Fun Teaching Games

8/10/2019 Fun Teaching Games

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FUN

TEACHING

GAMES

FORWARD

This handout is a stripped down version of Andrews Games Goldmine. I hope to publish

Game Goldmine soon. It will have a hundred games, a dozen tips on playing them, a spe ial

se tion on playing games with very young hildren and ideas on how to tea h your lasses in

a lively and interesting way. It will probably be initially sold at !aves "oo# $tore.

As a favor to %ea h To Tea h, I am allowing this version to be given to %ea h To Tea h

tea hers and for it to be put it on the website www.rea htotea hre ruiting. om

&'un Games has a total of () games. If you #now of any great games please let me #now.

*ou an onta t me at + sailsofroman e yahoo. om

%egards,

Andrew "urgon

%esident $ubstitute Tea her

-id !astle Ing !huen !hong *ong "ran hes

TAI/A0

This do ument is opyright. All rights reserved.
http://www.reachtoteachrecruiting.com/mailto:[email protected]://www.reachtoteachrecruiting.com/mailto:[email protected]


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1. 2AG03T$ 4053% T63 7I!T4%3 7877ut some flash ards on the white board and underneath ea h one draw air le. Give a magnet to one student and say a word. The hild must put the

magnet under the right pi ture. It always amazes how 9unior and senior #idslove to do this boring game: *ou may be able to play it with very younghildren. 6it the vo abulary hard before playing and heavily prompt them ifthey need it.

;. 7I!- 47 A05 $A*7ut two sets of flash ards on the floor. 'or older lasses I have them turntheir ba #s on the ards. Then when I say a word they turn around, pi # upthe right ard, raise it up in the air and say the word.

with older lasses?7ut several flash ards or write several words on the board and a ir le ne@tto ea h one. 0e@t to the ir le is a magnet. 0ow say the words in random

order. *ou an either ount how many magnets they an pla e in 1 minute ortime how long it ta#es them to pla e all magnets. /rite their name on thewhiteboard and how many magnets they pla ed or how long it too# to pla eall the magnets. /hen you have finished playing this game as# them>espe ially if playing with older lasses? who is first se ond third. 6ave themrespond, 2ary is first and so on.

B. %8== T63 "A==

This is something you an try doing with a baby lass or new primary lassstudents. >At my s hool we have baby, primary, 9unior and senior lasses.?6ave four or five of the hildren sit in a semiC ir le preferably wide apart. $aya word and roll the ball to a student. That student stops the ball, says the wordand rolls it ba #. *ou may want to get the preCs hool lass tea her to help youespe ially with lowCresponse hildren.

D. G8 A05 'I05Give out the flash ards to the hildren and have them hold them up. !hoosea hild who doesnEt have a flash ard to ome out. $ay a word. The hild finds


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the game with naughts and rosses you play it with these olored pi tures.Team A uses blue, team " uses red. 'irst one to get three of their olor in arow is the winner. Fery young hildren probably wonEt understand the row

aspe t of the game right away. *ouEll need to play against a few hildren firstand show the lass again and again that you won be ause you have three ofyour olors in a row.

Fersion ;5raw a ti ta toe grid. Must above the grid to the left draw a ir le and eHualssign with a word ne@t to it >8 N Apple?. 8n the other side draw a ross andeHuals sign with another word ne@t to it >O N "anana?. 7aper s issors stone tosee who starts. 3a h time a team member draws a ir le or ross he or shesays the orresponding word.

1). /6I!6 6A05P2a#e a few small pi ture ards that an fit in the palm of your hand. Ta#e one,put it behind your ba # and hoose a hand to #eep it in. $how your two fists toa hild and as# him where the pi ture ard is. If he hooses the wrong handshow him that itEs in your other hand and get him to repeat the word. If he getsit right give him some praise then get him to say the word. *ou would play this

sitting on the floor with the hildren seated within arms rea h of you. I onlyplay this game with very young hildren.

11. /8%5 !6AI%$ >li#e musi al hairs? 7877ut four hairs in a four leaf lover formation. Then put four or five flash ardson the whiteboard. !ir le one of the flash ards. Get five hildren to wal#around the hairs. Apple: The hildren loo# at the flash ards but apple isnot ir led. They say 0o apple: as they ontinue to wal# around the hairs.

*ou say Grapes and the hildren seeing that grapes is ir led Hui #ly sitdown saying *es grapes. The hild who doesnEt have a hair has to say allthe words on the board before going ba # to his seat. Ta#e one hair away.-eep playing the same way till only one hild has a seat. That hild is thewinner.

1;. AI%'8%!3 $T%I-3 7875raw a blue 9et fighter on one side of the board and a red 9et fighter on theother side of the board. As# two hildren to ome out, one from team A theother from team ". There are many different things you ould get them to do.


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An e@ample is the omplete a senten e a tivity. Get them to turn around sotheir ba # is to the whiteboard. 5raw four dashes on the board. /rite old onthe se ond dash. $ay go: The first hild to turn around and say 6ow old are

youP wins. If the hildren an spell get the loser to fill in the blan#s. 3ven ifthey anEt spell you an always write the words under the dashes and havethe loser write those words on top of the dashes. Another varation of this isthe uns ramble game. $how them old you are howP They have touns ramble it. Anyway, the winnerEs plane gets to shoot off a missile: I draw aline from the missile on the winnerEs plane to the other teams planea ompanied by the best sound effe ts I an ome up with. Then with aplasti toy hammer I go around the losing team and hit them softly on thehead: >2ost of them put their boo# over their heads.? /hen a plane has beenhit three times it is destroyed. If you are playing this with #indy hildren youmay li#e to get the winners to stand up and with outstret hed arms fly aroundthe lass with you twi e:

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the flash ard and say the word is out. 3ventually there is only one hild left.'or 6alloween I get a broom, stand on a hair and laugh li#e a wit h. I thenswoop down, grab the hand of the last hild and ta#e them ba # to their hair.

'or #indy lasses I might also pretend to be an eagle.

7oint /all GameGet five hildren to stand in the middle of the lass. $ay a word and the lasthild to point to the right flash ard and say the word is out.

1B. $7A!3$6I7 2880 /A=- GA235raw two spa eships on a laun hing pad. 3a h one has a fire under it. At thetop of the whiteboard draw a moon with the number 1( written on the bottomof it. Two students ome out one from team A the other from team ". As#them a Huestion, The first one to answer orre tly an throw a di e. /rite thenumber he or she throws in the fire. -eep playing with different students andadd up the numbers as you go along. $ound effe ts, please: I ma#e thesound of a ro #et blasting off and with my arms in the air turn around. 'irstteam to s ore 1( points wins and lands on the moon. /ith #indy lasses Isometimes get the winners to stand up and wal# around the room in slowmotion li#e astronauts on the moon.

1D. /%80G 8% %IG6TP

Fersion 8neTwo students fa ing the ba # wall. /rite a senten e on the whiteboardorre tly or in orre tly. $ay Go: The hildren turn around. If the senten e iswrong the hild must say /rong , go to the whiteboard, rewrite it orre tlyand say what they wrote. If itEs right they 9ust say, %ight. I go to s hool by

bus. 7ut something on the floor about ; meters from the whiteboard. 8n ethey ross that line they are ommitted. $o, if they say wrong and ross theline but the senten e is right he or she is out.

Fersion TwoThe se ond version of this game an be played after doing a few units or abig dialogue. Get two hildren to ome out. 2a#e a statement relative to thedialogue li#e, "eth is D years old. If orre t, the hildren must say, %ight."eth is D years old. If wrong, /rong. "eth is B years old. 'or this game Iusually ma#e up two sets of signs. 8n a sHuare pie e of paper I draw a ir le.


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8n a se ond pie e of paper a ross. I then put a ross on top of one hopsti #and the ir le on another. /hen a hild answers right or wrong he or she mustraise the appropriate ard.

1 . "=I05'8=5 GA23This is an old game that one of my lasses many years ago begged me toplay often. A small lassroom with several students at a time playing is ideal. Iput a blindfold on a student. The blindfolded student has to as# a Huestionli#e, 6ow old are youP The other students must answer >whispering is notallowed?. Anyone aught whispering too mu h is out till the ne@t game. Theblindfolded student uses these answers to lo ate and grab a student. If thehildren #now ea h other well they also have to guess the students name bythe sound of their voi e. >The blindfolded hild ould as# him or her a fewHuestions before guessing who it is. This an be funny to wat h as hildren tryto hange their voi e.? If the blindfolded hilde guesses wrong, the gamestarts again.

1 . T3A2 "A== %3=A* 787Two teams of si@. 'ive are in a line. The si@th hild fa es her team members.There is a distan e of about two to three meters between them. =etEs say your

tea hing the hildren, 6ow are youP The team leader says, 6ow are youPand throws the ball to the first hild who answers IEm fine, than# you andthrows the ball ba #. The first hild sHuats on the floor while the team leaderrepeats the Huestion and throws the ball to the se ond hild. That hildanswer and throws the ball ba #. /hen the last hild throws the ball ba # theteam leader sHuats. The first team to finish wins. This is a good game to playwhen tea hing the =oo# boo# of Ameri an ram lasses. 'or e@ample, Arethere any oranges in that bas#etP There are a few oranges or There are a

lot of oranges. The other day I played this I wrote B different words on theboard and ne@t to them the response I wanted eg. There are a lot of oranges.$o, everytime the team leader threw the ball he had to use a different word inthe senten e. 3a h team member gave a slightly different response.

1J. /6I$73% GA23 787Two teams with about B hildren in ea h. 3a h team is lined up and teammembers spa ed apart. 6ave the first hild in both teams ome out. /hispera senten e to them. They go ba # to their team and whisper the samesenten e to the se ond person who then whispers to the third hild and so on.


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The last hild shouts out what was whispered. If the hildren are very good atthis ma#e the line longer or give them two senten es..

;). 7I!TI80A%* 787This is a good game for when you are reviewing a few units or even a wholeboo#. 5ivide the lass into pairs and give ea h pair a pie e of paper. Then goaround the lass and assign ea h student the letter A or ". As# all the AEs toome out and show them a word eg. house. They then go ba # to their seatand Huietly draw a pi ture of a house. The first " person to say house wins.

A and " ta#e turns to draw.

;1. $0A-3$ A05 =A553%$ 787If you havenEt played this you havenEt gone to s hool:

;;. !I%!=3 GA23 7875ivide the whiteboard in half and on both sides write an identi al set of words.Two students ome out. *ou say a word and the first hild to ir le the wordand say it wins.

;


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the ount of three they turn around, loo# at the flash ard your holding and thefirst one to say what it is gets to shoot the other student with his pistol fingers.I try to get the loser to do a dramati , funny death but some hildren are a bit

too shy to do this.

;B. T63 G68$T GA23 787!hildren are seated in a ir le. Give out several flash ards. 8ne hild standsin the middle. Tea her starts the game by saying a word. 2ary, who has thehammer, has to Hui #ly find that word and hit the hildEs table. 6owever,before 2ary ma#es it to Fin entEs table Fin ent says another word and aroundthe lass it goes till 2ary hits the table of a urrent word. $ometimes I get thehild who has the hammer to wear bunny ears: 0obody wants to be in sothey try even harder: KC? heh heh

;D. 5I!3 G68$T GA23 787/rite five senten es on the board and number them. Then draw a ghost at thebottom and write si@ ne@t to it. A hild from team A and another from team "omes out. They both roll a di e at the same time >the di e should be adifferent olor.? The hild who rolls the higher di e number gets theopportunity to s ore points for his team. If he rolled a ( and he reads the

fourth senten e he s ores four points for his team. If he anEt say thesenten e the other student gets the han e to s ore points for his team. If ahild gets a D pretend to be a ghost and have some lighthearted fun hasinghim or her around the lass. Alternatively, you an ma#e it that if a hild rolls asi@ they have to say all the senten es. >*ou an play this game with 9ust onedi e. The first one to say the di e number senten e wins the points.?

; . /%ITI0G %3=A* GA23 787

8ne way I li#e to play this is assign ea h team member a number and put twomar#ers standing on their ends near the whiteboard. The hildren you all outshould be of eHual distan e to the whiteboard. *ou say a word then a number.Apple : The eighth team member on both teams rush out, grab the mar#eron the floor and write apple on the board. 'irst one to do so and say the wordwins. To ma#e it easier you an put all the words you want to review in aolumn in the middle of the whiteboard. They an refer to that if they anEtspell the word. Alternatively, you an write all the words in pen il on a pie e of paper and put it on the ba # wall. If a hild anEt remember how to spell aword they an go to the ba # wall and loo# at the word. If you are writing


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senten es you an leave a boo# open at the dialogue youEre reviewing fortheir referen e.

; . 7I!- 47 !A%5 A05 $A*Give out B blan# pie es of paper to ea h student. 6ave them write a differentword on ea h pie e of paper and spread the ards out on their little hairCtable. $ay a word. The first one to raise that word and say it wins. 4sing a redmar#er put a dot on that ard. -eep playing the game till a hild has a dot onall five ards. I usually draw a trophy, medal and lollipop on the whiteboard for this game. /ith great pomp and eremony I wal# over to the winner and givethem an imaginery trophy. The same goes for the medal and lollipop.

;J. 7=A*I0G !A%5$ /8%5 $30T30!3 GA23 787Ideally you need a long des# or ounter area to play this game. /rite severalsenten es on the board. 'rom a half pa # of playing ards ta#e a numberedheart ard. 'or e@ample, the of hearts. /ith a red mar#er write and aheart ne@t to the first senten e. Assign ea h senten e a heart, diamond, lubor spade number. As you do so show the hildren the ard. 0ow youEre readyto play. 2any ram s hool lassrooms donEt have a long table so have the

hildren ta#e their things off their hairCtable. 7ut five ards on ea h table fa edown. Tell the hildren not to loo# at the ards. Two students ome out. /henyou say a senten e they loo# at the whiteboard to see what the orrespondingard is. Then they go to any table they li#e and pi # up one ard at a time.They must put the ard ba # fa e down before they an pi # up another ard.'irst one to find the ard and say the senten e wins.


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!hildren pass a ball around the lass. 7lay some musi . /hen you play themusi you anEt loo# at the hildren. $uddenly stop the musi and turn around.The hild who has the ball has to read a senten e or tell you what a flash ard

is. I usually have the hild say the previous words or senten es that were saidduring the game. $o the fifth hild has to say the fifth senten e and senten esone to four. If you are pra ti ing Huestions and answers give the students onesmall ball and one big ball to pass around the ir le. The small one is passedlo #wise and the big ball antiC lo #wise. /hen you turn around the hild thathas the small ball has to as# the hild with the big ball the Huestions on thewhiteboard. 6aving the right musi for this game an really give it a boost. Ili#e to play, /e will /e will %o # *ou: In rowdy lasses it may be better toget the !T to supervise the hildren >as your ba # is turned and somehildren an go a little razy:?

or plain lamenated paper? ut out nine sHuares. 8nthe ba # of these staple several blan# pie es of paper so you an play thegame with many lasses. $ele t four words you want to tea h the hildren./rite the same word on two ards. 8n the nineth ard draw a shar#. To introthe game you may li#e to draw a shar# on the whiteboard. $how the hildren

the ards then shuffling them put them all on the whiteboard ledge so that thefront of the ard is fa ing the hildren. 7ut a number above ea h ard. All theards should loo# identi al. 5etermine whi h team starts by playing paper,s issors, stone. The winner tells you a number >the hildren sit down duringthis game.? Turn that number over and prompt the hild to say it. The winnerhooses another number. If itEs the same he gets a point. If itEs not the sameturn the ards over again and itEs the other teams turn. Ta#e away the ardsthat were su essfully mat hed. 3ventually youEll get down to three ards. "y

this time the hildren #now whi h ard is the shar#. $o I rearrange themslowly several times before getting a hild to hoose two ards. The team withthe most points wins.


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sound eg. IEm a du #, Hua # Hua # Hua #. The person who ta#es off the lastwrapper wins the prize. If there are a lot of people playing you an have onepar el going lo #wise and another going antiC lo #wise. *ou an also have a

se ond smaller ir le of hildren in the middle passing a par el. At your s hoolthere may be a abinet with things li#e stationery and toys that the hildrenan swap their point ards for. As# if you an use one for this game.


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own by going to google. om and under EimagesE sear h for different animalsthen print them out. =amenate them and put a magnet strip on the top of theard front and ba #. *ou should have at least 11 animal ards on the

whiteboard. Tea h them the names of the animals before you begin the game.If a hild during the game anEt remember the name of the animal en ouragethem to say what they an then tell them what the animal is. 'or e@ample, ifhe doesnEt #now the word panda you may be able to get out of him a bla #and white bear. Teams ta#e turns saying two ards whi h you turn over forthem. /hen a ard is turned over the hild must say what the word on theba # is. As# the lass, Are they the sameP 6ave them respond, 0o, theyare different or *es, they are the same. *ou ould also as# a hild, /hatanimal an you seeP $he responds, I an see a rabbit. Then turn over theard. Two ards the same s ores a point for that team. %emove thesu essfully mat hed ards from the board. 8n the ba # of the 11th ard puta pi ture of a lion. If a hild hooses that ard pretend to be a lion andplayfully Eatta #E him or her.

< . %A!I0G !A% GA23 7875raw two lanes at the top of the board and brea# the lanes into re tangles.2a#e up two ra ing ards with a magnet strip on the ba # of them or use two

different olor magnets. Get a team member from team A and a team member from team " to ome out. 6ave them do something li#e spell a word or say aword or senten e. The first one to do so gets to throw the di e. If itEs a B movehis teamsE ra ing ar five spa es. 'irst team to ross the finishing line is thewinner. I ma#e ar noises and do funny anti s with this game. I sometimesdonEt use the di e. Instead, when a hild wins I move his ar one spa eforward. Then I get the winner to play paper, s issors, stone with the loser. Ifhe wins, I move his ar to the ne@t spa e and he #eeps on playing till he

loses. $o if he wins three times in a row at paper, s issors, stone his armoves three spa es forward. This sometimes has funny results. I have seen alosing team suddenly win at paper, s issors, stone five times in a row. Thehildren go razy with e@ itement: If the loser wins two more hildren omeout to play.


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(). /8%5$ 80 "A!- GA23 7872a#e up some word ards or use flash ards. !ut a pie e of string taping the

ends to the left and right side of the ba # of the ard so the hildren an wearit around their ne #. There are two ways to play this game. The first is withtwo hildren. 6ave them lose their eyes and put around their ne # a wordard so that the ard is resting on their ba #. Go: The first hild to say theword on the ba # of the other hild wins. This an be Huite funny to wat h. Ifthe hildren get too aggressive >grabbing ea h other? you might li#e to ma#e ita rule that they anEt tou h ea h other. The se ond way is to have abouttwelve hildren play. 'or this I write in big letters four groups of three wordsand I sti # them to a wall for the hildrenEs referen e. Then I have the hildrenma#e a ir le and lose their eyes. I go around the ir le putting the wordsaround their ne #s so that the ard is resting on their ba #. Go: The first thinga hild has to do is go up to another hild and as# /hatEs my wordP 8n ethey #now their word they loo# at the groups of words on the wall. /hen theyfind out whi h group they belong to they must find the other two hildren intheir group. 8n e three hildren have formed a group they hold hands, raisethem in the air and shout out their words. I usually start off playing with twohildren then after five minutes play the groups game.

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