Let’s Roll… Toilet Paper in the Classroom

I used to bring a lot of various materials to the classroom – handouts, printouts etc. I like my students getting more and more engaged and extra materials are really helpful, but after some time I got tired of carrying games, copies and all the extra stuff I wanted to use and never knew whether I’d be able to – after all, the whole thing about the extra materials is that you may use them… but sometimes you don’t have enough time.

That’s when I decided to use everything I can get on site – but use these objects creatively. It turned out you can use course books and workbooks to make a huge board game, students’ pens and pencils to create a huge jenga (everyone trying to get a writing tool from the tower would have to do a short grammar/vocab exercise) etc. I decided to share my ideas on creative use of various simple materials you usually have at hand – that’s how you can easily come up with an extra activity without carrying tons of materials.

Today I want to share some simple ideas on using toilet paper. Why TP? First of all, it’s really easy to find, cheap to use and it’s an item that will probably make our students giggle, which is a great thing. Secondly, I remember my friend Ania, who once gave a whole serious teacher training presentation on using TP in the classroom and even though at first we had a laugh, we soon realised TP is a highly unappreciated tool in the classroom.

Teaching tool, in case you need clarification.

So here are my favourite ideas on using toilet paper as an educational tool.

Storytelling

Contrary to what you might think, writing a story on a toilet paper doesn’t make it a piece of crap (I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with such poor puns). In fact, you can add some extra fun and make story writing faster, more collaborative and more entertaining. Just divide your classroom into groups and hand each group a roll of TP. Ask them to write a title of the story on a sheet, hand the sheet to the group on the left and get the sheet from the group on the right. Then each group reads the title and on the next sheet describe shortly two protagonists (e.g. Eulalia the nosy dog and Reginald the smelly poop – yes, toilet references seem to be unavoidable, at least at first, before your students realise the potential of TP). Again, the change of TP sheets and writing the first sentence. And on and on the story goes.

You can say that this activity can be easily carried out using regular paper. Well, yes – and no. First of all, writing on a toilet paper is something unusual and makes people think out of the box (which is highly appreciated during storytelling). Secondly, as students write short paragraphs on separate sheets, it’s easier for them to take another sheet and start again. You can suggest that every student in a group writes a sentence on their own sheet of TP and then the group decides which version is the best. And last, students can relieve their pains of writing a story by tearing a sheet of TP – something that would never work with a regular paper. All of these reasons make them more engaged in the task.

Vocabulary list

It’s a great vocabulary revision activity you can do on every level of linguistic proficiency (the higher, the better, of course). Divide your students into groups, hand out rolls of TP and ask them to brainstorm write all the words they can think of that for instance refer to the lesson topic or start with a particular letter. Each word should be written on a separate sheet. To make things funnier, each group should use individual colour.

After 5-7 minutes ask students to share their results. Since the words are written on the sheets of TP, you can easily spread them on a desk and stack the repeating ones together – that’s how you can say which words are well-known, which require some repetition etc. The group that comes up with the most advanced words or phrases wins the game.

Make a costume

That’s one of my favourite activities, and it works really well not only with kids, but also with teens and adults. Divide your class in groups and hand each group some trash bags, rolls of TP, scissors and sellotape. Then ask them to choose one person to be a model and use the materials to create a costume. Then present and describe the unusual design.

I usually use this activity when we talk about fashion (vocabulary review), environment (outfit of the future), money (party outfit: economy version) – and it works everytime.

Comic strips

Ask your students to draw comic strips – it’s easier to use TP than regular paper! If they make a mistake, it’s easy to take a new sheet and start anew rather than correct something that’s already a part of the composition. Again, you can divide your students in groups and suggest that every student in a group writes a sentence on their own sheet of TP and then the group decides which version is the best.

When all the stories are ready, you can read them altogether and vote on the best one!

Question ball

This is a variation of a warm-up activity on various workshops where participants are given a roll of TP and take some sheets and pass the roll to the next person, and once everyone has their stash of sheets, they need to tell as many facts about self as the sheets they’ve taken from the roll.

Anyway, this activity is a good tense revision. Just hand out some sheets of TP to your students and ask them to write questions (preferably using the particular grammar construction). Next, roll the sheets into a nice ball and throw to a random student. The student takes the first sheet, reads the question and answers it, and then throws the TP ball to another student, who then takes another sheet, and so on, and so on…

As you can see, a roll of TP is a funny tool that will make your students smile, but will also boost their creativity. And maybe you have a new use of TP? If yes, share in the comments!