Virtual Courses

Garden Head Ice Breaker Activity

This is a fun way to help kids connect and laugh together as they are challenged to create a simple drawing but in a very unusual way. 

To begin, provide each student with a paper plate and marker. Tell them they are to follow the instructions that you provide to draw a garden.

But before you have them begin, ask them to place the plate on top of their head. Their challenge is to make their drawing while the plate is resting on their heads and not be able to see it as they create it.

Then, one the drawing is complete, each student can see theirs (and each other’s) drawings and will giggle as they score their works of art. 

Two sets of instructions and scoring details are below for use with younger or older students:

for younger students

1. Draw a rectangle in the middle of your plate.
This will be our garden

2. Inside your rectangle garden, draw a leaf. This is a spinach plant growing in our garden.

3. Our garden needs sunlight! Above your garden draw a sun in the sky.

4. And our garden needs water, so beside the sun, draw a small cloud with 5 rain drops falling from the cloud.

scoring plates for younger students

Students should take the plates off of their heads and look at their drawings. Allow a few minutes to laugh and share drawings with the people around them and tell them next they will find out how many thumbs up that their garden picture earned:

  1. Give me a thumbs up if your rectangle shape has all 4 corners.
  2. Give me a thumbs up if your leaf is inside or even touching your rectangle.
  3. Give me a thumbs up if your sun is above your garden.
  4. Give me a thumbs up if you can see and count all 5 rain drops on your plate.

If you use this activity with your class, we’d love to see it! Post your photo or video with #JMGkids & #GardenPlateHead 

If you use this activity with your class, we’d love to see it! Post your photo or video with #JMGkids & #GardenPlateHead 

for older students

1. Draw a horizontal line across of your plate.
This line will be the ground of your school garden scene.
2. On top of the line, draw a square and then add a triangle on top of the square.
This is your garden shed.
3. Draw a square window and a rectangle door on the front of your shed.
4. Draw a sun in the upper left corner next to the shed.
5. Draw 2 big sunflowers growing to the right of the shed on top of the ground.
6. Draw three stick figure kids standing on the school grounds below the shed.

scoring plates for older students

Students should take the plates off of their heads and look at their drawings. Allow a few minutes to laugh and share drawings with the people around them and introduce the scoring system:

  1. 2 points if your shed touches the grass.
  2. 2 points if your roof touches the shed.
  3. 1 point for each window that is completely drawn inside the shed (no lines overlapping).
  4. 2 points for a door that touches the bottom of the shed.
  5. 1 point if your sun doesn’t touch your shed.
  6. 1 point for each if your sunflower touches the grass.
  7. 1 point if all three of your stick figures are below the shed.