Middle school students connect to people their age in magazines or books. Use this natural curiosity to reinforce metaphors and similes. Find pictures of people that include descriptions and read them together. Point out the types of words used to describe the characteristics and come up with other words that might help make the description more precise. Then find several pictures of faces without descriptions and write your own. Concentrate on using similes and metaphors in the descriptions. Have the students read descriptions out loud and compare it with what you have written. Add to this activity by describing another picture and have students draw the person’s face based on what you describe. According to the educational website, Read Write Think, this activity will help your students learn new vocabulary words that make descriptions more precise and practice using metaphors and similes.
Take your middle school child outside on a sunny day to learn about metaphors and similes. Take along paper and colored pencils and have your child make a list of words that describe one tree in your backyard or local park. Give example. Say things like, “That tree is as tall as a skyscraper” or “That tree is a giant in the forest.” Have your child find at least 10 phrases, five similes and five metaphors, that describe a tree, and then draw a picture of the tree based on what she has written. Compare the picture of the tree with the real thing. Educational website, ABC Teach offers free, reproducible worksheets for this type of activity.
Middle school students enjoy popular music, and using your child’s favorite song lyrics to demonstrate metaphors and similes is an effective way to increase learning excitement. Read the lyrics of the song aloud, pointing out the metaphors and similes used. Enhance this activity by encouraging your child to write her own, original verse to the song using metaphors and similes throughout.
Use a favorite poem to demonstrate the use of similes and metaphors. Have your child read the poem and see whether she can point out each time the poet uses these figures of speech to increase the imagery in the poem. The educational website, Teachers.net, recommends using this activity to help students understand and explain the differences between similes and metaphors.