Gallery Walk is an active and collaborative learning strategy that combines thinking, discussion and movement. Instead of staying at their desks, pupils move around the classroom in small groups and visit different “gallery” stations. At each station, they explore a question, picture, problem, text or piece of pupil work, discuss it with their group and add their own ideas or feedback.
For young learners, Gallery Walk can make classroom discussion more engaging and accessible by providing opportunities to move, observe, talk, draw and write. It can be used across different subjects to activate prior knowledge, explore a new topic, solve problems, review learning, share ideas or provide peer feedback.
1. Read about Gallery Walk
Start with The Teacher Toolkit for a clear and practical introduction to Gallery Walk. The resource explains how to prepare the stations, organise pupils into small groups and manage their movement around the classroom.
The stations do not have to contain written questions. The teacher can also use pictures, documents, quotations, mathematical problems, pupil work or other visual prompts, making the strategy easy to adapt for younger learners and different subjects.
Read: Gallery Walk – The Teacher Toolkit
As you read, think about your own classroom: What could you place at the Gallery Walk stations to encourage your pupils to observe, discuss and share ideas?
2. Watch Gallery Walk in action
Now watch the Elementary Video from The Teacher Toolkit to see Gallery Walk being used in a real primary classroom.
In this classroom example, a 3rd grade teacher uses the strategy with his pupils. Watching the activity provides an opportunity to see how pupils work together and how movement around the classroom becomes part of the learning process.
Watch the Elementary Video:
While watching, notice how the activity is organised and how pupils interact with the ideas produced by other groups.
Think about your own classroom: How could you organise the groups and movement so that even your youngest pupils know where to go, what to do and when to move to the next station?
3. Ready-to-use teacher material
Ready to try Gallery Walk with your pupils?
The Teacher Toolkit provides a downloadable Gallery Walk Elementary direction sheet. It can help pupils organise their own thoughts and responses to the questions or prompts they encounter during the Gallery Walk.
The resource can be adapted for different ages. With younger pupils who are not yet confident writers, responses do not always need to be written sentences. Pupils can respond using pictures rather than words, or the teacher can adapt the activity by using symbols, simple words and oral responses.
Download and use: Gallery Walk Elementary – The Teacher Toolkit
Look for “Download Templates – Gallery Walk Elementary” on the page. An editable Gallery Walk Elementary – Google Doc version is also available on the same page.
4. Other resources
Primary Connections – Gallery Walk
Primary Connections provides a particularly useful primary-school perspective on Gallery Walk. It presents the method as a collaborative discussion and feedback strategy in which pupils move around the classroom, examine the work of others and leave comments or questions.
The resource is especially useful if you would like to use Gallery Walk for peer feedback, reflection and inquiry-based learning.
Explore Gallery Walk – Primary Connections
K20 Center – Gallery Walk / Carousel
The K20 Center at the University of Oklahoma provides a concise, practical Gallery Walk/Carousel resource that can also be used with young learners.
The resource gives a clear step-by-step procedure for organising the activity and suggests a manageable 10–20 minute format. It also includes a downloadable PDF and shows how Gallery Walk can support collaboration, critical thinking, physical movement, speaking and listening, reviewing and presenting.
Explore Gallery Walk / Carousel – K20 Center
Teach Britannica – Gallery Walk
Teach Britannica provides another step-by-step guide, with the strategy specifically recommended for K–2 and Grades 3–5, as well as older learners.
The resource explains the materials needed and the classroom procedure and provides useful guidance for using Gallery Walk to activate prior knowledge, encourage discussion and help pupils review and synthesise their learning.