Elementary School Activities by Category
Contents
Group Activities
Activities done in groups or teams, one of the best ways to to keep class fun and students involved.
- ABC Karuta
- Bandages
- Birthday Game
- Board Games
- Boat Race
- Body Shapes
- Bomb Game
- Circle Race
- Description Drawing
- Duck Duck Goose
- Face Race
- Find and Match
- Fruit Basket
- Gesture Game
- Go Fish
- Hangman
- I Like Pink Fish
- Janken Game
- Karuta
- Memory
- Memory Writing
- Pictionary
- Pointing Game
- Run and Touch Telephone
- Scrabble
- Sevens
- Slap
- Teacher Interview Game
- Uno
- Wheel of Fortune
Pair Activities
Activities done in pairs or teams of two. These are good for smaller classes as well as keeping order in bigger classes.
- ABC Karuta
- Bandages
- Blindfold Directions Game
- Board Games
- Body Shapes
- Description Drawing
- Face Race
- Gesture Game
- Karuta
- Keyword Game
- Memory
- Memory Writing
- Pictionary
- Pointing Game
- Question Pyramid
- Scrabble
- Teacher Interview Game
- Wheel of Fortune
One Person/Free for All Activities
Activities that students do by themselves or 'every man for himself' as a class. These are good for small classes, but also allow bigger classes to practice individually.
- Akuma Bingo
- Backwards Bingo
- Bingo
- Card Switch
- Categories
- Categorize Me
- Circle Race
- Color Tag
- Criss Cross
- Description Drawing
- Duck Duck Goose
- Fruit Basket
- Gesture Game
- Hangman
- Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
- Hide and Find
- Hot Potato
- Interview Bingo
- I Spy
- Janken Card Collector
- Janken with ALT
- Karuta
- Missing Game
- Musical Chairs
- Number Groups/Molecules
- Ohajiki Game
- Pictionary
- Red Light, Green Light
- Rich Man
- Run and Touch Colors
- Simon Says
- Stopwatch Game
- Walls and Corners
- Weekday Card Collector
- What Time is it Mr. Wolf?
- What's Your Name
- Word Search
Card Activities
Activities played with cards, be them vocabulary, grammar, or otherwise. Good for younger children and rowdy classes--it lets them be active with their hands but keeps them seated. Also useful for last minute games and improvisation, since different games can be played with the same deck.
- ABC Karuta
- Birthday Game
- Bomb Game
- Card Switch
- Categorize Me
- Go Fish
- Janken Card Collector
- Karuta
- Memory
- Missing Game
- Scrabble
- Sevens
- Slap
- Uno
- Weekday Card Collector
Worksheet Activities
Activities done on worksheets or handouts--easy to carry and easy to reproduce.
- Akuma Bingo
- Backwards Bingo
- Bingo
- Board Games
- Face Race
- Interview Bingo
- Ohajiki Game
- Pointing Game
- Question Pyramid
- Rich Man
- Scrabble
- Word Search
Vocabulary Activities
Activities that focus on vocabulary--useful for younger grades of elementary school that don't know much grammar. Also good review and confidence-boosting for 5th grade, 6th grade, and junior high.
- Backwards Bingo
- Bandages
- Bingo
- Boat Race
- Body Shapes
- Categories
- Categorize Me
- Circle Race
- Description Drawing
- Duck Duck Goose
- Face Race
- Find and Match
- Fruit Basket
- Gesture Game
- Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
- Hide and Find
- Hot Potato
- I Like Pink Fish
- Janken Game
- Janken with ALT
- Karuta
- Keyword Game
- Missing Game
- Musical Chairs
- Number Groups/Molecules
- Pictionary
- Pointing Game
- Run and Touch Colors
- Slap
- Walls and Corners
- Weekday Card Collector
- What Time is it Mr. Wolf?
Grammar Activities
Activities that focus on grammar, especially for 5th grade and older.
- Blindfold Directions Game
- Description Drawing
- Find and Match
- Hot Potato
- I Like Pink Fish
- Janken Game
- Janken with ALT
- Stopwatch Game
- Walls and Corners
- What's Your Name
Writing/Spelling Activities
Activities that practice the alphabet, writing, and spelling.
Review/Comprehensive Activities
Activities that can be adapted to or cover many different grammar points. The focus is on a broad range of topics and combines them.
Active Activities
Activities that involve moving, especially walking or running. Good for young students and classes that get bored easily. For classes with too much energy and thus usually have to stay at their desks, occasionally letting them play these as a reward can be a good incentive.
- ABC Karuta
- Bandages
- Blindfold Directions Game
- Boat Race
- Body Shapes
- Categories
- Categorize Me
- Circle Race
- Description Drawing
- Duck Duck Goose
- Find and Match
- Fruit Basket
- Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
- Hide and Find
- Hot Potato
- I Like Pink Fish
- Janken Game
- Janken with ALT
- Karuta
- Musical Chairs
- Number Groups/Molecules
- Run and Touch Colors
- Slap
- Stopwatch Game
- Walls and Corners
- Weekday Card Collector
- What Time is it Mr. Wolf?
Non-Active Activities
Activities that don't require students to walk around or move, a necessity for classes with too much energy.