Picture the scene: you’ve been up until the early hours marking, the traffic was bad on the way in so you’re already late, you have a pre-school meeting followed by staff briefing and two colleagues have accosted you in the corridor before you’ve even reached your classroom. The morning is already a disaster, and you haven’t even thought about form time ideas. Don’t panic! Here are five, no-stress, no-prep activities for when the world isn’t going your way.
Two lies and a truth
Everyone loves this game – it’s a comedy panel-show staple and a great ice-breaker at the beginning of term. It also works well as a way of getting members of your form to mix. Tell students to pair up with someone they seldom/never talk to, and take it in turns to tell two lies and a truth about themselves. They need to be as interesting as possible! Can they identify their partner’s true statement?
Paper plane consequences
Get each student to write the beginning of a story on a piece of paper, then fold it into a paper plane. On the count of three, they should launch it into the air. Students then capture a plane, unfold it, write a sentence to finish the story, then send it off on its flight again. It’s a great twist to an old game that’s great for developing the imagination.
Tattoo you
Obviously, getting students to actually tattoo themselves is frowned upon, but there’s nothing wrong with getting them to design a tattoo which they think reflects their personality. Once they’re done, get everyone to hand in their tattoos and then share them one at a time. Can the form guess which tattoo belongs to which student? This is a great activity for exploring the different personalities that make up your form.
Quiz it
Give each student three cards and ask them to write three questions, with three answers on the back. These can be as difficult and as specialist as possible. It might be a name that lyric question, or a question about a place they’ve been on holiday, or a sporting record. It must be classed as general, not personal knowledge, though. (No what did I have for breakfast?-type questions.) Then collect all the cards into a box and hold a form-time quiz.
Try our Beyond Debate resources: the ultimate form time idea!
If you’re fresh out of form time ideas, why not consider instilling your group with an interest in current affairs: form time is a great place to help develop this. Use our weekly Beyond debate resources to instigate a dialogue with your class on a range of different topics, developing speaking and listening skills throughout form time. Our favourite form time idea by far..
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