Can you design a word so that it looks like what it means? That's what I ask my students to do as they consider this expressive language activity. There are certainly easier words to work with, words like wide, tall, small, etc.
I have a word bank (specific words that I have laminated & put in a bowl) for students to randomly choose. Some examples are puddle, rain, arrow, love, tree, heavy, family. Most words work well - provided they are not too conceptual or abstract.
The directions are simple: Make the design of the word illustrate its meaning so that if I didn't speak the language I would still be able to understand the word's meaning.
Here are some examples: