Words in pots - A vocabulary class game

 

Cut out flowers and pots from cardboards. On each flower write the beginning sound/s (onset) of a word and on the pots the ending (rhyme). Use CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) words. Ask children to match the flowers to the correct pots to create words. After they finish, practice spelling out the words they made.

Bees on trees-A vocabulary class game

 

Print out 5 bees and 5 trees. Laminate and cut them out. On each bee write a word e.g., “log” and, on each tree, stick a picture e.g., “dog” that rhymes with “log”. Ask children to match the bees with the correct tree to form rhyming pairs.

Falling leaves - An alphabet class game

 

Cut out autumn leaves and write on each one a letter from the alphabet. Ask the students to gather around you. Hold the leaves on your hands, say “1,2,3” and throw all the leaves up in the air. The children need to take one leaf, read the sound on it and think of a word which starts from that sound.

Monster cookies! - An alphabet class game

Cut out a monster from cardboard and cookies with the alphabet letters. Ask students to take turns at feeding the monster cookies. How many alphabet cookies can the monster eat? Perhaps divide the student into 2 teams and give to each team 5 minutes to feed the monster. The students have to name the letter of each cookie while giving it to the monster.

Haunted pillows! - A vocabulary class game

Print and cut out the faces of different Halloween characters from a haunted house; zombie, Dracula, skeleton, etc. Stick these faces in popsicles and place them underneath some pillows in the classroom. Ask the students to take turns picking up the haunted pillows to reveal who is hiding underneath. Prompt the students to say out loud the name of the character they reveal. 

It’s time for laundry! - An alphabet class game

Take 26 clothespins and write on each one of them the upper case letters of the alphabet. Cut out from colorful carton paper 26 T-shirts and write on each one of them the lower case letters. Use 2 cups and lace in between them a rope to create a hills hoist. Ask the pupils to do laundry by matching the upper case with the lower case letters and hang the T-shirts on the rope.

Talk to my back! - A vocabulary class game

Divide the students in two teams. A pupil from each team sits on a chair facing the board having his/her back turned to the rest of the class. On a big piece of paper write the meaning of a new English word and stick the paper on the student’s back, sited on the chair. On the board write 3 sentences containing the new word and corresponding to the word’s meaning you have written on the paper. Each one of the teams has to help their members figure out the meaning of the word. The student on the chair looks only at the sentences written on the board and he/she can ask further questions to his/her classmates. The teams have to talk only in English. For each correct answer, the teams will get 2 points. If the students do not talk in English, they lose 1 point. The team with the most points wins the game and earns stickers.

Spymasters - A vocabulary class game

Divide the class in two teams. Give to each team 5 small different color cards. On each card, write a new English word. Underneath each word write 3 clues which will help students to figure out the meaning of the words, written on the cards. Each one of the teams takes turns at describing to the other the words using the clues. Apart from the clues, each team can ask as many questions as they want to the other. Students have 10’ at their disposal to find the meaning of the word. For each meaning of the words they find, the team gets 2 points. If they cannot find the meaning, they do not lose points. They lose 1 point if they do not talk in English. The team with the most points wins the game and earns stickers.

Little painters! - A vocabulary class game

   

Divide the students into two teams; Team A and Team B. Write on the board the new words; island, eye, mouth, nose, hand, arm, ear, leg, wave, swim. Give to Team A small colorful cards and on each one of them write the words; island, eye, mouth, nose, hand with their Greek meaning underneath. Give to Team B another set of cards and on each one write the words; arm, ear, leg, wave, swim with their Greek meaning. Give to the Teams 2 seconds to have a look at their cards. Then, give them a blank piece of paper and ask them to draw the pictures of the words written on their cards. The time they have at their disposal is 2 minutes! After the time is up, Team A shows to Team B the paper. Team B looks at the words on the board and shouts out the words that they believe they fit to each picture. Afterwards, the other team takes turn at guessing which words match with the pictures. For each correct answer, the Teams get 1 point! If their answer is incorrect, they do not lose points! The Team with the most points wins the game and earns 2 stickers! Give 1 sticker to the other team to reward them for their try!

Caterpillar - A vocabulary class game

In a box place small colorful cardboard’s circles. On each of the circles, write a letter of the alphabet. Divide the students into two teams. Give to each team a piece of paper and a circle which will depict the face of a caterpillar. The pupils take turns in picking up ten circles from the box, while having their eyes covered. The teams stick the face of the caterpillar on the paper and they have 10’ at their disposal in order to put the circles in the correct order to form a word. Thus, they construct a caterpillar. For each correct word that students formulate, give them 2 points! The team with the most points, earns 3 stickers!

Words' search - A vocabulary class game

Divide the students in two teams. Place cards in a box, each one of them will refer to a different category; cities, food, clothes, sport, objects, colors etc. Each team takes turns in picking cards. The students have 5’ at their disposal to think of relevant words for the categories they have chosen. For each word, give 1 point to the teams. The team with the most points earns 2 stickers!

Little detectives - A comprehension class game

                 

Cut out characters from Disney’s films. On the characters’ back, write sentences describing words which students have already been taught. Underneath the utterances, note down 3 clues in order to help the pupils find the missing words. Then place all the characters in a large box. Write the missing words on pieces of papers and hide them in the classroom. Students pick up a character from the box and they have to solve the mystery by finding the missing word. Give to each student a sticker as a reward!

In search for minions - A comprehension class game

Divide the students in two teams. Cut out minions’ images and write on them comprehension questions regarding a text that you have already read in class. Hide the minions in the classroom and ask each one of the teams to find the minions. Students have to answer all the questions correctly in order to take points. For each correct answer give to the teams 2 points! The team with the most points, earns 2 stickers! 

"Feed the teddy!" - A grammar class game

Divide the pupils into two teams. Write on 10 small pieces of paper the singular or the plural form of nouns (regular / irregular). Fold the papers and place them in a jar. Cut out a teddy from cardboard like this;

Each one of the teams picks up 5 papers from the jar. As soon as the jar is empty, you shout out: "Feed the teddy!". Students have 10' at their disposal to write on the teddy's belly the singular or the plural form of the noun depending on what is written on their paper. For each correct answer the teams get 2 points but for each incorrect answer they do not take any points! If there are minor mistakes in an answer give 1 point to the team(s)!  The team with the most points wins and gets 2 stickers! 

Spelling cat - A vocabulary class game

Divide the students in two teams. Write on the board words that pupils already know. Give to each team the following two cards; 

On the first card write “Yes!” and on the second write “No!” Each team takes turns in spelling the words. Whenever a team spells the words correctly, the other team raises the first card and the team gets 2 points. However, whenever a team doesn't spell the words correctly, loses 2 points and the other team raises the second card. The team with the most points earns 3 stickers! 

Learning Prepositions of Place - A grammar class game

Divide the students into small groups; each one consists of 4 pupils. Give to each group a card with a preposition of place. The students have to use two or more objects from the class in order to explain the preposition to the rest of the groups. 

Class Scrabble! - A vocabulary class game

Divide the students in two teams. Within a box, place letters from the alphabet. Each one of the teams has to pick 12 letters from the box. The students have 15’ at their disposal to form as many valid words (nouns, adverbs, adjectives, verbs etc.) as they can, using the letters they chose. The team which makes use of the most letters earns 4 stickers!