Mini Whiteboard Free Time Activity

This is a fun free-time activity that one of my Grade 2 students taught me years ago. It's basically a quick and friendly drawing competition (less than 5 minutes).  We used to do them on scrap paper but now we use  super awesome mini whiteboards (dry erase boards). For a cheaper alternative, simply laminate sheets of heavy white paper. Use cut up squares of soft fabric (old towels, etc.) for erasers.

I love whiteboards and feel they are fantastic for so many activities: practice drawings and for the sharing of ideas ('whiteboarding' which is often shown on the TV "The Big Bang Theory"). I knew an amazing high school Math teacher in one of my schools who had all her walls covered with large whiteboards. Instead of working in their notebooks, all the students in the class (yes, all) stood up and worked directly on the whiteboards. In this way, the teacher could walk around and more easily see where students were struggling with their formulas. The students could also help each other. No wasted paper, it always works (as opposed to laptops and other technology- cough, cough), and the kids enjoy it. My only problem with whiteboards are the toxic and non-recyclable markers, but more and more, there are companies offering both non-toxic (Crayola, Dixon, Expo) and also refillable whiteboard markers which is great.

This works best with small groups of students. I play this with my 'fast finishers' while the other kids are still working on their class projects. I basically choose a word (ie: clown face, monkey, zombie, etc.)  and then the kids have about 3-5 minutes to quickly draw it on their whiteboard. Then we show them all and I choose a winner. (And yes, I try to choose a different 'winner' each time!) The kids love it and we get a good laugh out of some of the drawings!

Obviously, kids could also work on this alone, without teacher assistance, in small groups. You could keep a zip-lock bag full of different words that the kids could choose from (to avoid arguments...) or have them choose their own.

students love drawing on these!!

Class set of whiteboard markers.

Here's one for "MONKEY"

"VAMPIRE"