Describing objects can be a great way to practice naming adjectives, functions, locations, and category labels. Describing also encourages students to expand the length of their utterances or how much they speak. They practice thinking about an object as a whole. Students are asked to describe often in the classroom so let’s look at how you can encourage them to give a complete description of an object.

Describing an object can include:

• What category is the object in?
• What does the object do?
• What does it look like?
  • What color is it?
  • What size is it?
  • What does it smell/taste like?
  • What sound does it make?
  • What is it made of?
  • What parts does it have?
  • What shape is it?
• Where can you find it?
• Anything else you know about it?

Let’s practice by describing an apple:

• What category is the object in? It’s a food or fruit
• What does the object do? We eat it, we cut it, we cook or bake with it
• What does it look like?
  • What color is it? It can be red, green, or yellow
  • What is it made of? It has skin, a core
  • What does it taste like? It is sweet
  • What parts does it have? It has seeds, a stem
  • What shape is it? It is round
• Where can you find it? It can be grown on a tree, in a store, in the produce section
• Anything else you know about it? It is juicy, there are many varieties

Pick objects around the house and practice describing it to someone. You can say the attributes out loud OR write it down for practice.