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.

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

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. 

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.