People all over the world are flocking to Snapchat to share photos and videos that reflect what’s going on in their lives. To be specific, it’s more than 300 million monthly active users.

The magnitude of Snapchat’s impact is huge (source):

• 3 billion photos and videos are created every day on Snapchat.
• 78 percent of U.S. users are under 24 years old.
• More than 10 billion video views are logged on Snapchat every day.

The minimum age to use Snapchat according to terms of use is 13 years of age. If your students don’t have an account, there’s a good chance they’re familiar with it and have used its features.

One fun feature students love: Snappables, Snapchat’s games based on interactive lenses that overlay your camera. If students have played them on Snapchat, they’ll IMMEDIATELY connect with this activity in your class!

When I first saw some of these games — specifically “Would You Rather,” “This or That,” and “My Face When,” I immediately thought of how it could be used in class! How much fun would it be to play these games with class content?!?

If you want to play the games on the app, there’s a roadblock: having an account, having a device and being of age to use the app.

Let’s destroy that roadblock!

What we really want is the experience of the games, not necessarily the app.

You don’t need the app to create the experience!

Let’s use a digital tool that’s available at LOTS of schools that many teachers and students have access to: Google Slides.

A template on Google Slides can recreate the experience of these Snappables!

First the templates … then how to use them!

The Google Slides templates

Here are the three Snappables (Snapchat games) we’ll look at in this post:

Would You Rather

• Template you can share with your students
• Background template (if you want to customize the background)

My Face When

• Template you can share with your students
• Background template (if you want to customize your background)

This or That

• Template you can share with your students
• Background template (if you want to customize your background)

What can I use these for?

In short … SO MUCH!

These templates are made to let your students “play” with content they’ve learned. By taking content, doing something with it (choosing among options, expressing emotion) and describing why, you’re moving above level one in Webb’s Depth of Knowledge and moving up Bloom’s Taxonomy.

In history class, use “Would You Rather” to show two choices a historical figure could have made. Students can choose which they would have taken.

OR, find a decision students might have to make in their lives that’s parallel to a choice a historical figure might have made.

In foreign language class, use “This or That” to describe two fun (or funny) (or intriguing) scenarios in the target language and let students choose between them. Then, they justify their choice.

In science class, use “My Face When” to personify things that happen in the scientific world, like “hyper” to describe how a catalyst works or “angry” to show how friction affects certain things. (FYI: I’m a career Spanish teacher trying to talk about science. My examples might not be super precise … fair warning!)

How to use these Google Slides templates

There are instructions in each of the templates you can copy above … but here are some more details to help you get the most out of them:

Part 1: Getting your copies of the templates

Think to your photocopying days. These templates are like your originals that you’d take to the photocopier each time. You make copies of them for your students.

With these templates, you’ll be prompted to make a copy of my originals. That becomes YOUR very own template you can use with your students.

Part 2: Adjusting your copies to make them perfect

When you have your very own template, you can modify it before making copies for your students. This is where you’ll customize them with content for your class before delivering them to students.

Part 3: Getting copies to students

To make “digital photocopies” of it, so to speak, Google Classroom (or your learning management system) is easiest.

You could give each student his/her own copy of the template. Create an assignment in Google Classroom. Attach your original copy. Then, in the dropdown menu for the attachment, choose “Make a copy for each student.” That gives students their own unique copies. This is a good option if you want students to have their own Slides files OR if they’re doing multiple slides with different questions on them (i.e. three “Would You Rather” slides, each with different questions).

OR, you could have students all work in one Google Slides file together. This is fun when everyone is doing one just one slide and they’re all the same question. Create one slide presentation and duplicate the slide for each student. (i.e. If you have 25 students, make 25 duplicates of the slide you’ll use.) Use the blue “Share” button and click “Get a shareable link” then “Anyone with the link can edit”. Share the link with students. (Putting that link on an assignment in Google Classroom or your learning management system is easiest.) When students enter the file, they can claim a slide by putting their names on the slide (either in the “Name:” text field or in the speaker notes). That becomes their slide in the slide presentation for the whole class.

How do these games work?

Would You Rather: This is the classic “choose between two options” game. You write in the options for students before assigning to them. Students decide which one they choose. They snap a selfie with the webcam on their device (Insert > Image > Camera) with them pointing up or down to their answer. They place the image in the middle of the slide to make their choice. Then, they use the speaker notes to explain their decision.

My Face When: Students are going to snap a picture showing a certain emotion — without knowing what that emotion describes. After they place their picture on the slide, they’ll reveal what their picture is actually describing.

Before they get their slides, you’ll need to set them up. Pick an emotion and something in your content where someone/something would display that emotion. (i.e. “excited” / “How the world felt when the Berlin Wall came down”) Change the “emotion” text box to your emotion. Then move that text box out of the way to change where someone/something would display that emotion. Once those are both changed, be sure to move the emotion text box over the sentence you wrote to cover it up.

When students get their slides, they’ll use their webcam to snap selfie pictures of the two emotions you’ve given them. They put their selfies above the emotions. Then, they move or delete the emotion text boxes to reveal what that emotion is describing.

This or That: This is another Snapchat game that asks users to choose between two options. (Admittedly, it is very similar to “Would You Rather” but it doesn’t use a selfie.) In this game, students drag an outline on their choice and then describe why they made that choice in the text box at the bottom.

Have fun with it!

These can be GREAT fun when you give students some fun options to choose from (Would You Rather / This or That) … or some surprising times when an emotion connects to your content (My Face When)!

Another fun twist: Let your STUDENTS customize the slides for each other! Let them create the “This or That” choices. OR, let them find places where emotion is displayed in your content.