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: Charades

    Another simple activity – prepare a list of cards with key words on. Students come up one at a time and try to act them out without talking. The first student to guess correctly comes up to do the next … Continue reading →

  • Main: Picture From Memory

    This activity is a more interesting way of learning labelled diagrams, like these plant and animal cells: Print out one copy of the diagram and enlarge it to A3. Put students into groups of around four and give each group … Continue reading →

  • Plenary: Continuum

    A nice way to end a lesson dealing with open/opinion based questions like “do aliens exist?” or “should 16-year-olds get the vote?” Write two opposite statements on pieces of paper – e.g. “aliens definitely exist” and “aliens definitely do not … 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.