Who is Santa Claus? An Adjective Activity

What You Need:

• Lined Paper
• Pen or pencil

What You Do:

1. Discuss what an adjective is with your child.  An adjective's main role is to modify or describe a noun or pronoun. You may need to clarify what a noun is (person,place, thing, or idea) before explaining what an adjective is.
2. As an example, have your child identify nouns and pronouns in a paragraph, then identify the adjectives.
3. Next, divide a piece of paper lengthwise into two columns, either by folding it or simply drawing a line through the middle. On top of the first column, have your child write "What Santa Looks Like". Have her write "Adjectives" on top of the second column.
4. Then, have your child make a bulleted list of words or phrases describing what Santa looks like under the first column. For example, she may write white beard, red cheeks, belly, etc. skipping lines in between each word or phrase.
5. Next, have your child think of and write adjectives in the second column across from the corresponding description in the "What Santa Looks Like" column. Please note that the "What Santa looks Like" column will most likely already have some adjectives, your child will add more in the second column to make it more descriptive. For example, in the column next to white beard your child may write long, curly, etc. Encourage your child not repeat adjectives, for example instead of using large to describe both his belly and his cheeks, use big or huge for one of them.
6. Finally, have your child make his list of descriptions and adjectives into a paragraph describing Santa. Start with a topic sentence that tells the reader what the paragraph is about. For example, Santa Claus looks very different from you and me. Have your child close his eyes to see if he can picture Santa Claus as you read the paragraph he wrote aloud. 

For extra practice have your child circle all of the adjectives in the paragraph. Merry Christmas!