Read a story to the pupils or have them read a simple story in turns. Stop at certain points and ask the class questions about the story, focusing on the characters in particular. Ask the pupils to discuss the characteristics of each character appearing in a story or the relationship between characters, sharing with each other their reactions to characters.
Give pupils a simple story or poem to read. Ask them to choose a character from their piece of literature and think about the qualities of this character. Once pupils are familiar with their story and character, have them introduce themselves, as the character, to the rest of the class. Pupils can also ask each other questions in character or create a short role-play story from the characters in their literature.
Provide pupils with separate pieces of literature. Have them choose a character from their story and draw the character on paper. This activity works well for stories without illustrations, allowing children to develop their imagination and reading skills. Ask pupils to write the qualities of the character on their drawing, or anything that is mentioned about that character in their story. For example, a child studying "The Hungry Caterpillar" can annotate her picture with food or names of food.
Read a story to the pupils and split them into groups. Give each group a set of cards with adjectives. Then give each group a character from the story and ask the groups to collect adjectives they associate with the character. Ask the groups to choose one member to stand in front of the class and act as their character using their objectives. For example, a pupil would say ,"I am short and thin ..." The rest of the class must guess which character the pupil is from the adjectives used or any other information the acting pupil provides.