The classroom was a zoo. Nobody bought tickets, nobody fed a lion — and every eight-year-old knows exactly what it means. That gap between what words say and what they mean is figurative language, and grade 3 is where tests start asking about it by name.
The big three — similes, metaphors, idioms — each have a clean tell, and kids can learn all three in a week.
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Simile vs metaphor: one word decides
A simile compares with like or as: "as bright as the sun," "ran like the wind." A metaphor drops the connector and says the thing IS the other thing: "the moon was a silver coin," "my backpack is a rock."
The sort is mechanical at first — scan for like or as — and that is fine. The mechanical pass buys fluency; the meaning pass ("what do the moon and a coin share?") rides on top of it.
Idioms are a code you memorize
Raining cats and dogs. Piece of cake. Hold your horses. Idioms cannot be decoded from their words — no amount of thinking about cake explains an easy test. They are learned whole, like vocabulary.
So teach them as translation: idiom on the left, real meaning on the right. Eight classics cover most of what grade-school texts use, and kids genuinely enjoy them — they are jokes the language already made.
Literal or figurative? The master sort
"I ate a sandwich" means exactly what it says. "I could eat a horse" does not. Sorting R from F is the umbrella skill over all three types — it is the moment a child asks, of any sentence, is this saying what it means?
Mix plain sentences with similes, metaphors and idioms in one list. The plain ones are not filler; they are the control group that makes the figurative ones visible.
Write some, on purpose
The exit task: write one simile (compare your bedroom to something, using like or as), one metaphor (call the sun something it is not), and one sentence using an idiom correctly.
Original comparisons are the goal — "as slow as a Monday morning" beats "as slow as a snail," and kids know it. Figurative language is the first place school writing gets to be funny on purpose.
Skip the setup work
Everything in this guide works with paper and a pencil. If you want the structure ready-made — designed, tested and printable in minutes — the matching templates are below.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a simile and a metaphor?
A simile compares two things using like or as ("as quiet as a mouse"). A metaphor states that one thing IS another ("the classroom was a zoo"). The connector word is the reliable tell.
What grade is figurative language taught?
Similes and simple idioms appear in grade 2, the simile-metaphor-idiom trio is a grade 3 standard, and later grades add personification, hyperbole and figurative meaning in poetry.
What are common idioms for kids?
Raining cats and dogs (raining hard), piece of cake (very easy), break a leg (good luck), all ears (listening), hold your horses (wait), let the cat out of the bag (reveal a secret), in the same boat (same situation), hit the hay (go to bed).
Why do kids struggle with idioms?
Because idioms cannot be worked out from their words — their meanings are fixed by convention. Kids (and language learners) must learn them as whole phrases, which is why matching idioms to plain meanings works better than analysis.
About this guide. Published by OmniAura Digital, the team behind the printables and templates in our library. Our guides describe methods you can use with paper and a pencil; where we mention templates, they are our own products. Spotted an error? Tell us at support@omniauradigital.com and we'll fix it.