Repeat, making sure to rotate the children in the line so that they all have a chance to find a card. The child at the end of the line must run and bring you the correct flashcard. That student then whispers it to the next student and so on. Choose a word and whisper it to the first student. Stick some flashcards on the wall, or line them up on the floor or a table. Afterwards they place the cards back on the table face down and continue to dance around until you stop the music again.

If none of the children hold up a card check that none of them have it, and say another word. It’s a _” or “I like _”) to consolidate speaking skills. Ask them to repeat the word, or use the word in a sentence (eg. The students who have those cards hold them up. Variation 2 – for listening practice and groups of 11 or more: Play the game as in variation 1, except that when you stop the music and the children pick up the card nearest to them, call out one or two of the flashcard words. They then place the cards back on the table face down and continue to dance around until you stop the music again. Ask them each in turn to say the word they have. When you stop the music they pick up the card nearest to them and hold it up in the air. Make sure all the chairs are out of the way! Play some fun music and children dance around the table, moving in the same direction. Use as many flashcards as you like, but you need at least one per student. Variation 1 – for speaking practice and groups of 10 or less: Scatter lots of flashcards face down on a large table (or several small tables pushed together). For 5 – 7 year olds: use 8 – 10 pairs of flashcards. Repeat until all the pairs have been found.įor 3 – 4 year olds: use six pairs of flashcards. If they don´t match, turn them face down again. Invite one or two children to come up and turn over a card from each set. Large class variation: stick the flashcards to the board – one set on the left and one set on the right. If they don’t match, turn the cards face down again and the next player has a turn. If the cards match the child can keep that pair (or just leave them facing up if you’d rather remove any competition from the game). Ask a child to turn over a card from each set and say the words. Place one set of flashcards face down on the left and the other set of flashcards face down on the right.

For 5 – 7 year olds you could use either pairs of picture or picture-word cards, or a picture card and a word-only card. Use pairs of picture only cards or picture-word cards for 3 – 4 year olds. For 5 – 7 year olds: use 8 – 10 flashcards. Just make sure that the next time you play the game you choose different children to be the game helpers so that the others don’t feel left out!įor 3 – 4 year olds: use six flashcards. With a lot of children it won’t be practical to ask each child in turn to remove a card, but you can choose a few different children to be game helpers and remove a card to hide from the others. Larger group version: Play the game in the same way as above. What’s more, the fact that the child has the responsibility of choosing a card to hide from the others encourages their sense of identity and importance within the group and helps build up their self-esteem! You can repeat the game and ask the children in turn to remove one – just make sure the others don’t peek! Giving each child this little moment of responsibility means that they all feel included. Gather up the cards and remove one, making sure the children don’t see which! Then place the cards on the table again and ask which one is missing.

Place the cards on the floor or table and repeat the words slowly together. Show the flashcards to the children one by one and teach the words.

Kids card games