One way to emphasize metaphors is for students to write their own metaphor poem. The poem can be about anything, such as a student's day at school, a family member or a birthday party, but it should be written so that three or more metaphors are included. For example, in a poem about a day at school, the student might include a metaphor such as "Mr. Smith's room was a pigsty," or "The lunchroom was a jungle." However, students must remember not to use 'like" or "as" in their poems, as those terms are used for indirect comparisons in similes.
An activity that creatively allows students to practice similes consists of holding a "simile picnic." For this, students decide what to pack for a picnic using similes. For example, they might choose to pick bananas that are as yellow as the sun, or apples as green as the grass. The activity doesn't just apply to picnics. Teachers can have students use similes to describe things like a family vacation, their home or even a visit to a friend's house.
Making metaphors into a game provides a fun way to learn. One game, known as "metaphor match," challenges students to pair up the parts in commonly used metaphors. For example, the teacher may divide common metaphors like "it was raining cats and dogs" and "the rocks are jagged knives" and have students match which beginning goes with each end. Teachers can get creative with the game too, and throw in some common similes, such as "life is like a box of chocolates," so in addition to matching beginning with end, students must identify whether each phrase is a metaphor or simile.
One activity that's sure to provoke laughter is one that allows students to come up with their own similes and metaphors. For example, a teacher might come up with a list of half-finished sentences, which the students then complete to make into similes or metaphors. For example, one sentence could begin with "my brother" and ask the students to finish the sentence with a metaphor that would describe their sibling. Another sentence could just provide the comparison and ask students to start the sentence to complete it.