Create Your Own Cereal Box
Art, Language Arts, Math, Social Studies
Objectives:
    1. Students will identify the parts and characteristics of a cereal box.
    2. Students will create a their own cereal box using these characteristics.
Focus/Set Induction: Tell students to imagine that they are walking down the cereal aisle of the supermarket.
What are some of the things that catch their eye? Rationale: The cereal box itself is also an important form of advertising. Making the box colorful and/or informative can help to sell cereal as well as any commercial. Materials: Activities:

Instructional Input:

    1. Show students a typical box of cereal. What shape is it?
    2. Ask students: What characteristics of this box would make you possibly want to buy it? (ex. Color, amount of information, emotional words - New, Improved, Fat Free!)
Guided Practice:
    1. Have students list on the overhead the parts of the box on the overhead:
        2. Front: Name of cereal, Name of cereal company
        Cereal character or spokesperson
        Picture of the product
        How many Vitamins & Minerals are in it
        Prizes offered
        Amount of cereal (in ounces and grams) in box
        Left side: Nutrition Facts Label
        Right side: Recipes, special offers, health information, company information
        Back: Games, Special offers
        Top: Name of cereal, Points or Box Tops for Education
    1. Talk about each side of the box as you list them on the overhead. Tell students that they are not limited to these characteristics, but they are the most common.
    2. Let students look at several cereal boxes.
    3. Show students how to trace the pattern on to the poster board and how to fold it and glue it together after they cut it out.
Independent Practice:
    1. Tell students that they will now make their own cereal box based on their cereal idea from the last lesson.
    2. Give each student a piece of poster board and pattern. Students who are not using the pattern may look at cereal boxes for ideas.
    3. Students use markers and crayons to decorate their box using some of the characteristics of cereal boxes discussed.
    4. After they decorate their box, they glue it together to make it three-dimensional.

      5.  
      Challenge:

      Some students can work together to create a line of cereals (much like Cheerios - Team Cheerios, Frosted Cheerios, Honey Nut Cheerios, etc.)

      For those who need help:

      Allow students to focus on creating the front of box only. Several students could work as a team, each focusing on one aspect of the box and then putting it together.

Evaluation: Students will be graded on using appropriate advertising techniques on their cereal boxes. These should include at least one aspect for each part of the box (front, sides, back, and top). Students will orally describe their box and give reasons why the techniques they used were important. Closure: Have students describe the parts of their cereal boxes to the class. Students can vote on which cereal box they think is the most effective.
  Previous Lesson    Home  Next Lesson
1998 - Amanda Thompson  amandakaye@yahoo.com
Welcome to GeoCities!