Photo by National Geographic Society

National Geographic Lodges: Descriptive Writing Activity with PDF Download

I love traveling. Some might say that I’m a little obsessed with it. I’ve visited 29 countries in my lifetime so far, and my ultimate goal is to visit 100 countries altogether. One of my favorite places to dream about traveling is by visiting the National Geographic “Unique Lodges of the World” website. The website features 24 distinct lodges that are located in some of the most breath-taking landscapes in the world.

I use this website as a great opportunity for my students to practice descriptive writing. Here is how the writing activity goes:

1) Review the 5 senses: sight, sound, taste, smell, touch. Consider how each of these can be used to describe an experience.

2) Choose one of the lodges from this Unique Lodges of the World list. If you’re a teacher assigning this activity to a class, you can let each of your students choose which lodge they would like to write about. I like to have each student choose a different one so they can work independently.

3) Download this 5 Senses PDF and fill out the boxes, based on the description of the lodge on the website, and what you imagine the lodge and setting to be like.

4) Close out the website. Using your notes, write a descriptive paragraph about the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and feelings of the lodge. The reason we close the website is so that you are not tempted to simply copy what it written. Do your best to use the descriptions in an original way.

That’s it! A quick and creative way to write descriptively. Let me know how it goes by commenting below.