10-minute Time Filler: Senses Scenes

Need something to fill the last 10 minutes so you’re going right to the bell? Try this exercise!

Instruction

• Students write a different header on five different pieces of paper (OR download the Senses Scenes Worksheets below!).
  • Sight (objects)
  • Sound
  • Smell
  • Touch 
  • Taste
• The goal is for students to have five examples for each sense.
  • Sight: five objects (car, stapler, trash can, sandbox)
  • Sound: five sounds
  • Smell: five smells 
  • Touch: five textures (fuzzy, smooth, rough)
  • Taste: five examples of food or drink
• Go through the senses with the class and as a class come up with the first example for each. Then students will come up with their own examples. They have one minute.
• Next students will write 10-line scenes for each sense. Each scene will have two characters and take place in one location. If you want, you can brainstorm with students for one minute about different character types and locations. 
• Students start with the Sight page. They write this first scene using their objects of inspiration. All five of their examples must end up in their short scene. 
• Then students move on to each subsequent scene, using their examples as inspiration. What kind of scene can be inspired by smells? What kind of scene can be inspired by textures?  

Will students finish in 10 minutes? Some will, some won’t. Some will write well with a time limit, and some will hate it. You can always lengthen the time, and expand the exercise. Keep the limit for this first draft of each scene and then have students choose one to write 10 more lines for. 

And then if you’re expanding the time, discuss the writing afterward. Which sense was easiest to incorporate into a scene? Which sense was hardest? Would it be easier to combine senses rather than to limit a scene to just one sense? How might exploring the senses help with your future writing?

Variation: Instead of a 10-line scene, have students write a character description for each: a character who is inspired by five objects, five sounds, five smells, five textures, and five different foods/drinks. And then if you have time, have them write half-page monologues for each. Click below for a Sense-driven Character Profile!