Media Messages: What are they telling us?Activities & Teaching Strategies
Active learning helps young students notice subtle media cues they might otherwise overlook. By moving, creating, and discussing media messages, they build critical awareness of how visuals, sounds, and colours shape their feelings and thoughts.
Learning Objectives
- 1Analyze how visual elements like colour and sound in a television advertisement are used to create a specific feeling, such as excitement or happiness.
- 2Explain the main message conveyed by a short animated film, identifying what the characters or narrator are trying to communicate.
- 3Critique a simple digital poster by stating whether its message is easy to understand or if it is confusing, and suggest one way to make it clearer.
- 4Compare the emotional responses evoked by two different media messages, such as a toy commercial and a public service announcement for children.
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Stations Rotation: Message Hunt Stations
Prepare four stations with short ads, cartoons, safety clips, and toy promotions on tablets. At each, students watch, draw the main message, and note feelings it creates. Groups rotate every 7 minutes and share one finding per station.
Prepare & details
Explain how a commercial tries to make you feel a certain way.
Facilitation Tip: During Message Hunt Stations, place one familiar toy ad at each table to ensure students connect personal reactions to creator choices.
Setup: Tables/desks arranged in 4-6 distinct stations around room
Materials: Station instruction cards, Different materials per station, Rotation timer
Pairs: Feeling Freeze Frames
Show 30-second media clips. Pairs watch, then freeze in poses showing the emotion the message evokes. Partners guess the message and explain why, switching roles for next clip.
Prepare & details
Analyze what message a short cartoon is trying to send.
Facilitation Tip: In Feeling Freeze Frames, provide emotion cards to guide students as they physically represent feelings without speaking, focusing on visual and body cues.
Setup: Chairs arranged in two concentric circles
Materials: Discussion question/prompt (projected), Observation rubric for outer circle
Whole Class: Our Class Ad Creation
Brainstorm a class message like 'Share toys'. Assign roles for drawing, acting, and narrating. Film a simple 1-minute ad with phones, then watch and critique clarity together.
Prepare & details
Critique whether a media message is clear or confusing.
Facilitation Tip: For Our Class Ad Creation, limit materials to bright papers and simple props so students focus on message clarity rather than production quality.
Setup: Chairs arranged in two concentric circles
Materials: Discussion question/prompt (projected), Observation rubric for outer circle
Individual: Message Mood Boards
Provide magazines or printed images. Students cut and paste to make a board showing a clear message and feelings it gives. Label with words or drawings, then gallery walk to share.
Prepare & details
Explain how a commercial tries to make you feel a certain way.
Facilitation Tip: With Message Mood Boards, model selecting one strong colour or image to represent a feeling before students begin.
Setup: Chairs arranged in two concentric circles
Materials: Discussion question/prompt (projected), Observation rubric for outer circle
Teaching This Topic
Teach this topic by pairing direct instruction with hands-on experiences. Start with short, focused discussions on one element (colour, sound, or image) before students apply the idea. Avoid overloading with too many concepts at once. Research shows that young learners grasp media literacy best when they connect abstract ideas to concrete examples they can manipulate and see.
What to Expect
Successful learning looks like students confidently identifying media messages, linking elements like colour or music to intended feelings, and using this knowledge to create their own simple messages. Missteps are opportunities to clarify intent versus effect.
These activities are a starting point. A full mission is the experience.
- Complete facilitation script with teacher dialogue
- Printable student materials, ready for class
- Differentiation strategies for every learner
Watch Out for These Misconceptions
Common MisconceptionDuring Station Rotation, watch for students who assume all toy ads are truthful about product size or features.
What to Teach Instead
Have students measure or draw the advertised toy during the station activity and compare it to the actual packaging to reveal exaggeration.
Common MisconceptionDuring Feeling Freeze Frames, watch for students who believe messages come only from spoken words.
What to Teach Instead
After pairs act out an ad without sound, ask them to explain which visual or body cues communicated the message most strongly.
Common MisconceptionDuring Our Class Ad Creation, watch for students who think media messages never confuse anyone.
What to Teach Instead
Ask students to swap designs with a partner and identify one part that might confuse the audience, then revise their work.
Assessment Ideas
After Message Hunt Stations, show students a fruit snack ad and ask them to draw one picture showing how it made them feel and write one word describing the main message they think it was trying to send.
During Feeling Freeze Frames, present sad and excited cartoon characters. Ask students how the pictures make them feel and what they think the characters are thinking or wanting, then record their responses on a whiteboard.
After Our Class Ad Creation, display a student-made digital poster with a clear message like 'Recycle Today!' Ask students to give a thumbs up if the message is easy to understand and a thumbs down if it is confusing. Follow up by asking one or two students who gave a thumbs down to explain why.
Extensions & Scaffolding
- Challenge: Ask students to find a media message at home that feels unclear, then redesign it to communicate more directly.
- Scaffolding: Provide emotion word banks or image cut-outs for students who struggle to articulate feelings.
- Deeper: Introduce a 'message detective' game where students compare two similar ads and explain which one sends a clearer message.
Key Vocabulary
| Media Message | Information or ideas that are communicated through forms like television, movies, or online content. |
| Persuade | To try and convince someone to think or act in a certain way, often by making something seem appealing or important. |
| Emotion | A strong feeling, such as happiness, sadness, anger, or fear, that can be influenced by what we see or hear. |
| Visual Element | Parts of a media message that you can see, such as colours, pictures, or characters. |
| Sound Element | Parts of a media message that you can hear, such as music, voices, or sound effects. |
Suggested Methodologies
More in Digital Stories and Screen Magic
Framing the World: Camera Angles
Using cameras or paper viewfinders to understand how changing a view changes a story.
2 methodologies
Light and Shadow: Creating Atmosphere
Experimenting with light sources to create atmosphere and silhouettes.
2 methodologies
Sequencing Images: Visual Narratives
Exploring how a series of pictures can show a passage of time.
2 methodologies
Sound Effects in Media
Understanding how different sounds are used to enhance stories in films and animations.
2 methodologies
Creating Simple Animations
Experimenting with flipbooks or simple stop-motion techniques to make objects appear to move.
2 methodologies
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