Describing people

Describing people
Descriptive writing is one of the most important skills that children will learn in school and progress into life. It's something they will use and expand upon again and again within creative writing and narrative writing topics, and there are so many ways to get those creative juices flowing. Children will need to prepare narrative writing for the Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN exam, so it's good to build their skills early with fun and engaging projects. Describing a person is a fun and easy way to start practising the descriptive writing process.
When describing a person, children should try to build a full picture by using descriptive language.
Twinkl tips:
Think about the 5 senses - see, hear, touch, smell, taste.
Use descriptive language such as metaphors and similes to paint a visual picture of a person in the reader's mind.
Think of descriptive adjectives - adventurous, clumsy, grumpy, annoying.
Use examples of creative and descriptive writing to inspire a fresh and exciting approach.
So, How Do You Describe a Person in Writing?
Children can often struggle to use their observational skills to put things into words, so creating topics where they have to describe a person in writing tasks is an excellent way to give them practice. They should think about describing the person's physical appearance, and personality.
Describe a Person's Physical Appearance
Describing a person's physical appearance is the easy part, as all you have to do is look at them and write down what you see.
Face shapes
Square
Oval
Rectangular
Symmetrical
Round
Triangular
Heart-shaped


Encourage children to get creative when describing their friends and fellow students in class by using similes and metaphors.
"Megan has a round face like a shining sun."
Eyes - Eyes are the windows to the soul after all.
Shape - big, small, round, oval-shaped
Eye colour - blue, brown, hazel, green, gold, black, grey, technicolour
"Ben has blue eyes like the deep blue sea."
Mouth
Lips - thin, full, open, closed
Mouth expressions - laughing, smiling, frowning
Nose
Long
Tall
Small
Big
Aqualine
"Evangeline has a small nose like a button."
Hair
Colour - black, brunette, brown, ginger, strawberry blonde, blonde, auburn, red, bleach blonde, grey, silver, white
Texture - straight, curly, frizzy, afro, wavy, bald
Style - long, short, cropped, braided, pigtails, bun, fringe
"Hannah has long golden hair like a fairytale princess."

These are just some examples for the face, but children should also have a great time describing other things like body, clothing, style, and things like age.

Describe a Person's Personality
Children can get super creative with language when describing a person or character in their writing topics. Here are some excellent adjectives to use when describing a person.
Friendly - My sister is as friendly as a new puppy.
Jolly - My grandpa is so jolly he might be Santa Clause in disguise.
Moody - Taliah is always moody like there's a storm brewing in her belly.
Chatty - Sarah is so chatty you can never get a word in.
Cowardly - My dog is very cowardly, he hates when visitors come to my house to pet him.
Funny - Evangeline is so funny, she always makes me laugh.
Tidy - I am not a very tidy person, I always forget to remove cups of milk from my bedroom
Unlucky - My sister is very unlucky, when she goes on holiday it always rains
Grumpy - My dad gets very grumpy if you wake him from his midday nap.
Kind - My mum is the kindest person I know, she always gives me treats.
Polite - I am a very polite person, I always say please and thank you.
Intelligent - Chiharu is very intelligent, I wish she would let me copy her work.
Serious - My grandma is very serious, she always waits until exactly 6 pm to open her bottle of evening medicine.
Describe a Person's Emotions/Feelings

The hardest part of describing a person is representing how they feel. This is something children have to do when studying creative writing and start creating their own short stories, poems, and literature.

Children have to think hard about describing a person or a character's feelings, because they're always changing, and people can feel many different things at once. Here are some emotions children might consider when describing people or characters in writing projects.

Happy
Cheerful

Anxious
Sad
Calm
Relaxed
Enthusiastic
Bored
When Kids Describe a Person
There are many ways to describe a person. Here are some hilarious examples from kids describing their parents to an illustrator, from their inordinate heights to their affinity for catching bad guys.
My dad is about 43 feet tall.
My mum is short, my dad says if she was any shorter she would have to be in a car seat. Her hair is like a box and she likes to catch the bad guys.
My grandma should be smoking a cigarette. She has a medium smile.
My dad is like a big sleepy bear, he just sits around all day.
Teachers can encourage the class to have a little fun and get the process started by splitting children into pairs. Then have them sit across from each other and write down a description of each other. The results can be very inspired. This is a fun and light-hearted activity, but it's also a great kick-starter in teaching children how to observe a person's physical and personal attributes and learn how to transfer their observations into writing.

Think about the 5 senses - see, hear, touch, smell, taste.
Use descriptive language such as metaphors and similes to paint a visual picture of a person in the reader's mind.
Think of descriptive adjectives - adventurous, clumsy, grumpy, annoying.
Use examples of creative and descriptive writing to inspire a fresh and exciting approach.
So, How Do You Describe a Person in Writing?
Children can often struggle to use their observational skills to put things into words, so creating topics where they have to describe a person in writing tasks is an excellent way to give them practice. They should think about describing the person's physical appearance, and personality.
Describe a Person's Physical Appearance
Describing a person's physical appearance is the easy part, as all you have to do is look at them and write down what you see.