Use pictures and words in creative writing activities by assigning a single word or picture as a prompt and requiring the students to make up a story about it. This allows for a wide range of creativity on the part of the students. The word or picture may be chosen to coincide with a concept that's currently being taught, to encourage comprehension of that concept. Do the same thing in art by presenting a single word or picture and have the students draw the concept, or draw what might happen next if the picture represents an action.
Present pictures to emerging readers to facilitate the learning of decoding skills. For example, teach students how to form compound words by showing them pictures of the two parts of the word, such as "butter-" and "-fly," and then a picture of the final word, "butterfly." In music, encourage the development of decoding skills by teaching the students songs that emphasize phonemic awareness.
Encourage comprehension in science and social studies classes by having the students make concept maps beginning with a single word or picture. Give students a word or picture at the center of a page to start with, and have them write down concepts that are related to that word or picture, then other ideas that are related to those concepts. This is a good activity for encouraging group discussion.
Require the students to draw pictures to demonstrate the solutions to math problems. This activity encourages the comprehension of the math concept or procedure that is being taught. Also, encourage math comprehension by having students put the problem into words and explain in written form how they would find a solution.