The best EFL ESL Games for Preschool/Kindergarten classes

We’ve already looked at my favorite EFL ESL games for elementary/primary classes as well as activities for teenagers. Now it’s time for the little ones. If you’re teaching younger children, it can often be a challenge to come up with activities for them. Songs are always great. It can be difficult though to find other activities that hold their attention, are fun and help them really practice their English. You don’t need any fancy equipment or preparation. I find that the most effective EFL ESL games for preschool/kindergarten classes are those that are short, simple and get the kids moving too. In this way, they are often using their English without even realizing it. Whatever activities you are doing, remember that it’s better to do several short varied games rather than one long and complicated game. It’s also a good idea to alternate between noisier games with lots of movement and games where the children have to sit still and concentrate.

Duck Duck Goose

Children love this game. It is a brilliant way to get them to remember vocabulary and you can adapt it to whatever you are learning in class. No prep needed and it’s really easy to play. To see how I use it in my lessons, you can look at my Little Red Riding Hood Lesson plan. I normally use 4 different words. These could be animals, book characters, jobs. You need 3 “good” words and 1 which is the trigger to run. For example, if you were learning about sea animals: crab, octopus, jellyfish and then the trigger, shark.

• Sit the children in a circle and choose one of them to start.
• Give them the list of characters and tell them to go around the circle tapping each child gently as they say one of the three “good” animals.
• When they want to run, they can say “shark!” as they tap someone’s head.
• That child has to get up and chase them around the circle trying to tag them until they get back to his or her space.
• Then they take over and go around the circle tapping heads and saying the names of the animals.

What’s missing?

It is so important to keep things simple when you are choosing EFL ESL games for preschool/kindergarten classes. This is such a simple game but very effective for getting children to remember new vocabulary. With very small children, I keep the new words to 5 or 6 maximum as I think any more can be confusing for them. So you need 5 or 6 flashcards or objects for them to remember. Depending on the size of your group, you can play this around a table or on the board.

• Drill the new vocabulary using lots of TPR and showing the kids the flashcards.
• Put the flashcards on the table but hide one.
• Ask them “What’s missing?”. I like to make this a bit funny and dramatic: “Da, da, da, whaaaaaat’s missing?”
• Whoever guesses correctly gets to take over

Giant board game

I used this as one of the ideas for class art projects but you can make this much more simple and no preparation is needed. It’s a good way of drilling vocabulary and getting children to repeat and remember short sentences. You just need a dice and the flashcards that you are using in the lesson.

• Make a path on the floor with the flashcards and a Start and Finish point.
• Choose two or three children to play and tell the others they can watch and help.
• Let the kids take turns throwing the dice and jumping the number of places that they throw. Everyone can count together as they jump
• When they land on a flashcard, they need to say the word or sentence that corresponds to it.
• Alternatively, make it a bit more difficult and ask them a question. E.g. If you’re learning about food and they land on an ice cream: “Do you like ice cream?”
• The winner is whoever finishes first.

What’s the time Mr. Wolf?

A classic game for children but one that can also be adapted to lots of different subjects and vocabulary. I have used this game in classes learning about food, animals, dinosaurs, time and many more. Just adapt the question the children need to ask, the character of Mr. Wolf and the trigger phrase to run accordingly. If you are playing this in a big class with not much space, I have done a really successful version of this where instead of stepping forward, the kids walked on the spot at their desks. Instead of running, they shouted “Hide!” and pretended to hide.

• Choose one child to be Mr Wolf (or Mrs Lion or the T-Rex or whatever you want) and make them stand at one end of the room.
• Group all the others at the other end.
• Teach them the question. “What’s the time Mr Wolf?”, “Are you hungry Mrs Lion?”, “What do you want to eat T-Rex?” etc.
• The other child needs to answer. “It’s 2 o’clock” or “I want to eat 3 monkeys” or “I want 4 ice creams” etc and the children move forward the corresponding number of steps
• When they get close enough, Mr Wolf can shout “it’s dinnertime!” or “I want to eat you” etc and run after them, tagging someone else who then becomes Mr Wolf.

Can you find a …..?

A simple version of a treasure hunt to practice vocabulary. You don’t even need to hide anything, just use whatever is around you in the classroom or the playground. If there’s no space to run around, ask the children to point to whatever they need to find and let them take turns asking the question.

• Decide what you will be looking for. It could be objects of a particular color or shape, school equipment, clothes or any other object.
• Ask the kids, “Can you find something blue?”
• Let them go and find objects or point to them.
• When they find something, they have to show everyone and make a sentence. “It’s blue” or “It’s a square”.
• Then choose one of the class to ask the question.

You probably have lots of other favorite EFL ESL games for preschool/kindergarten classes. I’d love to hear which games you use the most with this age group. To keep up to date with new posts and teaching ideas, you can follow the GoogooEnglish Facebook page. Alternatively, you can sign up for email updates by filling in the form below. Look out for my favorite EFL ESL games for teenagers which will be coming soon.