New Names

New Names lesson plan

Think like an advertiser and come up with new names to replace familiar ones.

  • 1.

    Make a list of names of something familiar, such as car models and makes, clothing, shampoo, toys, or food. Where do these names come from? Discuss ideas about why manufacturers chose to name their products with these names. Find out how some of these names were chosen. Share strategies for selling products based on a name or image.

  • 2.

    Use Crayola® Metallic FX Crayons to make a two-column chart on construction paper to record your own new names for familiar products. Write familiar product names in Crayola Metallic Colored Pencil in the left column under the heading Old Name. To the right of each old name write your new and improved product name in Crayola Gel Markers in a New Name column. Make the new name appealing and write it in a way that will catch the eye.

  • 3.

    With your classmates, do a survey to find out which five products students in your class would most like to buy based on their new names. Tally and analyze the results. What factors made the most popular new products so appealing? Write a list of "rules" for naming a new product.

Benefits

  • Children list names of common products such as cars, and share ideas about how and why those names might have been selected.
  • Students find the origins of names for new products.
  • Students create a chart of old and new names for familiar objects.

Adaptations

  • Redesign the label and product name on a clean, recycled, name-bearing container or advertisement such as a shopping bag from a store or an empty shampoo bottle. Use Crayola Gel Markers, Metallic Crayons, and Metallic Colored Pencils to give the new names
  • Choose a Crayola Metallic Crayon. Create a name for it that captures the brilliance of its color! Design a label and tape it around your crayon. Introduce your crayon by creating a short advertising jingle.
  • Invent a new product to appeal to a specific market, such as games for preschoolers or a new food for high school students. Design the product, packaging, and promotional materials.