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Blog / 3 Easy Ways to use Doodle Notes in the Classroom
Banner image for blog post with image on the left of completed Doodle Notes for the structure of DNA and text on the right that reads, “3 ways to use Doodle Notes in the classroom”.

3 Easy Ways to use Doodle Notes in the Classroom

In this post, I’m going to share three ways to use Doodle Notes in your classroom. These are an all-time favorite for me and students really enjoy them!

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • A set of Doodle Notes
  • Printed copies – 1 set for each student – copy at 85% for gluing into Interactive Notebooks
  • A SmartBoard or projector (optional)

Ready?

Let’s look at 3 ways to use Doodle Notes!

1 – Use Doodle Notes as a review activity

An overhead view of a set of completed Doodle Notes for photosynthesis. Around the Doodle Notes are colored pencils, mini post-it notes and a small plant.

This is my favorite way to use Doodle Notes. If you’ve read my other blog posts, you’ll know I love encouraging independence in my students.

If you’ve already covered the content, Doodle Notes are a fantastic review activity!

Don’t be afraid to let your students become immersed in the Doodle Notes! Once you’ve used Doodle Notes once with your class, they’ll know exactly what to do.

Hand out one set of notes for each student and ask them to complete as much as they can by themselves.

Tell them that you’ll show them an example at the end so they can fill in remaining gaps at that point.

Students can use their notebooks / binders / devices / each other to work through the Doodle Notes independently for most of the class period.

In the last 10-15 minutes, use your SmartBoard or projector to show the class a completed example of the Doodle Notes.

Let students complete any missing gaps in their notes so they have all of the important information.

2 – Complete Doodle Notes together as a class

A teacher writes on a SmartBoard with students watching in the background.

Doodle Notes can be a fun way to introduce a new topic. They are very visual and a great way to cover a lot of content quickly.

Give each student a set of Doodle Notes. Use your Smartboard or projector to show a blank copy of the Doodle Notes.

If you don’t have a board that you can write on, you can write on the Doodle Notes digitally with Kami – this is an online software that lets you write on top of PDFs. I’ve made a video showing how to use Kami with Doodle Notes.

Work through the Doodle Notes together. You can ask students for their input – I love seeing what students already know about a topic and linking it to their prior knowledge!

As you complete the notes on the board, students fill in their copies of the notes. 

You can use coloring breaks throughout the lesson (e.g. at the end of a page) or let students color the whole set of notes at the end.

3 – Use Doodle Notes as a Homework Assignment

The letters of the word “Homework” are thumb-tacked to grid paper. The letters use different fonts and colors and the thumb-tacks are different colors.

Doodle Notes can be used as a great homework assignment. 

Depending on the length of the set of notes, you may wish to split the set up and assign 1 or 2 pages a week.

This is a good way for students to study at home. I like to assign any sets I didn’t use in the classroom ahead of a test. That way, I know students have done some studying.

Bonus: You can use them as a Sub Plan!

A close up of a completed set of Doodle Notes showing the classification hierarchy and a doodle of a wolf as an example.

Here’s a bonus idea for how to use your Doodle Notes – leave them for a sub! 

If you’ve already covered the content of the lesson, then leaving a set of Doodle Notes can make a great sub plan.

Your students can work through them at their own pace and once they’ve completed the notes, they can color at leisure.

Many students enjoy completing Doodle Notes and find it calming – especially the coloring in – which makes for great behavior for your sub.

If you know you’ll be having a sub in advance, tell students to bring in their colored pencils for the lesson. Make sure to leave extra colored pencils in case some students forget theirs.

Just print one set of notes per student. Students can glue them into their notebooks or ask the sub to collect them at the end of class (make sure students put their names on them first!).

One caveat – I’d recommend only leaving Doodle Notes as a sub plan if you’ve used Doodle Notes with your students before. This means they know exactly what they’re doing and can get going on their own.

Doodle Notes are surprisingly versatile

There are lots of ways you can use Doodle Notes in your classroom. In summary, you can:

  • Use them for reviews
  • Use them to launch a topic together
  • Use them as a homework assignment
  • You can even use them as a fun sub plan

I hope this gives you some ideas for how to get going with Doodle Notes, or a new way to use them if you’re a seasoned pro!

You can get a free set of my Doodle Notes to try out with your class right now. These are a great set of notes for your Ecology unit.

I hope you enjoy them and happy doodling!

Emma The Teachie

P.S. I have 50 sets of ready to use Doodle Notes in my store – you can shop them here:

Three easy ways to use doodle notes in the classroom pin for pinterest