The economics lesson was on the general principals of supply and demand. After presenting a mini-lecture and review of vocabulary, they asked each student to draw an object of their choosing that could serve as a metaphor or visual analogy for the ideas. Students were highly engaged in drawing and explaining their thinking to peers and the co-teachers.
Think of a concept that you'll be teaching in the next few weeks that would lend itself to a visual analogy. With younger students, you will need to model the process with your own object. Then encourage them to think of alternate objects that could also represent the concept. Hesitant to have students draw on the desks? Use whiteboards, paper plates, napkins or some other unusual surface to make it novel and engaging.