Three Creative Ways to Use Word Magnets in Your Classroom (That You’ve Possibly Never Tried!)
Fresh Ideas to Boost Student Engagement and Make Learning More Dynamic with Triptico...
If you’re already familiar with the Word Magnet resource, you know it’s an incredibly versatile tool for classroom learning.
For example, in a previous post, I shared the idea of using the Venn diagram template to analyse two characters in a play:
But how can you use the resource in ways that go beyond the usual?
Here are three innovative ideas for using the Word Magnet resource that you possibly haven’t thought of yet — each with an added twist to keep your students engaged!
1. Word Steal
Arrange a collection of words down the centre of the board. The challenge is for students to use the words — during a discussion or debate, for example — and, if they do so correctly, they ‘steal’ that word for their team.
Twist: At the end of the game, flip over the magnets to reveal hidden point values for each word. Some words might be worth more than others, adding an element of strategy to which words teams aim to ‘steal.’
Example: Click HERE to try the activity in the image above. Flip magnets over to reveal the point values.
2. Opinion Spectrum
Open your class list with the Word Magnet resource and ask each student to position their magnet along an axis to represent their feelings about an issue, a recent lesson, a character in a novel, a historic event — whatever you like!
Twist: Allow students to resize their magnet or change its colour to reflect their confidence or the strength of their feeling. For example, a larger magnet could indicate stronger emotions or greater confidence in their opinion.
Example: The image above shows an activity I use often when running workshops.
(Note: please get in touch if you would like to learn more about Triptico workshops and training!)
I ask teachers to position / colour / scale their magnet according to how they use technology, how often they use technology, how they feel about technology and how confident they are with technology.
The finished activity provides an instant snapshot of the group, allowing me to identify who might need additional support or how to organise teachers into appropriate groups
We also revisit the activity at the end of the session to see if anybody would like to change the position, size or colour of their magnet!
3. Word Reveal
Did you know that changing the background colour of a magnet to match the text effectively makes the text disappear, creating exciting possibilities for all sorts of hidden word activities?
For example, you could add a series of words in English to the board, then change the background of each magnet to dark grey, making the words invisible.
Teams take turns selecting a magnet and changing the background colour to white to reveal the hidden word or phrase.
Twist: Some magnets are intentionally left blank, so when a team selects one, they miss their turn. This adds an element of risk and unpredictability to the game, as teams won’t know whether they’re selecting a word to translate or hitting a blank!
Example: In a language lesson, students could take it in turns to reveal words which they must then translate into their target language — whether it's French, Japanese, or any other language.
Once they’ve given their translation, they can flip the magnet to reveal the correct answer and win or lose the magnet for their team depending on their accuracy.
Click HERE to try the activity in the image above.
Conclusion
Of course, the Word Magnet resource can still be used for sorting, grouping, ordering, ranking, labelling images and so on — but I hope that these suggestions are helpful and perhaps even spark some creative ideas of your own!
Please reply to this post if so!
To finish, here’s a simple video which demonstrates how different gestures can be used to change the magnets — just in case you are unaware or need a recap:
Questions and Feedback Appreciated!
Please reply to this post if you have any questions or feedback.
Thanks as ever for supporting Triptico,
David