Random Lesson Planner

This page should give you a random starter, main and plenary idea for a lesson. Most of the activities require minimal preparation, and whilst the examples I give are usually science related, the majority can be used in all subjects.
  • Starter: What’s This Lesson About?

    A simple starter to prepare – just search for an image (maybe topical) and display it on the board, with the question: “What’s this lesson about?” It’s up to you how obvious/cryptic you make the image, but whatever you do … Continue reading →

  • Main: Offline Wiki

    I came up with this activity when there were no computers available, and having tested it a few times I really like it. The idea is to create a Wiki using paper, string and blu-tack, whilst retaining as much of … Continue reading →

  • Plenary: Plenary Circle

    This is a simple way to finish off a lesson. Arrange lots of keywords around a circle on the board, and ask students to try to create sentences that link those keywords together. If you have an interactive whiteboard you … Continue reading →

To get a new set of ideas just refresh the page, or you can browse through all the starters, mains and plenaries individually. I'd be very grateful for more activity suggestions - if you have an idea you'd like to share please email it to random@mrgravell.com and I'll put it in the database.