Bulls-eye

There are many variations of this game, but it basically involves throwing something at the board to get points.  The simplest is just to put concentric circles with different number values in them.  Then show a flash card and the fastest team to say gets to throw a ball at the target to get points.  If you have a sticky ball or darts it is useful for scoring.  Another option is to put word endings (eg: -ig, -ug, -ag) in circles and when you say "bag" or "bug" etc, they have to chose the right circle.

Paper planes

Get a selection of boxes and stick flashcards and point values to the front of them.  The kids make and decorate a paper plane.  When you say the card, they have to try to get their plane into it.

Count Down

Put the kids in two teams.  For each team draw a 50 at the top of the board.  They roll the dice and whatever they get, they can take that number away.  The first team to get to zero wins.  Variations are:

• just have them speak out loud for number practice
  
• show a flash card and the first kid to say the card can throw the dice
• ask them a question before they throw and a right answer can double the dice value, or a wrong answer can be miss a turn or normal value

Chose your corner

Take 4 or 5 cards and put them in the corners of the room. Play music and get the kids to dance for a bit. When the music stops they choose a corner. Have the same pictures on smaller cards, draw one at random and say it out loud.  The kids in that corner are eliminated. As the number of kids decreases remove a picture and so on until 1 lucky kid is the winner.

Daruma san

Say a command (eg: touch red), lean up against the wall covering your eyes, count out loud to three and then try to catch as many students as possible who haven't done the instruction. The last student not out wins.

Rain, Sun and Snow

Draw a big circle on the board and divide it into twelve segments like a pizza. Draw a rain cloud in eight segments. Draw two snowmen in two different segments and then finally draw two suns in the last two segments.   Make two teams and put a magnet for each team in different segments of the circle and give each team ten lives.

Ask Team 1 a question, if they get it correct then they can throw the dice. Move their magnet clockwise around the pizza. If they land on a rain cloud they can erase one life from the opposite team. If they land on a snowman they themselves lose a life and if they land on a sun they gain a life. Continue until one team loses all ten lives and loses. 

Blindman

This is like reverse charades.  The player puts a card on their forehead without looking at what it is.  The other players act out (or give hints for older kids) about what the card is.  The player has to guess in English.  Use a timer to put some pressure on and if they guess within the time they get to keep the card and another player comes.

Spin, spin, spin

Put flashcards in a circle so their edges are touching.  On a coin, use tape to make an arrow.  The first player (or team representative) stands in the center* and spins the coin.  When the coin falls, wherever the arrow is pointing the player must say that card (or make a sentence).  If they are right, the can put their counter on card.  Then the next player tries.  The team or player with the most counters on cards at the end wins.  You can also give them counters to get rid of and the first team to put them all on cards wins.  This version is harder to control time wise, but is more exciting.  You can also have other players' counters removed if the same card comes up.

*it still works on a table if it is a small group.

Snakes and Ladders

Use a normal snakes and ladders board.  The kids take turn to roll the dice and take a card.  You can vary the rules depending on how fast you want them to proceed.  For example

• if they can say/spell/make a sentence from the card they can move double the numbers on the dice
• if they can't say/spell/make a sentence from the card they can't move
• if they can't say/spell/make a sentence from the card they move backwards the number on the dice
  
• use a dice that doesn't just have numbers, but also "I", "you", "he", "she", "we", "they" and they make a sentence
• put numbers and forfeits on some cards and use instead of a dice

All gone!

Put some cards on the table. Assign letters of the alphabet to each student (eg give them each a flashcard, so the dog flashcard has the letter D O G). 

One student asks for a card from the table. The student who finds the card gives it to them.  Then the next student asks for a card (either the finder or in order).  The student can only ask for a card which contains at least one of their letters. So the student looking for D O G can ask for 'goldfish' or 'tiger' but not 'cat' or 'elephant'. The group should try to take all the cards without making any mistakes and without making a student to miss a turn.

Two of a kind

You need a set of flash cards made up of pairs of each item.  Put one of each item on the table and have the students close their eyes.  Then add one of the pair cards to the table.  The students open their eyes and race to find which card there is two of.  If they say it out loud (not touch), they get to put down the next card.  Try making noise in a place you don't put it to confuse them.

What's Gone

A very simple game.  Put the flash cards on the table, then remove one when the students have their eyes closed.  The first person to say what's gone gets to remove the next card.  Try removing two or three for a challenge.

Go Fish

You need a set of flash cards made up of pairs of each item. Take out one card from the pack and deal out five cards to each student.  The students take turns to ask any other student "do you have a ..."  If they have it, they hand it over.  If not, the student asking the question takes a card.

The aim is to get rid of all your cards and avoid ending up with the odd at the end.

Chase the snake

You need a set of flash cards made up of pairs of each item. Take out one card from the pack and deal out the cards and then students take turns at taking a card from the person next to them and discarding any pairs, and saying what it is (here you can include the grammar point you are learning).  The main aim is to get rid of all your cards and avoid ending up with the odd at the end.

English Sumo

Have a pair of kids face each other and put large size flashcards on their backs.  When you say "go" they have to try to see what is on the other kids back without showing their own card.  The winner is the first person to say what the other kid's card is.

Gokiburi Game

All the kids start out as cockroaches (gokiburi).  The do an action to show that is what they are.  They find another cockroach and do rock, scissors, paper and a set dialogue.  The winner then becomes a snake.  Only snakes can talk to snakes and only cockroaches can talk to cockroaches.  The snakes then become mice when they win, then birds, then rabbits, then tigers (any animals the kids know is ok as long as it becomes bigger).  In the end they become human and do rock, scissors, paper with the teacher.  You may need to become a cockroach from time to time to help out the kids that are bad at rock, scissors, paper.

Time bomb

Put some cards face up and on the back put numbers.  On some of the cards, but a picture of a bomb (or another scary thing like a demon or ghost).  Tell the kids how many "scary things" there are.  They take turn in saying and taking a card.  If it is a number they keep it.  If it is a bomb, all the cards they collected so far are confiscated along with the bomb and the game continues.  The player with the most points at the end wins.

For big groups, do it on the board with big cards and split the kids into two groups.

Take-away

Lay out the cards in rows (eg 3x4).  Players take turns in taking and saying any number of cards from a single row.  The player who has to take the last card loses.

Danger, danger

Put the cards face down.  Mix in some "danger" cards (these can be anything as long as it isn't easily confused with the rest of the cards; pictures of a bomb, a tiger, a demon etc).  Students take turns to turn over a card.  If they can't say the picture or word, or get a "danger" card, they have to perform a forfeit.

Janken Battle

Put 10 or more cards on the table or on the floor.  The kids line up in teams at either end of the cards.  When you say go, they move along the line saying the words out loud.  When they meet they do "rock, scissors, paper" and the winner stays where they are and the loser goes to the back of their team and the next team member starts from the beginning of the cards.  Continue until a team gets to the opposite end.

Stepping Stones

Draw 7 circles on the board and put a magnet in the center.  Put the kids in two lines at each end of the board.  The first two kids step up.  You show them a card and the first one to say it gets the magnet moved one circle towards their team.  Then the next pair come up.  If the team gets it all the way to the end of the circles, they get a point.  For classes with many levels have the teams do rock, scissors, paper instead of racing to say the card.

Board Shiritori / Board Association

A good way to get the older kids remembering words and the younger kids using the mini dictionaries at the back of their text books.

Put a starting word on the board, then they take the last letter and have to write a word that starts with it (eg: cat -> tank -> king -> gold etc).  If they are several kids, have them make teams and race to write ten or fifteen words.

Association works in the same way , but is associating the meanings, and is good for older kids. (eg: sea -> blue -> sky -> bird etc)

Dice monster

Have a set of body part cards and a dice.  You show the first card to the students and they have to say what it is.  Then they take a dice and roll it to see how many of that body part they should draw (for example, draw three heads).  This continues until they have a monster.  For older kids you can get more and more detailed, like 3 eyebrows, 7 toe nails etc.  When they are finished have them write how many of each thing there are, or tell you about their monster.

What's your name?

A good way to practice things like 'Hello, my name is.... What's your name?', is to put a timer in a box. Everyone sits in a circle, and one person is given the box. That person says to the next person, "My name is X. What's your name?" and then hands the box to the person, the mini-conversation continues until the timer goes off. It's always funny to the see the face of the person when the timer goes off in their hand! Practice it first without the timer on, so everyone knows how to say it, then do it with the time for 2 minutes, then 1 minute. It gets them talking really fast!  You could have kids that have the timer when it goes off be out, but it might end in tears.

Ladders

Have the kids sit in a line in pairs with their feet touching so they make a kind of obstacle course.  Give each student a vocab card that will come up in a story (both people in the pair have the same card).

You read a story and when they hear their word they have to stand up and race their partner over the other kids legs, around the outside to the start of the line, then back to their place.  There is no winner, they just keep running and listening for their word.

Karuta

A popular, but indispensable favourite.

Put cards on the table and when you call out the word the kids have to take it before the others.  You can be sneaky and say words that aren't there, or for older kids make mistakes in the grammar that they have to listen for.  Getting them to put back a card if they get one wrong makes them really listen.

Ochita Ochita

Pre-teach a set of vocabulary words with gestures to match each word.

The caller says "Ochita Ochita" (or for older kids make an English eqivelant "here it comes, here it comes" or something). The players then chorus "nani ga ochita" ("what is?"). The caller then shouts a vocabulary word. Players do the action for each vocabulary word as fast as they can. If players perform the wrong action or take too long to figure it out, they're out of the game.

After a few rounds begin stringing words together with "and" and making students perform multiple actions at once or switch between them quickly.

In, On, Out

A great game for prepositions is give the kids a paper cup and a marble each. They put it on the cup and say on, then using one hand, flip the cup over and get the marble "in", then drop it "out" into the other hand. They love trying to get the hang of it and is a great excuse to teach "I did it!". They will also think you are amazing cause you can do it first time.

Alternative Duck, Duck, Goose

The kids sit in a cirle.  I have weather cards, but anything is ok, and they say what I show them and when I say "sunny" (or another key word) they have to run around the circle back to their spot and I chase them.  If they are caught they become the person who shows the cards.

Body Draw

Teach body parts, then we do big/small, long/short using hand gestures and practice big/small jumps, long/short steps to reinforce. 

Then draw a body on the board by getting them to shout out whether they want a big or small head, long or short neck etc. They get really into it and shout out the English to get their choice drawn and you end up with a crazy looking picture.

Pairs for big classes

The game is just concentration, I have 20 pieces of A4 colored construction paper, numbered 1-20. I will have 10 pictures repeated twice on the opposite side. I put up the 20 pieces of A4 on the blackboard and then divide the kids into 2 groups.  Bring up one student from each team, they janken and the winner has to chose two numbers and say them in English (ie 5 and 17 please). I turn over those 2 numbers, if they are the same, the team gets 1 point, then the other student picks two numbers. Keep bringing up pairs of students and playing the games until all pictures have been matched up.