.) Parliament/democracy/school council etc and the
desirables. As before, they can ‘pair/square/share’ i.e. work in
pairs/fours/eights/whole class
15. Narratives Use a clear narrative from PES resources e.g. the 60-second animation ‘A
Brief History of Representation’. Put visuals (without any dates) on laminated cards
and have multiple sets so that students can work in groups. Get them to put the
cards in a logical order by using the visual clues. They then watch the video to
check their order and move the cards into the correct order as necessary. Then get
them to re-tell the story in groups using the visuals as prompts (they could then
compare with another viewing or you could issue the tapescript).
Extension: How would the story have been different without one of the elements
(e.g. Magna Carta, Great Reform Act of 1832 or votes for women in 1918 and 1928)?
16. Debate and Vote Illustrate concept of voting/government/cabinet etc by getting
students to vote for their favourite (e.g.) chocolate bars, TV programmes, etc. The
children with the greatest number of votes become the ‘winning party’ and get to
form the ‘government’ i.e. they’re in charge and make all the important decisions.
17. Adventurer’s Tour Recreate in the classroom scenarios like the Adventurer’s Tour
and, instead of the tour of Parliament, use photographs and/or video from the
Parliament and PES websites to show children selected parts of the Palace of
Westminster so that they can report back to Omelia.
18. Bingo! Use pictures and/or words to create bingo (e.g.) Parliament/women’s
suffrage/democracy /House of Lords/
Teacher reads out words or sentences including the words and the first to cross off
all their words shouts Bingo!…students then work in groups and create their own
bingo cards for use with other groups.
19. Word Wall In the manner of the BBC2 ‘Only Connect’ programme, create a word
wall which students have to unscramble. As in the TV show, some of the words
could belong in more than one of the lines (categories) but only one correct overall
layout is possible e.g.
MP
Queen
Victoria
Churchill
Cameron
Black
Rod
Lord
Speaker
The
Speaker
Red
Green
The
Tudors
The
Stuarts
Bishop
20. Who Am I? Place Post-it notes on foreheads with the names of famous people from the
history of UK democracy on them (e.g.) King John, Simon de Montfort, King Charles 1, Queen
Victoria, Emily Davison, Spencer Percival, etc. Students walk round and can only ask
questions with Yes/No answers in order to find out their identity e.g. Did I live in the 17th
century? Did I try to arrest five MPs? Did I lose my head?
21. Video Bingo! Teacher writes 9 words/phrases on the board. Each student chooses 6
of them and writes them down. Teacher then introduces a short audio or video
(e.g. xxx in under 60 seconds or an interview in under 60 seconds) which includes
these 9 words. The first student to hear all their 6 words shouts bingo and wins. In
pairs/groups, students then use their six words to reconstruct the substantial text
(i.e. not necessarily verbatim) and they listen again/see transcript to compare and
contrast.
22. Blockbusters Create your own parliamentary/citizenship version of Blockbusters and
get students competing in teams e.g. ‘What ‘C’ is the name of the only English king
executed for treason?’
23. Call My Bluff/Would I Lie to you? Based on the TV programme, students work in
groups to create definitions of terms to do with Parliament/democracy (1 true and 2
false). Students work in teams and decide which is the true definition.
24. Who Wants to be a Millionaire As above, adapt well-known TV quiz show with
multiple-choice questions on Parliament/democracy to revise concepts/language
used in previous lessons.
25. Create Your Own Cabinet! Students work in pairs as Prime Minister and Deputy
Prime Minister to create their own cabinet. They first decide which departments
they should have and then they think about the qualities/skills/interests of their
classmates to decide who should run each department i.e. who should be Secretary
of State for each ministry.
Thanks to Lizzie Buckley, Ruth Clements and Patrick Dean for their ideas.