Four Emoji Kitchen Activities for English Language Arts

Emojis are more than just cute pictures, they’re a language all their own. Emoji Kitchen is a fun web tool that lets you and your students combine two emojis to make an original emoji mash-up. If this is the first time you’ve heard about Emoji Kitchen, check out my colleague Miguel Guhlin’s article to get a rundown of how to use this fabulous generator. Go ahead. Try it out!

You’re probably asking yourself, “Yeah, it’s cool, but how can I use this in the classroom?” Let’s explore four activities (and a bonus!) that I hope you can use in your classroom:

1. Animoji
2. Personification
3. Opposites
4. Idioms
5. All About Me

If none of these work, maybe they will spark an idea for incorporating this gem into your lesson plans. 

1. Animojis (Animal Mash-Ups)

Are you ready to mash up two emojis to make a new fan-dangled animal? Don’t forget to use a collaborative platform so students can see each other’s imaginative results. 

Directions:

1. Visit Emoji Kitchen individually or as a small group
2. Craft your Animoji.
3. Share on Padlet, in a collaborative document, or via a digital whiteboard, etc.
   • Include the group or student name.
   • Share the Animoji’s name. 

Optional extension: Use questions as predictions, writing prompts, or for follow-up discussions.

• What do you think the new creature will look like? Describe its potential features.
• What body parts do you think it will inherit from each animal?
• How big or small do you think the animoji will be?
• What colors/patterns might it have from each animal?
• How will it move around? Crawl, fly, jump, slither, etc.

2. Personification

Personification is when we give human traits, characteristics, or emotions to non-human things like animals, objects, or ideas. It’s like turning a non-human thing into a person! Emoji Kitchen would be a perfect way to give animals and other objects human traits. For example, I combined a cloud with an angry expression and came up with “the storm raged loudly all night.” The storm seems angry, even though a storm doesn’t have feelings.

3. Opposites

Why not use Emoji Kitchen to show an understanding of opposites? The teaching slide deck has the instructions and 11 words for the opposites activity. Choose an emoji mash-up and have students create a new mash-up to express the opposite! Words can include: 

• sad
• sour
• cold
• healthy
• awake
• over
• quiet
• slow
• sunny
• empty
• real

Directions:

1. Study the emoji. What is it expressing?
2. Brainstorm the opposite meaning.
3. Use Emoji Kitchen to create an emoji that shows the opposite. 
4. Go ahead and get creative with your emoji blends!

4. Idioms

Idioms are expressions where the meaning of a phrase is different from the literal meaning of the words themselves. This activity houses 24 idioms. On each slide, there are four idioms with their respective definitions. The mission is to match each idiom to its correct definition and emoji (designed in Emoji Kitchen.) Teachers, you could also delete the premade emojis and have each student craft their own to go with each idiom. 

BONUS: All About Me

For back to school, or any time of the year, the All About Me activity is a staple in the classroom. Why not use Emoji Kitchen to showcase personalities, talents, and fun facts? Emoji Kitchen lends an opportunity to showcase and celebrate each and every student in your classroom as a unique exceptional individual. Students provide the requested information along with their Emoji Kitchen creations.

I certainly think Emoji Kitchen adds a playful twist allowing you and your students to concoct original emoji combinations. I hope you enjoy these five activities and can incorporate them into your teaching toolbelt. Try one or more out and spark a world of emoji-driven creativity in your teaching! And if you get a spare moment, I would be tickled pink if you drop a comment and let me know how you are using Emoji Kitchen in your classroom!

Featured Image: Screenshot by Emily Horn of an Emoji Kitchen Mash-Up Creation