Unplugged Lesson

Beginner

30 mins

Teacher led

What you need:
Printer
Interactive Display

What Happens Next? First/Then Fun!

In this lesson, you'll guide students through a series of activities designed to enhance their understanding of sequencing and following instructions. Starting with a game of Simon Says, you'll then move onto sequencing daily events, followed by interactive games. The lesson concludes with a 'First/Then' worksheet, encouraging students to consider what comes next in a sequence of events.

Learning Goals Learning Outcomes Teacher Notes

Warning: Your screen size is quite small for viewing this. Rotate your device into landscape mode if you can.

1 Introduction
2 Simon Says
3 Sequencing
4 Putting on your Shoes
5 Eating Cereal
6 Planting a Seed
7 Reading a Book
8 First/Then Worksheet
9 Wrapping Up
Challenge
Quiz

1 - Introduction

Today we're going to be focusing on a fundamental skill that every computer programmer needs: sequencing. Sequencing is simply the art of putting things in the correct order.

Think about the steps you take to get ready in the morning, or the instructions in a recipe—the order is everything! Computers are the same way. They can't guess or improvise; they rely on a perfect sequence of clear instructions to get any job done. If the order is wrong, the program won't work.

Today's lesson is designed to help us train our brains to think in a precise, logical order. By practising this, we're developing the exact skills needed to write amazing computer code!

2 - Simon Says

Explain to the students that you're going to play a game to warm up your brains and practice following instructions exactly. The game is called Simon Says.

Remind them of the key rule: you should only follow a command if it starts with the phrase, "Simon says." This is the special condition that must be met for the instruction to be valid. You can decide whether to play for fun or as a knockout game.

Play a few rounds, starting with simple commands to get everyone listening carefully:

"Simon says, touch your nose."
"Simon says, jump up high."
"Clap your hands." (See who gets caught!)
"Simon says, stand on one foot."

Observe how well students listen and ensure they understand the importance of following the instructions precisely. This helps them learn the value of specific, clear steps, a core idea in sequencing.

Teacher Notes

Simon says touch your nose.

Simon says clap your hands.

Simon says hop on one foot.

Simon says wave your hand.

Simon says pat your head.

Simon says turn around.

Simon says jump up and down.

Simon says touch your toes.

Simon says stand on one foot.

Simon says blink your eyes.

Simon says march in place.

Simon says put your hands on your hips.

Simon says shake your head.

Simon says pretend to swim.

Simon says sit down.

Simon says stand up.

Simon says wiggle your fingers.

Simon says stomp your feet.

Simon says hug yourself.

Simon says make a funny face.

Simon says hop like a bunny.

Simon says act like a robot.

Simon says pretend to swim.

Simon says crawl like a crab.

Simon says roar like a lion.

Simon says jump like a kangaroo.

Simon says tiptoe quietly.

Simon says stretch like a cat.

Simon says flap your arms like a bird.

Simon says march like a soldier.

Simon says shake your whole body.

Simon says pretend to ride a horse.

Simon says freeze like a statue.

Simon says pretend to catch a ball.

Simon says act like you're blowing up a balloon.

Simon says spin around slowly.

Simon says pretend to be a tree swaying in the wind.

Simon says walk like a dinosaur.

Simon says pretend to be a superhero.

Simon says act like you're riding a bike.

3 - Sequencing

Complete the following sequencing activity on your IWB.

This activity will involve showing pictures of daily events.

Ask the students to come up and drag the pictures into the correct sequence, starting with what happens first and ending with what happens last.

4 - Putting on your Shoes

5 - Eating Cereal

Unlock the Full Learning Experience

Get ready to embark on an incredible learning journey! Get access to this lesson and hundreds more in our Digital Skills Curriculum.

Get started

Copyright Notice
This lesson is copyright of Coding Ireland 2017 - 2025. Unauthorised use, copying or distribution is not allowed.

Your Answer or Description of Your Work

Project URL This can be a link to your project (e.g. a Scratch, Microbit, Arcade or CodePen URL link).

Upload File

You must be logged into Scratch to share your project, otherwise the link will not work.

To get the URL link of your Scratch project:

Make sure you're logged into Scratch.
Click on the Share button in the project editor.
Click on the Copy Link button.
Click on the Copy Link link. This will save the URL of your project page into your clipboard.

To get the URL link of your Microbit project:

Click on the button in the project editor.
Click on the Publish Project button.
Click on the Copy button. This will save the URL of your project page into your clipboard.

To get the URL link of your Arcade project:

Click on the button in the project editor.
Click on the Publish Project button.
Click on the Copy button. This will save the URL of your project page into your clipboard.

To get the URL link of your CodePen project:

Make sure you're logged into CodePen.
Open your project in the editor.
Click on the Save button at the top of the editor.
Copy the link from the address bar in your web browser (e.g. https://codepen.io/Jane-Smith/pen/gOVXxBQ)

What Happens Next? First/Then Fun!