Write a simple eight- or 12-line poem on a blackboard in which each line is a common simile. For example, use lines like “Fit as a fiddle,” “Neat as a pin” and “White as a ghost.” Read the poem to your children and ask them to think of new similes for each of the lines. To make this easy, give them a page which has the poem printed on it but with blank spaces to fill in their own similes.
Use your children’s excitement about an upcoming holiday to teach similes. For example, for Christmas, give your children a page with a couple of examples of Christmas similes, such as “The presents under the Christmas tree were piled high as a mountain” and “Santa's smile was like a warm fire.” Now ask them to come up with their own Christmas similes.
Take your children outside when a season is established -- when there are blossoms on the trees, snow on the ground, and so on. Ask them to describe the season using similes, giving them a couple of examples to get them going. Continue the activity when you go back inside by asking your children to write down some of the similes they thought of or heard others say.
Make a worksheet for your children which has pictures of 10 or 12 animals on it. Below this, have 10 or 12 sentences that use animal similes but in each sentence leave the animal name blank, e.g., “After he'd had his hair cut he looked as bald as an __.” Now ask your children to fill in the blanks, using one of the animals for each blank.