30 Circles Challenge

By the BCTF Teachers Teaching on Call Advisory Committee

30 minutes left in class and not sure what to do? Need a short activity?

Give your students the opportunity to flex their creative muscles! This low-prep worksheet (download the PDF below) gives students 30 blank circles and challenges them to turn each one into a completely different object or concept. One circle might become a baseball, the next a pizza, then a tire. No repeats allowed!

This quick activity encourages creativity, flexible thinking, and focus. Finished early? Have students share and compare their designs to see how differently everyone interpreted the same simple shape.

If your class needs a little creative spark, this 30 Circles Challenge always delivers. Here’s how it works:

• Set a timer for 3–5 minutes and give each student a prepared sheet with 30 blank circles. 

• Students transform each circle into something unique: smiley faces, clocks, suns, etc.

• It’s quick and low-pressure, and it gets their brains firing fast. Perfect for warm-ups, brain breaks, or those in-between moments when focus starts to fade.

Employment Insurance for TTOCs

Did you know teachers teaching on call (TTOCs) may be eligible to apply for Employment Insurance to cover the weeks/months throughout the year when there is no work available, like during summer?

The BCTF has a workshop to provide guidance on how to make effective Employment Insurance applications. The workshop can be booked in-person by locals or is available as a video online.

Students working on the 30 Circles Challenge in Alexa Bennett Fox’s Burnaby classroom (above) and a completed challenge by a student in Nandini Aggarwal’s Surrey classroom (right).