Teaching Dialogue with Conversation Hearts

Would you like a fun and tasty way to teach some dialogue? Then try a heart-to-heart conversation with conversation hearts! Not only is it a great way to teach dialogue, but a sneaky way to get kids writing, working on correct punctuation, reading with fluency, and drawing, too. That’s a lot of skills packed into this tasty activity!

{Note that some of the images are from when ALuv was in the 1st grade and some have been updated to show his 3rd grade year, as he asks for this activity every year.}

 *This post contains affiliate links.

 

Materials You Will Need:

• construction paper (folded so there are four or more frames/spaces)
• conversation hearts
• pencil/marker
• glue
• a creative mind

Create a Dialogue with Conversation Hearts

1. To create a dialogue, look at all the sayings on your conversation hearts. {Our conversations used 4 hearts, but you could certainly use more.}

Decide who you want your characters to be and if your conversation will be funny, serious, romantic, etc. Pull out the sayings you’ll need for that kind of conversation.

These are the three versions we came up with out of his selection of conversation hearts:

1. MARRY ME | YES | LOVE YOU | MY HERO
2. FIRST KISS | GET REAL | JUST ONE | SEE YA
3. HEY YOU | YES | BE MINE | NO WAY

2. Once you’ve picked your sayings it’s time to draw your people. How will they be expressing that saying? What facial expressions will they have? How will they be using their bodies to portray the message?

This is the example I drew for ALuv:

Just in case you can’t read the words in the image above, it says: “First kiss?” / “No way!” / “Just one?” / “See ya!”

 

3. Add the punctuation needed, and quotation marks. Then glue down the hearts.

Note that there isn’t always one correct answer for how the punctuation should be handled. For example, ALuv chose “BE MINE.”, but the character could most certainly have asked, “BE MINE?” or exclaimed “BE MINE!”

4. Re-read your conversations, using expression, practicing fluency. It is also fun to read what other people have done, if you’re in a group setting.

 

This activity truly reminded me of Yo! Yes?, my absolute favorite book for teaching dialogue.

Optional Extension: A story could be written about these two characters and their interaction.

 

More Ideas You May Like:

• Teaching Commas with Pasta {with Book List, as seen above}
• Onomatopoeia Stories
• Story Writing to Classical Music
• Valentine Word Bump!
• Valentine’s-Themed Word Sort

Follow This Reading Mama’s board Valentines Theme on Pinterest.

Follow This Reading Mama’s board Writing Ideas for Kids on Pinterest.

 

 

~Becky