esl games for kid warm up

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The Chain
Really simple but fun
warmer today...
At the start of the
class, get your
students sitting in a
circle. One student
starts by saying a word.
The next student must
say a word beginning
with the last letter of
the first student's word.
The next student must then say a word starting with the last letter of the
previous and so on and so on, around the circle.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Love
Elephant

Talking
Good
Daydream
, etc, etc...
The object of this game is just to get the class warmed up and using a little
English before you start your 'real' class, so just have some fun with this.
See if you can make it three times around the circle! Lower levels or younger
classes can use their course books to help.
Tip: Keep this light-hearted. Be ready to help student's if they can't think up of a
word. Always keep your students' confidence high.


Go Bananas!
This is a really funny classroom game
which your classes are guaranteed not to
have done before. It is a mix of a sentence
structure game and an unusual Indian sport
called Kabadi!
1. Get a sentence or two of a recently studied topic, or just something level appropriate.
2. Photocopy this out so you have the same sentence twice. Try to make the words nice
and big, at least size 48 on Word.
3. Cut the sentences up into individual words and put them into two separate
envelopes. Both envelopes should contain all the words needed to make the original
sentence.
4. Divide the class into two teams. If you have a big class, make three teams and three
envelopes.
5. Put all envelopes on a table at the other end of the classroom.

How to Play
1. Get teams into lines

2. One student from each team must race out to try to put the sentence into order at
the table. However, while they do this, they must not breathe in!! To prove they are not
cheating, they must constantly say 'Banana' over and over and over again!
3. As soon as they can't go on, they must run back to their line and tag-in the next
student who runs in and takes over from where the last student left off. Again, they
must say 'Banana' constantly until they can not go on and have to return for the next
person. The first team to get all of their words into the correct order wins!

Tips: Don't make the sentence too short, otherwise the first few students will finish it
with the rest of the class not getting a go and feel disappointed. Similarly, don't make it
too long that it becomes an impossible exercise. You may have to experiment a little
here to get the right balance. Perhaps go to the class armed with two sentences.
If you plan to use this with multiple classes, consider using
a different coloured font for each team. That way, at the end of the class, you
can whack all the words back into the right envelopes according to colour rather
than having a big, mixed-up pile of random words to sort out on your precious break
between classes! No colour printer? No worries, simply run a different coloured feltpen on the reverse side of the sentence before you cut it up.


Human Bingo!
This is a brilliant warmer which
will get your class speaking
straight away!
The best thing is that you can
adjust the difficulty to suit any
age or any level...so you can all
use this today!

1. Give each student a sheet of A4 paper.
2. Each student uses a pen to divide the sheet into 9 sections, like a naughts and

crosses board - two lines across, two lines going down.
3. The teacher writes around 15 questions of the board to suit the level of the students.
Easy for small kids, harder for advanced students.
4. Each student chooses eight of these questions and writes the questions in the
squares, leaving the centre space blank.
5. Students then must speak to eight different students to get their answers. These
answers are written on their paper.
6. At the end of the activity, have feedback. For example:

Teacher: Who spoke to Lucky?

Teacher: What did Lucky say?

Student 1: Me

Student 1: She wakes up at 7am

Student 2: I did

Student 2: Supermarket, greengrocers,
bookstore

Teacher: What did you ask her?
Student 1: What time do you wake up?
Student 2: Tell me three shops.


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Activity of the Day:
Word Grab!
This is the perfect activity to lift a
dreary class!
Choose a suitable song (not too fast),
and choose about 15 keywords from
the song. Write the words in big
letters on paper and stick the words
on the blackboard.
Also write about 5 words which don't appear in the song and put these on the board
too. Be sure to put all the words in a random order.
Get the students into two teams and have them form lines.
Play the song and the first student of each line has to run out and grab the word
they hear off the board. If you are worried about your words getting totally wrecked,
then just have students point to the correct word. (Each student only gets one try,
they can't just point at all of the words until they get the right one!)
This is a great game which is good for listening practice. If you need to, you can play
the song twice or pause it where needed.
Tip: Remember if you choose your one of favourite songs, which you have listened to
1000 times, then this will seem easy to you. Remember that this could be the first
time your students may have listened to it and they won't know what is coming next in
the same way you do! Take it easy with your students...

Lottery Winner!!!
*Note: You can do one, two or all of
these activities depending on what
you want to do and how much time
you have)
Lead in (5-10 minutes)
- Ask class if they know what a
lottery is. Ask if there is a lottery in
China (there is, Sports Lottery, Welfare
Lottery, etc). Do any of your students
play? Why/why not? Have they won any
money before? How much?
Activity #1 - The Newspaper Interview (30-45 mins)
- Get a photo of a lottery winner. Show the class and tell your students that they have
just won $200,000,000. Ask your students how he/she might feel. What do you think
he/she would spend the money on? Get ideas.
- Tell students that they are newspaper reporters and have to get an interview with
the lottery winner. Have pairs of students think of 4-5 questions they would ask the
lottery winner for the newspaper. When finished, interview different pairs of students.
Activity #2 (20-30 mins) - What to do with the Money?
Put students into groups to decide the best way to spend the money and present it to
the class. They can either get mansions, golf courses in their back garden, etc, or can
be more imaginative or charitable, up to the groups!
Activity #3 Lottery Draw! (15-20 mins)
- Before class, go to the shop and buy 12 ping-pong balls and a black permanent
marker. Write numbers 1-12 on each ball, and put them in a bag. If your students want
to, collect 0.5RMB from each student (or 1RMB if they are high-rollers haha) and hand
them each a slip of paper. Tell them that they are going to play the lottery. Each

student must write three numbers from 1-12 on their paper. Go around and check
each paper to see that it has been done right.
- Tell the class that they will play the lottery. You will pick three balls from the bag. If
they can match two numbers, they win 2RMB. If they match all three, then they win the
pot!! (You can usually play 3-4 games before the pot is empty). Ask the winners and
losers how they felt afterwards.



The Toilet Roll!
This activity is great as a
warmer or a first
class icebreaker.
By a toilet roll from the shop and
bring it to class.

Sit everyone in a circle and hand the toilet roll to the first student. The toilet roll is
obviously a very unusual thing to bring to class, so everyone will be wondering what is
going on and you'll have their interest.
Give the roll to the first student and tell them to tear off between 1-4 sheets. Don't say
why just yet.
The roll then travels around the room, with every student choosing to tear off between
1-4 sheets each. When it gets back to you, you also can either take 1, 2, 3 or 4 sheets
of toilet paper.
Students (and you) then have to say something about themselves. If they have one
sheet, they must tell the class one thing about themselves. Two sheets, two things
about themselves. Three sheets, three things, and so on.
This is a fun and simple way for everyone to say something about themselves and
to break to ice for a class.
Tip

My mate played this with his class and grabbed a half-finished roll from his bathroom
before coming to school, only to find that no students wanted to touch it in the
classroom and the game fell apart. Use a fresh roll to save yourself the hassle.


Level: Any Level
This game is fun and challenging at
the same time. It can be adapted for
virtually any subject and any grade
level.
It allows the students to review
material they've learned, without having
to get out a pencil and paper and
answer questions from the text.
What to Do
Arrange 6 chairs in a circle with students seated in them and choose one person,
the teacher or another student, to stand outside the circle.
Give someone sitting in the circle a stuffed animal - the funnier the animal the better!
If you don't have a teddy, then find some other cool passable object, it doesn't really
matter.
The person outside the circle states what the person holding the animal has to name
six of, for example, six classroom objects, or six things in the city, or six verbs, etc.
The person then starts passing the animal around the circle from student to
student as fast as possible.
The person standing in the middle must name six of the objects before the animal gets
back to him or her.
If the player can say six items before the teddy gets back to the first student, then
he/she has won. If the teddy gets back first before the player has said sx things, then
the player in the middle loses!

Pairing up
students
During your classes, teachers will
need to pair up students.
This often means just pairing up
students with the person they are
sitting next to.
This should be avoided.

Always having the same pairs means students miss out on interacting with one
another and the class dynamic won't be as strong and fun. Try to mix things up.

Ball o' String
I got this idea from an English teacher who is teaching in Spain. It is really simple
and will guarantee that you will have different pairs each time you try it.
Get a ball of string from the shop and cut several lengths of string, a few metres
long each. If your class is 20, cut 10 bits of string. If your class is 14, cut 7 lengths of
string and so on - one length of string per pair. If you have odd numbers, put one
group into a three or you join in yourself.
Get everyone to stand up in a large circle. Have all of the string bunched up in a ball in
your hand (but not tangled up) with the ends poking out.
Ask each student to grab one end of a piece of string and gradually walk backwards.
They will be left holding the string with their new partner at the other end...so easy!
This is a very fun and original way to choose partners and you'll be the coolest
teacher in your school for sure!


Fun with Intonation
Use this activity to underline the importance

of intonation when your students, as they
often do, talk like robots. Basically, get them
to say the words in quotation marks in the
contexts that follow.






















Say 'Hello'
to a friend you haven't seen for 3 years
to a neighbour that you don't like
to a 6 month old baby

to someone you have just found doing something they shouldn't
to someone on the phone when you're not sure if they are still on the other end
Say 'Goodbye'
to a member of your family as they are going through the boarding gate at the airport
to someone who has been annoying you
to a child starting his very first day at school
Say 'How are you?'
to someone you haven't seen for 20 years
to someone who has recently lost a member of the family
to someone who didn't sleep in their own bed last night
Say 'I never go to pubs'
by a person that totally disapproves of drinking alcohol to someone who often goes to
pubs
as a response to someone who has told you they sometimes go to pubs
said before: '…but I quite like discos.'
Say 'What have you done?'
to someone who claims to have fixed your television only that now it's worse than before
to someone who is scolding you for not doing anything when you suspect the same
about them.
to someone who has just done something very bad and which has serious
consequences


What are the
Darwin Awards?
The Darwin Awards are given out
to very, very stupid people who help the
human race by taking themselves out
of the gene pool by either death or by
sterilizing themselves i.e. a man

dangling his nuts in a golf ball cleaning
machine for a laugh (this has
happened....)

Using the Darwin Awards in the Classroom
About ten years ago, I was teaching an adults class for EF English First Xi'an. The unit
was about 'Greatest Human Achievements' and the language point for comparatives
and superlatives. I flicked through the pages in the office and decided that the unit
was incredibly boring, but had a felling that it needn't be...
I decided to put a twist on it and do the Darwin Awards to contrast with the Greatest
Achievements. We looked at the Darwin Awards and some of the winners and what
they had done 'to win'. The students absolutely loved it!

What we did
Following reading through a couple of real award winners, students were put into
groups and had to invent their own Darwin Award stories (using the language point) they were really creative here! Some stories were amazing!
At the end, they acted out their stories for the class. It worked perfectly; lots of smiles.
If you have an adults class this week, a university class, or a Salon Class in an
adults language centre, then try out using The Darwin Awards!


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Chinese mini-menu?
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The mini-menu is great fun to make –
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have a full Chinese menu for your pocket,
wallet or bag!

Message on a Lollypop!
This Young Learner activity is for
kids who are just beginning to
read and write in English. You
can easily grade this activity to
make it super easy or a bit
more challenging. It is best
suited with a maximum of 12 or
so students.
In a nutshell, your students will be given a lollypop each with a small, secret
message wrapped around the lolly stick. They need to unravel this, and then go to
the board to work out what the message says from the key you have stuck to the
white board. They then have to write down this message on a piece of paper to
show you. When they have sussed it out, they can have their lolly.
Preparation: A few days before class, pop into a corner shop and buy one lollypop per
student in your class. They are only 1RMB each, so no big sweat.
Choose a suitable word or small sentence for your class. If you have 5 year-olds, this
might be 'dog', 'cat', cow', whatever. For slightly older classes, it could be 'My name
is', or 'I like .....'. I'll leave this to you.
First prepare your key for the whiteboard. In the teachers' office, jump onto Microsoft
Word and type out on one page letters A-Z in Arial font and then type each letter A-Z
again out using the WEBDINGS font (Webdings are little fun pictures instead of A, B,
C, D, etc). You should be left with the whole alphabet and the corresponding symbols
from Webdings. 26 letters, 26 matching symbols. Print this page, go to the photocopier
and print it out to A3. You now have a big, clear key to stick on the whiteboard for
your students to follow.
Now for the messages. Jump back on the computer and type out short words or
messages using the Webdings font on Microsoft Word. You can either choose them

all the same, or have a couple of different messages. This is more fun for the kids in my
view.
Print out the page of coded messages, cut them into individual strips (one strip per
student) and wrap them around the lolly stick. Job done!


(The vocab used in this example is for
'food', but any lexis is fine for this
flashcard game)
Sit down in a circle and pass the first
flashcard to the child on your right. As
you pass the card say the word, or a
short sentence, e.g. “Carrot”, “It‟s a
carrot”, “I like carrots”, etc.
That student must pass the card to the
next student, repeating what you have
said. Then that child passes it on to the
next and so on.

In the meantime, you have passed a new card to the first student, then another, then
another and so on. Students are then continuously receiving cards and passing
them on, saying the correct word or phrase.
Start slowly at first and gradually speed up. When they have had some practice with this
and are able to do it quite well, you make the activity more complex.
Instead of only passing the cards round in one direction, you pass a card to the student
on your right but then you pass the next card to the student on your left. So cards
are moving around the group in both directions.
It's a good way to develop vocabulary and to get your students to use short phrases.

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Help Me!
This is a fun warmer to start off your adults'
lessons this week.
1. Get students into small groups
2. Tell the class that you need help with some
problems
3. Groups must take it in turns to call out help for
you
4. Before you start, write a problem on the board and write down suggestions of
how you can be helped to show the class what they need to do
5. You are now ready to begin. Get one idea from each group, then change to a
new problem. Keep going for a few minutes, then start your usual class.
Example problem: I have a headache
"Take an aspirin"
"Stop drinking beer"
"Lie down"

Example problem: I have no money
"Ask for a raise"
"Get a new job"
"Get out of bed"

Example problem: I have missed the bus to work

"Catch the next bus"
"Run!"
"Call work to tell them you will be late"


The Paper Plane
Game
Draw a target (with points - like a
dart board) on the white board
or use a cardboard box in the
middle of the room.
Students then make paper
aeroplanes and get to launch
them after they answer your
question in the form of a
sentence.
Encourage students to answer in sentences, rather than single word utterances.
You will be suprised just how hard students will try to say the answer, repeat your
sentence, or whatever, just so they can throw their paper plane!
I recommend giving a prize to make the target points mean something, thus peaking
their interest in the activity.
Lastly, use scrap paper for this activity. Large packs of new A4 paper are costly for
schools and a ball-ache to go and buy, so get some use out of the scrap paper box.


Icebreaker: Skittles
An Ice Breaker is a simple activity for
the first class of a new term.
In a new class students may well not
know each other yet (and nor will you

know them). They may well be shy
about speaking also.
An ice breaker is designed to do several things. Good ones will relax the
class and create a friendly atmosphere. They will also allow you to get a good idea
of the level of the class and see how different students work together (or not, as
the case may be).

Skittles! Buy a big pack of Skittles (enough for five Skittles per student) and go
around the class giving each student five Skittles. Important: Tell your students
they can't eat their Skittles yet!
Now go to the board and write the following:
Red Skittle = Favourite hobby
Blue Skittle = Dream job
Yellow Skittle = Favourite place
Orange Skittle = Favourite film
Purple Skittle = Wildcard - ask any question you like
Students now have to go and meet other students.
Student A offers Student B a skittle to eat and this student must choose one and ask
the matching question e.g. Takes a blue Skittle and asks "What is your dream job?"
Student A then takes one of Student B's skittles to eat and also asks a question.
After this, both students must walk off and find new partners.
Keep going until each student has spoken to five other students and all the Skittles
are gone!


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I have never…
This is a fantastic game which practices
the use of the present perfect
tense and using the past participle.
Your students will absolutely LOVE this
game and will want to play again and
again.

What to do: Ask examples from your class of things they have NEVER done. Write
your students' suggestions on the board. For example:
"I have never been to
Shanghai"
"I have never eaten
snails"

"I have never flown a
helicopter"
"I have never ridden a
horse"

"I have never played
golf"

After you have gotten ten or so ideas on the board, ask your students to move their chairs so
that they are sitting in a large circle. You, the teacher, should now stand in the middle and say
something that you haven't done (whether you have done it or not is irrelevant). For example,
you might say:
"I have never drank water."
Now tell your students that if they HAVE drank water, then they should move and swap

places with another student. Naturally, everyone will get up and move places. Give two more
examples and have students get up and move around, for example, "I have never ridden a
bicycle". Again, any students who HAVE ridden a bicycle should move.
On the third time, you yourself should quickly take a seat and leave one student in the middle
standing. Your students will find this very funny!
Now it is the student in the middle's turn to say "I have never...". Again, your students must
get up and switch around if they HAVE done it. This is a fast paced activity which your students
will love!