Elementary School Activities

Sorted by topic / grammar point

ABC's

• Body Shapes

• ABC Karuta

• Backwards Bingo

Action Words

• Gesture Game

Animals

• Gesture Game

Body Parts

• Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

• Bandages

• Face Race

Colors

• Run and Touch Colors

Directions

• Blindfold Directions Game

Numbers

Number Groups/Molecules

• Time: 5-10 min
• Materials: Number flashcards (optional)
• Notes

ALT calls out a number and students must form groups with that many people. ALTs and JTEs can play to get group numbers right.

Body Shapes

• Time: 10-15 min
• Materials: number/alphabet flashcards
• Notes

Students get into groups of 4 or 5. ALT calls out a number or letter and students must use their bodies to make the shape of the letter. The first team to do so gets a point.

Days of the Week

Weekday Card Collector

• Time: 10-20 min
• Materials: Small Days of the Week Cards
• Notes

All students start with 3 different cards (each with a different day of the week on it). Students play rock/paper/scissors in pairs. The winner gets to request a day of the week that they don't yet have from the loser. The first student to collect all 7 days of the week wins. For an in depth rundown of the game click Weekday Card Collector.

Self Introduction

Stopwatch Game

• Time: 3-5 mins
• Materials: Stopwatch
• Notes

Students greet 3 others, then sit down. When all are seated, stop the clock.

What's Your Name

• Time: 5-7 min
• Materials: Genki CD
• Notes

Students do self-intro with 4 others in the song.

Janken with ALT

• Time: 5 min
• Materials: Stickers, flashcards (optional)
• Notes

Students line up on the opposite side of the room from the ALT. All janken with ALT; winners take a step forward, ties and losers don't move. When students reach the ALT, they have to name a flashcard or greet the ALT or just get a sticker.

Time

What Time is it Mr. Wolf?

• Time: 10-15 min
• Materials: Genki CD (optional)
• Notes

Students line up along one side of the room with the ALT on the other side. Students ask, "What time is it?" and the students take the same number of steps as the time the ALT says. Once the students get closer, the ALT answers "It's dinner time!" and tries to tag one of the students. The tagged student then becomes the wolf.

Vocab

Karuta

• Time: 10 min
• Materials: Flashcards, flyswatters (optional)
• Notes

Play after teaching/reviewing vocabulary (colors, animals, etc.). Variations: Flyswatter, run and touch.

Boat Race

• Time: 10-15 min
• Materials: Two sets of identical flashcards
• Notes

Get students into two lines and lay out the flashcards in front of the first person. After a card is called, the students pass it back while saying what it is. The last student has to run to the ALT and say what the card is. First team to finish gets a point.

Walls and Corners

• Time: 10-15 min
• Materials: Flashcards
• Notes

Place flashcards around the room. ALT closes eyes and counts to 10 and the students run to whichever card they like. ALT calls a card and all students standing by that card are out. This can be modified for older students, using whole sentences, instead of just the vocab, can put the word in a sentence. e.g. "I'm going to the park"

Variation: Make two teams. Place 'place name' flashcards around the room. Place 'vehicle' flash cards on the floor, one set for each team. ALT says "I take the bus to school" One member from each team then races to find the correct vehicle card, and take it to the correct place card location. The fastest team gets a point.

I Like Pink Fish

• Time: 15 min
• Materials: Color flashcards and another set of flashcards
• Notes

Lay out two sets of flashcards, leaving the two sets apart so the students can tell the difference. Students form two lines and when the ALT says "Go!", the first ones have to run and grab two cards, one from each pile. The first to correctly identify both gets a point.

Variations: Students must say "I like [color] [animal/fruit/etc.]."

Red Rover

• Time: 10-15 min
• Materials: Flashcards
• Notes

Students line up along one side the room and are assigned a color/fruit/animal/etc. The ALT stands in the middle of the room and calls out one of the words. The assigned students have to run to the other side of the room without getting tagged by the ALT.

Fruit Basket

• Time: 15-20 min
• Materials: Flashcards, color necklaces (optional)
• Notes

Students form a circle with chairs and are assigned a color/fruit/animal/etc, at least two students per word. ALT stands in the middle of the circle and calls out a word and the assigned students have to jump up and change seats. Whoever is left without a seat has to call out the next word.

Ball and Music

• Time: 10-15 min
• Materials: Flashcards, ball or stuffed animal, music CD
• Notes

Students get into a circle and pass (not throw!) a ball around while the music plays. When the music stops, whoever is holding the ball has to name the flashcard the ALT shows and repeat it 5 times. Then all students say it.

Circle Race

• Time: 10-15 min
• Materials: Flashcards, stopwatch
• Notes

Students get into a circle. One student has a stack of flashcards. When the ALT says "Go!", the student picks up the first card, says the word, and passes it to the next student, who has to say the word and pass it. Repeat until all the cards have been used. When finished, stop the clock. Variation: Students get into two smaller circles and race against each other.

Bingo

• Time: 15-20 min
• Materials: Bingo sheets, pencils/markers, flashcards
• Notes

Students fill in their bingo sheets with relevant vocabulary and the ALT calls out words. Play until everybody has bingo. Give out stickers.

Super Mega Janken

• Time: 10 min
• Materials: Flashcards
• Notes

Get students into two lines facing each other and lay the flashcards face down in a line between the them. The first student in each line starts at their end of the flashcards and turns over the card and says the word. When the two meet, they janken. Winner goes forward, loser has to go back and the next person in line starts over at the first card. First team to get to the end of the line of cards gets a point.

Duck, Duck, Goose

• Time: 5-10 min
• Materials: None
• Notes

Students form a circle. One student is "it" and goes around the circle tapping each student as a duck (or color/animal/fruit/etc.). Whoever is tagged as the goose has to chase the tapper around. If the tapper is tagged, he goes in the middle.

Pictionary

• Time: 10 min
• Materials: Chalk, blackboard
• Notes

ALT draws a picture based on the relevant vocabulary and the first student to guess correctly gets to come up and draw the next one. Variation: Students are in teams and the first team to guess correctly gets a point. ALT draws all pictures.

Musical Chairs

• Time: 5-10 min
• Materials: Music CD, flashcards (optional)
• Notes

Students form a circle with chairs, but have one fewer chairs than students. Play music and students walk around chairs. When music stops, students sit, and whoever doesn't have a seat is out and also has to say a vocabulary word.

Variation: Put flashcards in a circle (same number as students) and have students walk around them while music plays. When music stops, call out a word and the student by that card is out.

Categorize Me

• Time: 10 min
• Materials: Flashcards
• Notes

Give students cards that fall into various categories like animals, fruits, sports, etc. Then have them find other people in their category. Try to have an equal number in each category to avoid confusion.

Hide and Find

• Time: 10 min
• Materials: Flashcards
• Notes

Have the students close their eyes, then hide pre-taught flashcards around the room. Once all are hidden, tell the students to open their eyes. Call out a flashcard and the students have to run around the room to find it.

Slap

• Time: 10 min
• Materials: Flashcards
• Notes

Split the students into two teams. Have them line up one behind the other. The ALT sits at the front of the line. The ALT announces a keyword, then turns the flashcards face up one by one. When the correct card is flipped, the first student in each line tries to slap the card first.

What's Missing?

• Time: 5 min
• Materials: Flashcards
• Notes

Put all the flashcards up on the black board, or lay them out on the floor. Have students close their eyes. Take one or two cards away. Students must identify the missing cards

Secret Word

• Time: 10 min
• Materials: Erasers, one for each pair
• Notes

Make pairs of students. Students place an eraser between them. ALT announces the 'secret word'. Have the students repeat the secret word. The ALT then says random vocabulary, when the ALT says the 'secret word' students try to grab the eraser before their partner does.

Pointing Games

• Time: 10 min
• Materials: Sheet with pictures corresponding to vocab for the day, best for 9-16 vocab
• Notes

Make the students sit in pairs or groups of 3, each group needs one sheet. Have students ask a question, in relation to vocab, for example, sports; Students ask "what sport do you like/play?", the teacher or ALT answers "I like/play volleyball". Students point to the corresponding picture. The fastest student in each group gets a point.

Variation: For students who aren't so great, a nice variation is to make the fastest person keep their finger on the squares/pictures they've 'won'. They can only use one hand, it gives slower kids a chance to catch up, since it gets harder the more they get right. It ends up looking like a mini game of twister, and the kids seem to enjoy it.