I’m teaching full-time at a kindergarten and wanted some ideas for games involving flash cards. The teacher before he just drilled them and the students hated it.
Any game works and both sitting games and moving games are appreciated. **The only caveat is that these kids are** ***absolute beginners***, so no rule explanations they won’t understand need to be necessary. They know zero grammar and only a small handful of words like the names of some bugs.
​
# Here are some ideas I’ve had so far:
**Karuta:** Being in Japan, the kids already know how to play this, so you can literally just place down the cards, say “karuta”, and you’re good to go. I’ve also noticed that if I started using the words in full sentences, the kids understand very quickly that they have to hear the word in the sentence. No explanation required.
**TPR with flash cards as props:** Place some cards around the room and tell the kids “walk to \[card\]”, “touch \[card\]”, etc. A nice little movement activity that can evolve as the students’ English grows.
​
# What doesn’t seem to work:
**What’s Missing?:** A classic ALT game that falls apart because at least one kid will always try to peak and ruin it for everyone.
​
Edit: formatting
13 comments
Make a Dobble-type game for your student’s.
Make a series of cards where each card has an array of objects but only two objects match for each. There are tips for this kind of activity if you search Dobble Algorithm on Google.
[deleted]
Oh my there’s a question.
I used to teach English at Kindergartens in Japan then at my own school too. I wrote up all 365+ [Classroom games](https://themagiccrayons.com/games/) that worked well for me, and organised them by theme. All can be done with flash cards, a few props or even nothing at all. I taught from 1 to 1,200 students at once, from toddler to young adult.
For teaching tips the best I have is invest time in modelling the game clearly before you start. A well modelled game will run itself. And don’t let them tire of a game. Better to cut it short after ten minutes with the students asking for more, than milk it for fifteen.
Teaching the name of the game works well too. Students will soon ask for their favourites.
Hope that helps
Good luck
🙂
I used to play a really simple dice game with youngins (3ish year-olds) where I lined up all the cards with some space in between and had Ss take turns rolling a big soft 1-6 die. Whatever number they rolled, they’d have to jump that number of spaces (counting one! two! etc. as they jump) and then say the word of the card they land on for that turn.
If you wanna make it slightly more physical, you can also have the cards face down and have them turn the card over, then say the word. Or you could spread the cards out further apart so they have to try harder to jump. You could play with points too, if your kids like that kind of thing. The student who gets highest roll in a round gets a point and Ss can play janken as a tiebreaker. You can really tailor it to your kids.
But yeah, mine liked being able to throw the die, jump around, and make noise. Plus, it’s easy enough to do it with them if they need it. I think as long as you model it clearly, they’ll be able to pick it up pretty easily.
Here are games I use in groups, some work better than others depending on class size:
-What’s missing? Try putting a rhythm to it. Get 3-4 cards, say them in rhythm and have kids repeat it. Then shuffle the cards while saying the rhythm really fast, and pull out all but one. Kids are revved up to say the missing card. I only do it two or three times though, it’s a one or two minute activity.
-bomb game (bakudan game) sit in a circle and pass and say the cards until a timer goes off. The kid with the cards had the bomb. You can have a pile of cards passed on at a time in a small circle, or just circulate a bunch of them among the class. It also works great with simple questions or statements. Absolutely nothing bad happens if you’re caught with the bomb, you just say too bad and play again. Making kids sit down after getting the bomb means kids can’t participate, and that’s bad teaching.
-Marathon relay race: divide the class into teams of ten or so. Say ready, set, go, and they pass the cards along, one along the line, then another. I usually have them in circles so when a card comes back to the start, the next can go out. When all the cards are done, they stand up and do it once more. When they finish again, they sit down and can scream in celebration.
-What’s my card? In a circle of six kids (or one for each vocab word), each kid blindly holds a card on their head, so they can see every card except their own. When they say their own card, they put it down. This is one of the most requested games i have
The key concepts with the card games I use are: they aren’t dependent on English skill, they’re fun, and all kids participate. If there’s a winner, it’s a team win. Some kids aren’t competitive, some kids hate losing, and I want all the kids to feel part of the class.
“What’s Missing?: A classic ALT game that falls apart because at least one kid will always try to peak and ruin it for everyone.”
Yeah… get them to turn around and face the back of the room.
As long as you only do a few rounds of it, the Keyword Game is another classic ALT game… and not so easily ruined.
It’s part drill, part game… assuming you know how it goes, just make sure they also repeat the non-keyword things too- and definitely find a way to put a rhythm to it.
Do you have digital resources?
What’s Missing can be easily prepared in PowerPoint or a Google slides presentation and eliminates peeking.
I have used flash card when playing fruits basket. Kids seemed to love it. Every few rounds the pass the cards to swap it around.
I can’t remember where I first learnt it but I like to play a game I call ‘Castle’ with classes where the kids can’t move around much The cards are face up in a pyramid formation on the board. On the back of each card or on the board behind the card randomly draw x’s or o’x. O meaning yes, x meaning no. One team makes a yes/no question with the vocab. Flip the card and if it’s ‘yes’ the team answering moves up one ‘floor’ of the castle. Team that makes it further up the castle wins. One or two ‘no’s’ is enough.
Macmillan Spain or Easy Esl Games or Muxi English chanels on Youtube all have some great flashcard ideas. You might have to adapt for larger classes or pokey classrooms.
Cup game is popular with my students, read the word or identify the picture, place it on top of a paper cup, next kid does the same onto the previous kid’s cup. Make a tower… everyone is scared of fucking it up, laughs and drama ensues, they have no idea they are learning, easy stuff, just need disposable cups, don’t recommend fine porcelain. 👍
To make what’s missing cheat-proof, try the following.
– show them a number of cards for ~15 seconds (use a timer)
– gather up the cards facing you, remove one, and put it on the floor
– spread out the remaining cards and ask which was missing
Kids don’t have to close their eyes and are not able to cheat
For the team version, get them into two teams and line up. After the first kids have a go, then they go to the back and the next ones get a turn
Also, when you’re doing games if you split them into teams and give points for each right answer engagement will increase by 1000%, they love that shit
Just make sure to know kids abilities beforehand, it would be devastating to have all the good kids on one team or let them pick their own teams and have some feel left out.
You can also do obstacle course races where they have to say a flash card when they get to the end. Just make sure there is no running
I always used Flashcards for when my kindergarten was still open. Here are some games I did that might be useful for you:
If you have a blackboard you can use to put your cards on it:
– Relay game – put the cards on the board, can do all or a few at a time. Divide your kids into 2-6 teams depending on big your class is. My classes were small so I used only 2 teams. The, have them line up & the first person of each line has the chance to go first round. Choose a word without telling them & yell out the word. Kids are to race to the board to tap or take the card. If you want to reuse the card, go the tapping route. The kid who correctly gets the card gets their team a point. You can play for a long time or short, whichever
– Red light, Green light + Commands game mix – make command cards of red, yellow & green lights. Can do cards for jump, sit down, stand up, clap, spin, etc. Red = stop/freeze, can edit it to have them freeze but make a silly pose. Yellow = move around super slowly. Green = walk normally. I would teach the command cards first. Then, after a while, I would have them tell me what a word was after showing them a vocab card after each time I showed the red light card. This can be good for reviewing old vocab, for them to recognize new vocab, ir just getting them warmed up. You can play as long as you like.
– Donjanken game – line up your cards on the floor or on desks. Split the kids into 2 teams. Have them line up at each end of the lined up vocab cards. First 2 in line touch or point at the card at their end, saying the vocab aloud in a loud, clean voice (or using the grammar being practice – eg. “pink” vocab card -> “I like pink.” Etc). Once they reach the same card as the other team’s kid, they play (English) Janken. Winner continues down the line. Loser goes to end of their line & next kid in front of the line goes. Ends when one of the other team reaches the card closest to the other team & wins Janken. Can go 1 or more rounds, depending on time. Should mix up cards or have teams change sizes after each round.
– Bingo – if the kids have their own sets of vocab cards, have them play 3×3 or 4×4 bingo using their cards. If they don’t have their own sets, put your own large cards up & prepare the kids a simple 3×3 or 4×4 bingo sheet.
– Bakudan game blackboard style. – maybe just print out a pic of a classic circle bomb. Put magnets on it. Can use to quickly hide behind one of the cards. Print multiples can help too. Muse up or mix up the cards to make it harder to guess. Have the kids raise their hands yo say which vocab. You can have it so that they lose when the bomb(s) are found or have it so they have to find the bomb(s) to win! Can even have kids volunteer to be the teacher & place the bomb(s) for you instead.
No board:
– Musical chairs – tape cards or just sit them under the chairs. Needs music CD to use to play. Play classic musical chairs. When the kids sit, randomly select a word. The kid who has the word gets out.
– Sticky fingers (similar to tag)- this one you don’t actually need to use the Flashcards but can to help clarify the words said. Have the kids grab hold of one of your fingers or the fingers of the people who are “it”. Declare one of the vocab as the keyword. Have them listen carefully. When you don’t say the keyword, they do not run. They are to repeat the vocab. If you use the Flashcards to confirm, say the word first, then show the card. When you do say the word, they immediately run away & continue to do so around the designated area/room until they are tagged. Once tagged, they go wait in a designated area until everyone is caught. You can enlist volunteers to be “it” with you in later rounds.
These are some I remember atm. Hope they help. Good luck!