Engage your students with our The Thing About Oliver Metaphors Worksheets, a literacy resource designed to explore figurative language in Deborah Kelly’s novel. These worksheets guide learners to identify metaphors in the text, analyse their meaning, and create original examples that reflect their own understanding of characters, settings, and emotions. By unpacking how metaphors enrich storytelling, students strengthen comprehension while developing creativity and critical thinking skills.

The activities move step by step from recognition to application. Students begin by highlighting or colouring metaphors in selected excerpts, before analysing what is being compared and why. They then practise writing their own metaphors to describe story elements, and finally, use the third worksheet to construct a full paragraph incorporating multiple metaphors. This gradual build supports confidence and mastery of figurative language in a purposeful context.

Perfect for whole-class lessons, small-group exploration, or independent work, these worksheets provide a balance of structured analysis and creative freedom. They also encourage visual learning, with opportunities for students to add illustrations alongside their metaphors, helping them to connect abstract comparisons with concrete imagery.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Identify metaphors in excerpts from the novel
• ✅ Analyse the effect of metaphors on meaning and imagery
• ✅ Practise creating original metaphors about characters, settings, or emotions
• ✅ Develop creative writing by constructing metaphor-rich paragraphs
• ✅ Strengthen comprehension of figurative language in literature

What’s Included:

• Worksheet 1: Identifying and highlighting metaphors in excerpts
• Worksheet 2: Analysing metaphor meaning and comparisons
• Worksheet 3: Writing original metaphors and developing a metaphor-rich paragraph
• Opportunities for text-to-self and creative writing connections

Materials Needed:

• Printed worksheets for each student
• Pencils, highlighters, or coloured pencils for annotation
• Copies of The Thing About Oliver novel for reference
• Optional art supplies for drawing metaphor illustrations

How to Use:

1. Have students read through selected excerpts from the novel.
2. Ask them to highlight or colour the metaphors they find.
3. Guide students to analyse what is being compared and explain its impact.
4. Challenge them to write original metaphors that describe characters, settings, or emotions.
5. Use the third worksheet to support writing a paragraph with multiple metaphors.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Display completed worksheets on a figurative language wall for reference
• 💡 Model one example as a class to ensure students understand metaphor structure
• 💡 Encourage small illustrations to make comparisons more memorable
• 💡 Pair the activity with a simile lesson for a comparative figurative language study
• 💡 Use metaphors as prompts for journal reflections or creative writing tasks

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Remind students that metaphors do not use “like” or “as”
• 💛 Encourage learners to think about emotions and sensory details when creating metaphors
• 💛 Differentiate by allowing struggling students to start with scaffolded sentence frames

The The Thing About Oliver Metaphors Worksheets build confidence with figurative language, helping students appreciate how metaphors enhance storytelling and deepen meaning. This resource is part of our The Thing About Oliver Novel Study Package.