Hobbies And Interests
Latin Zoo
This activity places your participants in a pretend Latin zoo, where all of the animal names are English derivatives of Latin. This activity may be either in the form of a worksheet or a board activity. Draw different caged animals on a board or sheet. Somewhere else on the board or sheet, draw a rectangle and write each animal's accompanying Latin root word. Zoo visitors must figure out the animal that they're viewing by matching the Latin root word. For example, the first stop in the zoo might read "Canine" and show a picture of a dog. In the rectangular word bank, the term "canis" ̵2; Latin for "dog" ̵2; is the correct root word. You may use other matches such as "lupine/lupus" for "wolf," "porcine/porcus" for "pig" and "feline/felis catus" for "cat."
Latin Body Activity
Create a worksheet with an image of a human body with a face and visible organs. Add Latin root words onto the worksheet that describe the various body parts. Students must label the parts of the body with the Latin words. The English translations aren't on the worksheet: Instead, students must look up the Latin root words in a Latin-to-English dictionary to find how to label the body parts correctly. Latin roots may include "capus" for head, "auris" for ear, "oculus" for eye, "ora" for mouth, "cervix" for neck, "digitus" for finger, "manum" for hand, "brachium" for arm, "pes" for foot, "cruris" for leg, "pectus" for chest, "cerebrum" for brain, "cor" for heart, "pulmo" for lung, "os" for bone, "hepar" for liver and "renes" for kidney.
Latin Coloring Game
Draw the following objects on a whiteboard or on worksheets: a book, water, fire, the sun, the moon, a boat, a house and a tree. Each player must color the objects according to your Latin descriptions: brown for "liber," or book; blue for "aqua," or water; red for "ignis," or fire; orange for "sol," or sun; gray for "luna," or moon; yellow for "navicula," or boat; purple for "domus," or house; and green for "arbor," or tree. The English terms aren't on the worksheet, so players must use a dictionary to find out how to properly color the objects. To extend this activity, include English terms, such as "literary," "domicile," "lunar," "aquatic," "navigate" and "arboreal" on the sheet; instruct your students to match them with their Latin roots.
Latin Jeopardy
This game is a simple Latin version of Jeopardy with categories: Latin root words, Latin prefixes, English/Latin translations and word definitions. Give clues of varying difficulty. For example, one clue in the translations category might read "Mother"; the correct answer is, "What is 'mater'?" A clue in the word definitions category might read, "Submarine means..." The answer is, "What is 'below the sea'?" Award points for correct answers.