Scarves in the classroom: more than hide and seek

I decided to share my ideas on creative use of various simple materials you usually have at hand, as that’s how you can easily come up with an extra activity without carrying tons of materials. Last month, I wrote about some simple ideas on using toilet paper, and today I want to share my ideas on using a casual, everyday scarf to bring in some extra fun to your classroom.

And no, I don’t mean suffocating you students with a scarf. Really.

Why scarves? Well, obviously, it’s February and it’s still cold, so most of us are wearing scarves. It’s quite easy to use your own scarf or ask students to pick theirs, so you really can use something everyone owns.

So here are my favourite ideas on using a scarf as an educational tool.

Hide and guess

If you teach younger learners, you can prepare some objects and cover them with a scarf, asking students to guess what is hidden. Make it a challenge and tell them they can only ask you 5 questions – if they guess right, they win, if not, you win.

With older students, you can hide some scraps of paper under a scarf and either play a taboo (you can create your own taboo cards here – click!) or a short game of charades, either way you can make it a nice warm-up activity.

Warm-up activity with a scarf, my puns are fabulous, I know.

What’s missing

This activity boosts not only language development, but also memory! All you need to do is put some objects in a row (e.g. toys, stationery) for younger students, and for older students put some flashcards or simple pieces of paper with vocabulary you want to revise. Ask your student to memorise all the objects/words, and then cover them with a scarf, shuffle them and remove one random item.

Then students need to say which word was removed, and then you cover the remaining items and repeat the procedure. To add some extra challenge, you may divide the class into groups and add points to the first group that correctly guesses the missing word.

How to drape a scarf artistically

Use scarves for a nice projects with your teenage (and older) students! Watch the tutorial on various ways of wearing a scarf, and then ask them to present a similar tutorial – it doesn’t have to be serious, it may be ridiculous, exaggerated or plain silly, as long as they have fun, practise the language and work as a team!

Of course, it doesn’t have to be a video, there are plenty tutorials that are based on visuals and descriptions, so if you want your students to practise writing, try something like this – click! for men or click! for women.

Find a problem to the solution

For this activity you need a scarf, a dictionary and creativity. You look up a random noun or two in a dictionary and write them on a board. Then tell your students to use those two item plus a scarf to make an invention. Work as a whole class to come up with an idea for an interesting gadget… and then ask your students to work in groups and try to sell it!

They need to determine the problem their new invention would be a perfect solution for, and then go with some arguments, trying to convince the potential customer that the invention is the best thing since sliced bread. To give some extra challenge, you may establish that the selling point will be “…and you can still use it as a scarf!” (which may be really interesting if your two random words will be train and pencil).

This activity is absurd, funny and makes your students think completely out-of-the-box. If you teach Business English, they will definitely like this exercise!

Can you use scarves in more ways? I’m sure you can – and if you have your ideas and inspirations, share them in the comments!