 Yellow colored are individual or pair games involving 2

or 3 students

 Green colored are group games involving all students

1. Throw to the Card!

Put flashcards on the floor or on a table, where all your students

can see them. Ask each student in turn to throw a coin on one of
the cards. If their coin lands on the flashcard, they must name
the card.

2. Have a Race!

Stick several flashcards on the board in a row. Divide the class

into 2 teams. Call out one of the flashcards. The first student to
touch the correct flashcard wins a point for the team.

3. Hot Potato

Invite kids to sit in a circle. Give four or five of the kids a word
or picture card. Have them pass the cards around the circle while
listening to music. When the music stops, each student holding a
card must name the vocabulary word on the card.

4. What do you remember?

Put about four or five flashcards on the table. Tell the kids they
have 30 sec to remember them all. At the end of the time,
remove the cards from the table. Ask the students to name them.

5. Baffour say: Show Me a Picture

This is a Simon Says style of game. Hand out a set of flashcards

to individual kids. They listen carefully and hold up the correct
card when they hear you say, for example: I like… apples! They
should do nothing when they hear you say, for example, I don’t
like… apples! If they make a mistake, they are eliminated.

6. The Tower Game

Children say the words and 1 by 1 build a tower by placing a

How can you build your tower without it falling down? The
tallest tower wins.

7. Swat that Card!

Put up target flashcards on the board; use 3 or 4 volunteers to

come up to the board. Give them a fly swat each, then call out
the words and the children swat them. As this is a quick game
you can get around the whole class and let everyone have a go.

8. Teacher guess

Shuffle the cards and place them face down on the table in front
of you. Pick up the top card and place it on your head so as the
children can see the card but you can’t. Children mime the word
and you, the teacher must guess the word, calling out various
possibilities. Then, the children call out Yes or No depending.
 9. You’re in my Chair!

Children sit on their chairs in a circle; give each child a

flashcard except one child who stands in the middle of the circle.
Then, say two words. The children with these two cards have to
swap places and the child in the middle has to try to steal a seat.

10. Line up and say

Children line up in front of the teacher in two or three groups.

Teacher shows the children a flashcard. The first in the line try
to say the word as quickly as they can. Then, they go to the back
of the line and so forth.

11. The Circle

Students stand in a circle facing inwards. One student stands in

the middle of the circle. The teacher gives each student in the
circle a flashcard, for example of food. Each student must look
at the card and hold it behind their back so that the teacher can
see it. Now the teacher says for example: Pizza and ice-cream.
The students with these two cards must exchange places by
running across the circle. The student in the middle tries to rob a
space. If the student succeeds, the student who failed to
exchange places is now in the middle.

12. What’s Missing

Place 7 flashcards along the board. Gather them up, remove one
card and put them back. First student to say the missing card
wins.

13. Back to back

Two students come forward. Give each one a flashcard which
they hold behind their backs. Shout: Show! Students reveal their
cards to each other, and the first to name the picture wins.
Winner stays on.

14. Balloon Toss

Have the students stand in a circle. Toss a balloon to one student

and elicit vocabulary or a structure from that student. They must
be able to tap the balloon in the air without missing the
vocabulary or structure E.g. S1: "My name's Miki. What's your
name?" (tap) "My name's Hiro. What's your name?" (tap).

15. Telephone or Chinese Whispers

This can be played as a team game or with the whole group

Use the unit vocabulary for this game.
The teacher whispers a sentence (from the unit sentence pattern)
to the first student.
S/he has to whisper the sentence to the next student.
The last student says the sentence out loud. The team/group
scores if the sentence is correct.

16. Swivel Chair guess

Put the swivel chair in the class and surround it with flashcards
in a circular way. One student sits on the swivel chair and the
teacher spins the swivel chair gently. The student produces the
sentence with the target word.

17. Grab the cup/puppet

Students sit around a table facing each other with a cup between
every two students. Students repeat produce sentence as directed
by the teacher until they are signaled to grab the cup/puppet. The
first student to grab the cup/puppet wins a point.

18. Blow the cup away

Put paper cups on flashcards. Students take turns to blow the cup
off the target flashcard