27 ideas

for games
and activities
with young learners
Why is it important to play games with young learners?

Games and fun are the essence of a primary classroom. Why? Simply
because games:
• motivate and entertain young learners,
• help them learn the language more effectively,
• let them tune in the lesson and prepare for more challenging
tasks that require focus and attention,
• often involve movement and activate senses therefore
effectively appeal to learners’ cognitive skills.
Here is the list of 27 ideas for games in primary classroom. Some of
them make perfect warm-ups, can be used as fillers between exercises,
entertaining routines, ideas for breaks or a way to revise and consolidate
the words or structures presented in the lesson.

1. Simon Says
Simon Says is a well-known game. It gives learners the chance to be in
the centre of action. The idea is to nominate one child to be Simon.
Simon stands in front of the classroom and gives instructions to children.
Every instruction starts with ‘Simon says’ and is followed by a task that
children have to do, e.g. ‘Simon says stand up.’ or ‘Simon says jump
3 times’. Children who follow the instructions continue the game.
Children who make a mistake sit down. The game is a great idea for
a warm-up. To make it even more fun, think of instructions less familiar
to children that e.g. will involve the whole body.
Ideas for instructions:
• Stand up. / Sit down.
• Shake your whole body
• Hop on your left / right foot 10 times. (count to 10)
• Spin around in circles e.g. 5 times. (count to 5 aloud)
• Balance on your left / right foot and count to 10.
• Whisper your name.
• Say your name out loud.
• Turn around 7 times. (count to 7 aloud)
• Show off your muscles in your arms.
• Jump 5 times.
 • Bend down and touch your feet.
• Touch your nose / feet / head.
• Hold your right / left foot with your left / right hand.
• Sing the alphabet.
• Point at door, desk, pencil etc.
• Lift a pen, a pencil box, a book.

2. Simon Says modified version

This is a trickier version of Simon Says. If your students know the idea of
Simon Says game introduce a change. Tell them that they should do
what you say, and not copy what you do. For example, if Simon says
‘Clap your hands’ but you are jumping, children should clap hands. In the
modified version of Simon Says the teacher is giving instructions, but
with time students also learn how to do it. This is a perfect way to see if
your students are listening carefully.

3. Hot potato
To do this activity you need an object e.g. a real potato, a ball or
anything else that would serve as a ‘hot’ object. Explain to the students
that you are holding a very hot potato but you can’t drop it. Set the
category of words that the students will be asked to give e.g. category of
food. Say the first word e.g. ‘sandwich’ and quickly pass the ‘hot’ object
to another student. The student with the ‘hot’ object’ has to give another
example of food word and pass the object around the classroom. The
student should not hold the object too long since it’s very hot. If the
student has problems with giving the word, ask the class for help. This
activity is a good revision task.

4. I spy
I spy is an excellent example of a game that doesn’t need any
preparation. The idea of the game is to invite students to guess the name
of the object another student sees in the classroom. It is good to show
the students how to play the game first. The Teacher starts by saying
‘I spy with my little eye something that begins with B’. The object could
be a book or a blackboard or whatever that starts with letter B. Students
look around and try to guess the name of the object by either pointing at
the object in the classroom or naming it. You could also make the game
a bit more difficult by inviting students to ask questions. With younger
pupils it is good to use an alternative version with colours and start the
game by saying ‘I spy with my little eye something that is red’.

5. Pair words, pictures or sentences

Prepare a list of pictures, words or sentences and cut them in two
pieces. You can give one part of the word or sentence to one student
and the other half to another student and ask students to find pairs. This
could also be turned into a group activity. To play the game with the
whole class jumble the halves of pictures, words or sentences on the
floor and ask students to find pairs. Depending on what you decide to put
on the pieces of paper, ask students to read out the word and use it in
a sentence or read out the sentence and say if it is true or false, read out
the question and ask students to answer it.

6. Hot and cold

Hot and cold game is based on a traditional children game, in which an
object is hidden in the room and students need to find it thanks to hints
such as ‘cold, colder, freezing cold’ meaning that the object is not there
or far away from its location, or saying ‘warm, warmer, hotter and hot’
when the object is very close. The same game can be used in
classroom. The class is divided in two teams, in which one is hiding the
object and the other is searching for it. You can introduce points for
finding the object or points for giving hints to the opposite team, if they
find the task too challenging.

7. Word Hunt
This game is inspired by traditional Easter game Egg hunt. To play it you
need e.g. 20 flashcards. Hang the flashcards in different places in the
classroom, in visible and less obvious places, but make sure your
students can find them. You can play the game as a whole class, in
teams or pairs. Ask the students to find all the hidden flashcards. Once
the flashcards are found you can ask students to name the objects
presented in the flashcards, ask them extra questions or ask them to put
flashcards in categories.
8. The alphabet game
If you have 20 students in the classroom, choose 20 flashcards and hang
them in different places in the classroom, in visible and less visible
places. Ask the students to find all the flashcards. If one student finds
more than one flashcard, ask him or her to share the flashcards with
other students. One student should hold one flashcard. Once all the
flashcards are found, ask the students to stand with their flashcards
in the alphabetic order. If your students find it too challenging, ask them
to show their flashcards and together say the alphabet. Help them by
asking questions e.g. ‘Do we have anything starting with A?’

9. What’s missing
This game can be played in pairs, in teams or with the whole class. To
play the game you need flashcards or word cards. It’s a great game to
play as a warm up activity or a revision. Choose ten to fifteen flashcards
or word cards and place them on the board. Ask the students to read out
the names of objects or words shown in the flashcards. Instruct the
whole class to turn back and when no one is watching remove one
flashcard from the board. Ask students to guess the name of the missing
card or cards. In the next turn, you can ask one of the students to
remove the card. When all the cards are removed, you can ask students
to name their 10 most favourite words from the selection. To add variety
and make the task more challenging remove one flashcard and jumble
those that are left on the board.

10. Wall of favourite words

This is an idea for a nice classroom routine activity. From the selection of
flashcards or word cards or any words you like (the words could come
from the previous lesson or two) choose three words and ask students to
vote for their most favourite word of the day or week. Majority of votes
decides which word would be placed on the wall. Keep the word for the
whole day or week.
Once the day or week is over, put the word in a memory box or
envelope. After a few weeks check how much your students remember.
11. How are you today?
This is another idea for a classroom activity teaching children empathy.
When children come to the classroom and sit down, say to the class
‘Hello students. How are you today? Who is happy today?’ and show
a happy person. Ask the happy students to raise their hands or wave and
sing with them the rhyme ‘Hooray hooray, we are happy today’. Next ask
the students ‘Who is sleepy today?’ and show a sleepy person. Ask the
sleepy students to raise hands or stretch arms. Children who feel sleepy
sing together ‘Tick tock tick tock, it is time to wake up!’. Then ask
students ‘Who is sad today?’ and show a sad person. Ask all the
students to sing a cheer-up rhyme together ‘Don’t worry, stand up, clap
your hands and cheer up!’. You can invite the whole class to sing all the
rhymes together.

12. Pass the ball

For this game prepare a soft ball. Ask the students to sit in a circle.
Name a category of words. It could be as easy as alphabet, food, colours
etc. Give the first student the ball and say the word from this category
e.g. sandwich. The student takes the ball and passes it on to another
student and says another word from the selected category. Once the
ideas finish, ask one of your students to think of another category. This
activity is excellent for revising vocabulary.

13. The burning word

For this game you need a soft ball or a puppet. Before the start of the
game tell the students which word or words are the burning words. If you
play colours then the burning word can be black or red. If you play food
words then the burning word could be pizza or broccoli. Name a category
of words and start the game. The students toss the ball or the puppet to
another student and say the category word. If the word is the burning
word, the student who catches the ball loses or the team loses a point.
14. What’s that word?
Give students a piece of paper and ask them to draw a word from
a selected category e.g. animals. Collect the drawings, jumble them and
attach them to students backs. Students ask each other questions and
try to guess the name of the animal on their backs.

15. What’s that letter or word?

Ask students to work in pairs. One student is writing a letter or drawing
an object on the other student’s back. The student’s task is to guess the
letter or the name of the object. When they guess the word, the students
change roles.

16. Chinese whispers

Ask students to sit in a circle. The teacher starts the game by whispering
a word or a phrase to the student. Student whisper the word or phrase to
each other, one by one until the turn returns to the teacher. The teacher
says out loud what he or she heard. If the word or sentence is the same,
the whole class wins. If the word or sentence is different, the whole class
loses. The same game can be played in two teams.

17. Silent mouthing

Select flashcards with words you want to teach your students. Elicit the
name of words presented in the flashcards. Then say the words silently,
emphasizing the placement of your lips and tongue. Students identify
and say the word just from sight. Then they repeat the same with the
partner paying particular attention to the shape of their mouth and the
placement of their lips and tongue. This task requires from the student
forming the word correctly so that their partner can guess and say the
word.

18. Air drawing

Select flashcards with words you want to teach your students. Elicit the
name of words presented in the flashcards and place them on the board
so that students can see them. Ask students to work in pairs. One
student chooses the word and draws it in the air. The other has to guess
that word. Then students change turns. The same activity can be used
with word cards. Instead of drawing students are writing the word in the
air.

19. Clap it out

This activity helps children memorize the words and the sounds. First
present the vocabulary that you will use in the activity and read the
words out loud with the whole class. Once the children are familiar with
the words, clap or tap out the syllables together.

20. Touch and guess

To perform this activity you need a box or a sack and objects which
names you want your students to guess. Put one object in the box or
a sack so that the students can’t see it. Ask the students to guess the
name of the object only by touching it. With more advanced students you
can ask the student to describe the object to the class and ask the class
to guess what is hidden in the sack or a box. Alternatively, he or she can
draw the object for the class to guess.

21. Mystery object

To play this game you need a box and a set of objects. They can
represent food, toys, school things etc. You can select objects that will
help you introduce the words in the lesson or any objects you like. Make
holes in the box so that the students can either smell the object (e.g.
if you put half of the lemon or chocolate), touch it or see by peeping into
the box. Put the object in the box and ask one student to guess its name.

22. Hidden objects

To do this activity you need a bowl and fill it with beans, groats, beads or
sand. Sink in it small objects and ask students to find them. To make the
tasks more difficult you can blindfold the student who is trying to guess
the name of the object.
23. Sand drawing
To do this multisensory activity with your students you need a paper
plate and either sand or fine-grained groats. Students work in pairs or
in two small teams of up to four members. You can either let your
students decide on their own what to draw or tell your students by
showing an object on a flashcard or word card. This activity is excellent
with young learners at the stage of learning how to write to practise the
alphabet.

24. Slow drawing

This activity can be used as a warm-up, revision or a break in the lesson.
You can do it with the whole class as a team competition. Ask one
student to draw either a random word or pre-selected word. You can also
use flashcards to help students with the choice of words. The student
starts to draw the object very, very slowly. The rest of the class or a team
tries to guess the word. Those who guess it get the point.

25. Pictionary
For this game you need flashcards, word cards or slips of paper with
words for students to show. Before the class, write on slips of paper the
name of actions e.g. ‘washing the dishes’ and put them in a bag. Split the
class into two teams. Bring one student from each team to the front
of the class and ask them to draw a slip of paper from the bag. Have
both students mime the action to their teams. The first team to shout out
the correct answer wins a point. Repeat this until all students have
mimed at least one action.

26. The Hot Seat

Choose a student to sit in the Hot Seat – a chair facing the classroom
with the board behind them. Write a word on the board and ask the class
to help the student who is sitting in the hot seat to guess the word.
Students have a limited amount of time and cannot say, spell or draw the
word. Continue the game until each team member has described a word
to the student in the Hot Seat. To control time and introduce discipline
use a kitchen timer and set e.g. 30 seconds or a minute for the class to
guess the word.
27. We created a monster!
To do this activity you need a clean sheet of paper A4 size for each
student and a pencil or crayons. Before you start the task give your
students instructions. Students will draw monsters but the final result will
depend on collaboration. The drawing is divided into stages. In each
stage, students will draw a part of the monster, fold the page leaving only
the guiding lines for the next student to continue drawing. Phase one is
from head to the neck (students fold the paper and leave two neck lines
for another student to continue), phase two is from the neck to the waist,
phase three is from waist to knees and phase four – from knees to toes.
You can have two, three, four or five drawing phases. It’s up to you and
your students’ skills. The important thing is to make sure that one student
leaves guiding lines for the other one to continue drawing. In this task,
you can draw a monster, but you can also use the idea to draw funny
pictures of other students, a strange house etc. Once the monster is
ready, ask students to name it, describe and colour. Put the monster
on the wall to create a monster exhibition.