Elementary School Activities
Sorted by topic / grammar point
Contents
ABC's
Action Words
Animals
Body Parts
Colors
Directions
Numbers
Days of the Week
Self Introduction
Time
Vocabulary
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.
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