How old are you games for kids

19 Fun Getting-To-Know You Icebreaker Games

Whenever you have a group of people together, they need to get to know each other before participating in the event, activity, or project you have planned. This does not only mean just learning each other’s names, but also involves getting the leader familiar with the group members. Additionally, the group needs to become comfortable working together. Our group of fun get to know you games provides activities to meet all three of these requirements. We have divided our list by ages to make it easy for you to find the perfect activity for any occasion.

Table of Contents

Get to Know You Games for Kids

Kiss the Kids!

For this easy getting-to-know-you activity for kids, you will need some chocolate kisses and a set of age-appropriate questions. Begin with the children seated randomly or in a circle. The leader asks questions and if a student can respond positively, they stand up. You can stop at any time or wait until all the kids are standing. At that point, say, “Everyone needs at least one kiss a day!” and give each participant a candy “kiss.” You can use the following list of questions or make up some of your own:

Name Tapping

A fun game for learning everyone’s name, this kid’s icebreaker game takes no advance preparation or materials. It is particularly good if you have a few new members joining a group. The children sit in a circle facing each other. Choose one child to be “It” first. This child walks around the outside of the circle tapping the heads of the other children, saying their names. The leader can prompt this child, if necessary. Choose a group name – the name of a flower works well. The second time around the circle, if there is a name the child playing “it” cannot remember, they can say the group name. The child whose name is not remembered becomes “it.” They now walk around the outside of the circle tapping heads and saying names. Continue until all the children appear to know the names of all the group members.

My Bear

A get-to-know-you icebreaker game, you will need a printout of a bear or other animal suitable for coloring and crayons or colored pencils. The goal of this activity is to help each child realize how unique they are and to share with other children in the group. The leader will ask questions and the answer determines which color the children will use to color a particular part of the animal’s body. For younger children, use fewer questions.
Questions

Our Names Book

Although not really a game, we have included this activity because it is such a good getting-to-know-you activity for a group of children. Give each child a thin, long rectangle of colorful paper. Also, provide a supply of crafty materials – crayons, glitter glue, ribbon, buttons, etc. Have the children write their names in big letters on their strip of paper and then decorate it any way they like. After the children finish their creations, have them share what they have designed. Then, when all the glue has dried, staple the pages together inside a colorful cover. This works especially well for a class or group that meets more than once. As new kids join the group, they can add a page to the “book.”

Get to Know You Games for Adults

Cocktail Party

A roll-playing game that is fun, Cocktail Party quickly loosens participants up, relieves social tensions, and helps one learn about themselves and others. This game involves pretending to meet people under different circumstances and acting out how you would talk and act in a given situation. Players should begin by introducing themselves. Suggest some questions participants can use in their conversations such as:

Suggested situations are the cocktail party (of course), on the beach, in a nightclub, at the funeral of a mutually loved friend or family member, as competing athletes before tennis match, and as prisoners arriving in jail.

Commonality

An icebreaker game that helps people meet others with whom they have things in common, this game works well for dividing people into teams. Provide a paper and pencil for each player. If you know all of the participants, you can save some time by listing their names on paper beforehand and pass these papers out. Explain that everyone has something in common – at least one thing – with everyone else in the room and their job is to discover commonalities. The players are to mingle and find others with whom they have something in common. It should not be things that are visible, such as hair color or clothing worn. It should be something intangible, such as, “I met a President of the United States.” The winner is the first person to find something in common with all the other players. If you wish to use this game to form teams, set a number of commonalities and when people have found the set number, they form a team.

Seven Word Biographies

A challenging and fun icebreaker game, the goal is for players to write their life story in seven words exactly. Begin by passing out paper and a pen or pencil for each player. Tell players to think carefully and use words that will sum up their life experiences. The stories will end up cryptic and very interesting. The listeners are bound to ask for elaboration and each player has two minutes to answer questions or tell more about their life. You may have such “biographies” as the following:

Pillow Toss Name Game

As the name implies, you will need a small pillow for this game. The goal of this icebreaker game is for players to learn the names of the group. There are four stages to this game:

If you wish, you can have players say their names and favorite person, place, or thing to end the game.

Get to Know You Games for Teens

Octopus Tag

A fun and frantic variation of tag, you will need a large area with boundaries set. This game pairs hand-in-hand teens. One pair begins as “It” and runs to catch another pair. Once they catch a pair, they join the first pair. At this point, only the people at the end of the line may tag others. However, if the line breaks, a catch is invalid. Also, if a running pair breaks their hold or runs out of bounds, they are automatically caught. If you have a very large group, you can start with two or more pairs serving as “It” and use this as a team game.

Who Am I?

Give each teen a 3 x 5 card and have them write their name at the top and four things about themselves they are sure no one else in the room knows. Collect the cards and hand out paper and pencils to each player. Give everyone a lined piece of paper and tell the teens to number each line. Read the cards one at a time and have the teens write down to which they believe the card is referring. When you have read all the cards, have the teens exchange papers, and read the correct answers for the teens to check the sheets. Whoever has the most right answers is the winner.

Name and Number Game

Another game using 3 x 5 cards, this icebreaker game will help teens get to know each other and get the group ready for whatever activity or event comes next. When teens first arrive, provide each with an index card. On one side, have them write their name and on the other side, give them a number. Make sure you keep a master list of everyone’s number and name. Have teens mingle, introducing themselves to each other. Make sure you tell them to meet as many other teens as possible. After everyone arrives, give the players a few minutes to mingle. Then have each guest turn their nametag around so only their number is showing. Give each teen a piece of paper with only the numbers on it and have them fill in the names of each person next to their number. The winner is the one who get the most names right.

Find Another Seat

A fun and active game, Find Another Seat takes quick thinking. Have the teens sit on chairs in a circle, with one chair missing. The teen without a chair stands in the middle and tells their name. Then the teen calls out a characteristic, or color or type of clothing. For example, the teen may call out, “Everyone wearing orange!” All the teens who are wearing orange must get up and find another seat, but not one immediately to their right or left. The teen in the middle races to grab a seat and the person left standing becomes the next caller in the middle.

Human Pizza

An icebreaker game that works well for a larger group of teens, you need to prepare ahead of time. Using 3 x 5 cards, write pizza ingredients on each card making sure you have enough for each teen. All the ingredients needed to make one pizza will make up one team. Tape the cards to the teen’s backs, making sure they do not know which ingredient they have. They are to form themselves into groups with each group having all the ingredients and toppings for a pizza. The trick is, they must do so asking only “yes” or “no” questions. The first group to do so is the “winner.” You can use the assembled teams for other games and activities.

Our fun collection of fun get to know you games not only will help you learn the names of the members of a group, but also help them learn each other’s names. Additionally, many of the games help people know something about other group members. Have fun using and sharing this collection of getting-to-know-you icebreaker games.

Get To Know You Activities

Having a few well-planned “get to know you games” will add laughter and fun to any party, the first day of school or camp, or any size group for people of all ages!

A list of supplies is mentioned at the beginning of each game if needed.

Who Is This?

You will need: paper, pencils, blank paper, something like a magazine or file folder, or a table, etc. to give the artists a hard surface to lay their paper to draw; pre-cut slips of paper, and a master list of each person’s name

This game is especially great as a shower game, or the first day of school for children and teens 8 years and older, and adults. It helps to have everyone in a big circle for this activity.

Write a master list with every person’s name, and write each person’s name on a slip of paper. Put the slips of papers with names in a bag or bowl and have each person pick a paper.

Make sure that everyone in the circle has either been introduced or is wearing a name tag. Each person has to draw a picture of the person whose name they drew. Remind the artists to add details (glasses, earrings, jewelry, patterns or pictures on clothes), that might help other people guess who that person is.

Acrostic Poem

You will need: paper and a pencil or pen for each person in the group. Something like a magazine, a file folder, or a table, etc. to give the writers a hard surface to lay their paper to write

This activity works extremely well for the first days of school, or at the beginning of the “get to know you” games. It can be used with ages 8 and older.

Each person writes his or her name going down the paper only using capital letters for each letter. Then, he or she writes attributes, strengths, or funny things that begin with that letter. These are written on the line next to the letter that begins those words.

Examples:

Takes 3 point shots and makes them Kind and funny

You know I love cheeseburgers Everyone’s friend

Sisters make me crazy I don’t like cats

Only boy in my family Rainbows are my favorite

Nice to everyone Airplane trip is my goal

The Acrostic poems can be shared in small groups or table groups. Depending on the group size, they can also be shared with the whole group

About Me Shield

You will need: examples of shields for demonstration, paper, pencils, or colored markers; something like a magazine, file folder, or a table, etc. to give the artists a hard surface to lay their paper to draw;

It’s What I Like About You

You will need: cardstock-heavy paper sheets with the title, “It’s What I Like About You,” at the top, and a blank for the person’s name ; 2 holes, one on each side, punched at the top of the paper; and a long piece of string or yarn to tie at each punched hole, and go around a person’s neck and hang down their back; and a pen or pencil

This is a wonderful way to end a “get to know you” group experience when everyone is comfortable and familiar with each other. It works best for ages 8 and above. I have done this activity with older children, teenagers, and adults, and it works beautifully with every group.

Each person gets a paper with the string or yarn attached ready to begin. Have every person in the group write his or her name on the blank of their paper, and put the paper so it hangs down their back with the string around their neck.

Tell the group that they are going to move around the area and write strengths, funny or nice things on as many papers as they would like; while letting everyone who wants to, write strengths or nice things on their paper do so. Make sure that each person understands that only kind, positive things can be written on the papers. They cannot write mean or rude comments. Help each person to understand that the object of this “get to know you” activity is to help each person feel good about themselves.

The person writing can sign their name, or leave their message unsigned. If your group is young, brainstorm examples of kind and nice things to write; so that it might be a self-esteem building experience for everyone. It may help younger children to have their brainstorm ideas written down for the group to see and use for ideas. I have done this activity three times myself, and each paper is a treasure of my strengths and good things that others see in me.

Inside, Outside Circle

You will need: questions prepared ahead of time to ask your group as they share with each other.

Examples:

This “get to know you game” takes a few minutes to move people to the inside circle facing out, or around the outside circle facing in, but it is worth it! Pair up each person in the inside circle with a person on the outside circle. If there is an odd number of people, one of the leaders can be the partner needed.

Ask the inside people to tell their partners the answer to the question. Outside partners only listen to their partner now. Then, ask the outside circle to move two people to the right, and to tell their answer of the same question, to the new inside partner who is just listening. Give each group about 30 seconds to one minute to tell their answer to the question.

Keep the circles moving so that each person gets to listen and to share ideas with different people. Move three to the left, answer a question; move one to the right, answer a question. etc. The challenge for the leader calling directions and moves, is to not pair people together that have already been partners.

Be aware to end the game before players lose interest or run out of new people to have as a partner.

Name and Action

Children, teens, and adults enjoy this game because it gives each person a chance to be noticed and remembered. If your group is more than 12 – 15 people, divide the people into two groups.

Let your group(s) know that they will say their name, and demonstrate some type of an action that the group can do. Start with a leader who can demonstrate what to do.

Example: “My name is Michael,” (action) swings a pretend baseball bat. The next person does player one’s name and action, “Michael,” (action) swings a pretend baseball bat. Then, adds his or her own name and action, “I’m Nichole,” (action) does a dance move. The third person begins with player one and two’s names and actions “Michael,” swings a baseball bat. “Nichole,” does the dance move. Then says his or her own name and does the action, “My name is Brittany,” (action) sings in an opera-like voice, etc.

Remembering and telling each player’s name and action continue around the circle until everyone has had a turn The last person will tell the name and do the action of every person in the circle beginning with the first person, and ending with their name and action.

Related Posts

Susan majored in English with a double minor in Humanities and Business at Arizona State University and earned a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from Liberty University. She taught grades four through twelve in both public and private schools. Subjects included English, U.S. and world history and geography, math, earth and physical science, Bible, information technologies, and creative writing.

Susan has been freelance writing for over ten years, during which time she has written and edited books, newspaper articles, biographies, book reviews, guidelines, neighborhood descriptions for realtors, Power Point presentations, resumes, and numerous other projects.

17 Exciting And Interesting Games For 4-Year-Olds To Have Fun

Keep your little one engaged with games and watch them forget about everything else.

Harshita is a graduate in commerce and holds a PG Diploma in Patent and Copyrights Law from NALSAR University. She has also pursued CA and has more than three years of internship experience in auditin. more

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Games for 4-year-olds must be designed to cater to their growing needs. Children aged four are energetic and have oodles of energy. And that energy must be directed constructively. Children in this age group can skip, jump, run, and hop. They can kick balls around or use clay and sand to create shapes.

So, if you are looking for games for 4-year-olds, here are some options to pick from and let your child have lots of fun.

Exciting And Fun Games For Four-Year-Old Kids

Children aged four can pay attention to activities for up to 15 minutes, or lesser if it is something that they do every day (1). Considering that, we have compiled a list of easy games for four-year-old kids.

1. What’s hiding in the jelly?

Jelly is not just for eating. You can also use it for fun time.

You will need:

How to:

If they cannot guess, let them look and say what they found! Either way, they learn about the sense of touch and feel.

2. Drinking straws and pom poms

This is a fun indoor game that you can play with even one kid, provided you have the accessories ready.

You will need:

How to:

3. Rock, paper, scissors

Whether you have a lot of time on your hands or need help choosing whose turn it is first at something, you play rock, paper, scissors.

You will need:

How to:

One with the stronger weapon wins.

Free Worksheets and Printables for Kids

4. ABC Maze

The ABC maze is an innovative way to teach your child the alphabet. The game is physically and mentally stimulating.

You will need:

How to:

Video Games and Board Games For Four-Year-Olds

Board games are a great way to get your four-year-old child to interact with other people. Video games can make them imaginative but should be played in moderation.

5. Hoot Owl Hoot

Hoot Owl Hoot is one of the most popular board games for four-year-olds. Developed by Peaceable Kingdom, this game has colored codes and encourages cooperative play.

What we like about it: This game is easy to play and has a simple strategy that encourages kids to work as a team. The game aims to help the owls fly back to their nest before sunset. It helps in developing the kids’ social interaction skills and instills the idea that when we work in a team, everyone wins.

Why the kids love it: There is no loser in this game. There are just winners if the kids succeed in moving the owls back to their nests. Also, there is no reading or writing involved, just thinking and executing!

6. Cat In The Hat, I Can Do That!

This is an interesting board game based on Dr. Seuss’ book, The Cat in the Hat.

What we like about it: The name of the game itself says it – I Can Do That! This game lets the kids find out different things they can do for fun. The game can surprise your child and let them discover their latent talents. The game is designed to bring families and friends together.

Why the kids love it: Cat In The Hat, I Can Do That lets the children enjoy the book by Dr. Suess in a different yet entertaining, way. The game helps children better understand their abilities and helps build their confidence. Every time the kids say “I can do that” and complete a task, they are pushing their levels of confidence further up!

7. World of Zoo

There are several zoo simulator games, but none gets close to being as creative as this one.

What we like about it: Simulation games are always better than mindless video games with violence and action. World of Zoo is a zoo simulation game that teaches your children how to interact and build a relationship with the animal world. The game introduces the children to different animals, their natural habitat and their food habits. What’s best is that the game comes with National Geographic animal fact cards.

Why the kids love it: World of Zoo is a colorful video game that can be played on a PC as well. The animal editor feature lets the children interact with different animals and also lets them change their colors, patterns, and features to some extent, to create a unique animal.

8. My Lovely Farm

A colorful board game, My Lovely Farm takes your children to the world of farming, growing vegetables, and taking care of animals.

What we like about it: The game is more than just setting up a farm. There are three activities that the kids can indulge in – building the farm, creating puppets, and using fact cards to learn about farming, farm animals, benefits of vegetables, and so on. The kids can switch from one activity to the other if they are bored, and engage in imaginative play for hours.

Why the kids love it: Besides being able to build a farm of their own, the kids will also be able to color the animal cutouts, make puppets and have their own puppet shows with Mrs. Cow and Ms. Chicken as the hosts! Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Well, it is. Play with your kid, and we guarantee he’ll agree as well.

9. Hi-Ho Cherry-O

Which parent wouldn’t want an educational game for their four-year-old kid? Well if you do, then here is one that could interest you.

What we like about it: Hi-Ho Cherry-O is a fun way to teach your little one basic math skills. The game is about picking cherries and putting them in the bucket. The more cherries they pick, the faster they can fill the bucket and win. As they play, children will be adding and subtracting numbers to count fruits and fill their buckets.

Why the kids love it: The game has an arrow-based spinner, four fruit baskets, a 9-piece puzzle, and ten fruit pieces each of blueberry, cherries, apples, and oranges. The game can be competitive and allows kids to have fun picking fruits and putting them in their tiny fruit baskets. The spinner, which is used in place of a pair of dice, is perhaps the most exciting component of the game.

Eight Simple Activities For Four-Year-Olds

This is the list of activities that will keep your four-year-olds busy and you happy.

10. Number rolling game

Rolling on the floor is silly, but it is fun when you are a four-year-old. Wondering what we are talking about? Keep reading.

You will need:

How to:

Doesn’t it sound like a math lesson disguised as a fun activity? Well, it is!

11. Play acting

Play acting is an excellent way to teach children about different people or professionals they will come across. Think about a few pretend play options you can try with your kids. Some examples are:

Another great idea for play acting or make-believe skits is to act out a storybook. Let your child pick a storybook and the character he wants to be. Let the other kids or adults be the other characters (you can play multiple characters if there aren’t enough people).

The idea of playacting can be used to teach kids how to behave and how not to behave in different situations and spaces. You can also think about other scenarios besides the ones mentioned above, if you think it is relevant for your child’s age and temperament.

12. Book exploration

Book exploration is an excellent activity that we think can make reading a more interesting activity for a child. So how do you do this?

Make bedtime story reading a habit. When you read to them, they will develop an interest in books as well.

13. Nature walks

A walk or hike in the woods is perhaps the best outdoor activities that you can indulge your child in. If you have a park or a national park nearby, make it a point to take your child there at least once a month or two. Some of the things you can try during such walks include:

Your four-year-old may not be able to do much with a camera or paintbrush. At such times, you could just teach the little one to experience and enjoy the sounds of nature.

14. Touch and feel – sensory bag

Kids are so focused on seeing things, sometimes hearing, that they do not use their sense of touch for anything. This game focuses on just that – their sense of touch. You can use this game to help them identify objects by their shape, texture, and how soft or hard it is.

You will need:

How to:

Kids can take turns to play this game at parties, in classrooms and other community events.

15. Shadow tracing

A unique idea that can keep your child busy for hours, shadow tracing lets you use the everyday objects to create some art.

You will need:

How to:

For this activity, you would need light, natural or otherwise, to create a shadow. Sunlight can be tricky, for you will need to trace the object faster, before the light moves and changes the angle.

You can create as many such sketches as you want, in different sizes depending on the placement of the object and how far or close it is to the light.

Fun tip: Instead of inanimate objects, you can have people stand in the light and trace their shadow. So your child can trace you, your spouse or partner, or even a pet.

16. Drawing upside down

In this activity, the drawing is not going to be upside down. The artist will be! Wondering how that will work? Just keep reading, and we will tell you how.

You will need:

How to:

This is a fun activity and is best indulged in less often when your child is having one of the bad moods and needs a timeout.

17. Painting with wheels

Painting and art are creative activities that boost your child’s imagination. This activity indulges in painting with car wheels and not brushes.

You will need:

How to:

This is a fun activity that the children can indulge in from time to time if you don’t mind the cleaning afterward.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why are board games important for preschoolers?

Playing board games can activate brain parts involved in thinking and memory development. It can also help build logical and spatial reasoning. Preschoolers can learn to detect and identify patterns and letters through board games. These games also enhance gross and fine motor skills.

2. What do preschoolers learn from playing games?

Be it indoors or outdoors, children can learn and develop a lot from playing games. They learn to get along, collaborate, communicate, solve problems, and resolve disagreements while playing games with one another.

4-year-old children are like little photons. Channelizing their energies in the right direction can help them learn much while having fun. Rock-paper-scissors, play-acting, ABC maze, and nature walks are some all-time favorites. These games and activities have been handpicked keeping the skills, preferences, and developmental milestones of four-year-old children in mind (2). Keep in mind that each child has different preferences and skillsets. Hence, if the activities listed in this article seem too complicated or simple for your child, you may tweak them accordingly.

Infographic: Explore The World With Board Games

Board games have been the life of family gatherings, bringing people together for a time filled with fun and laughter. So how do other people across the world enjoy their family time? Use this infographic and track down the different board games from around the world to play with your family.

Teaching Kids Online – ESL Games and Activities for Virtual Classes with Young Children

Introduction

With schools and academies all over the world closing due to coronavirus, most of us teachers are turning to the internet as a way to continue giving classes. If you teach adults or teenagers it may take some adjustment, but the transition will probably be fairly easy. However, when you have groups of young children it’s a completely different ball game. It’s a hard enough task to start teaching kids in your native language online, but when it comes to teaching English as a second language to preschoolers and kindergarteners it becomes next-level challenging!

In this article I’ll talk about some of the problems and things to consider when setting up distance learning with young children, and what resources and techniques you can use to help make your online classes a success.

Some of the problems of virtual classes and teaching kids online, particularly 3-5 year olds:

There are many companies that specialize in teaching English to young kids via real-time, online classes. However, these programs use their own specially designed interactive platforms and software which include games and animation to support the online teaching. If you’re a normal teacher like me now faced with the task of teaching English to groups of 3 – 7 year olds online, how do you go about it?

The first task is to figure out what kind of online classes you want to transition to:

Do you want to give classes in real-time with all your students connected together at the same time?

Or would it work better for you to provide kids with videos of your lessons?

This is something you need to evaluate based on your particular teaching situation, the age of your students and how tech savvy you (and their parents!) are. If you need help with this first step, I recommend you read my article here in which I review some of the main ways you can set up your classes online.

In this article, however, I want to focus on the actual content of the lessons themselves. How do you engage wiggly little kids and try to teach them a different language when you’re not there with them in person and when you don’t have access to fancy software?

My aim here, then, is to give you some ideas for short games and activities you can do with young children during your online classes. I’ve chosen to include activities that you can use regardless of the format of your classes; whether you are connected with students in real time, or if you are pre- recording a video of yourself to send to parents.

One thing to be aware of if you plan to send your lesson as a video is to make sure you leave pauses after questions to give children a chance to respond. Even though you aren’t connected in real-time, young children will usually comment on what they are seeing in the video, repeat words or answer questions – and more so if it’s coming from their teacher!

These are actually all games I do in my normal classes when I’m with the kids in person, adapted where necessary for an online setting. I suggest using flashcards as an example, but for many of the activities you could show real objects instead. In fact, if you can use flashcards for some activities and real objects for others it will make it a lot more interesting for your kids!

How I run my virtual classes

In my normal, face-to-face, non-quarantine teaching life I have hour long classes once a week with my kids. Based on that, here is how I have decided to run my classes online:

Useful props and resources

Games and activities for teaching and revising vocabulary

All these games are aimed at children from 3 to 5 years old, but some can be adapted to children up to 8 years old by increasing the difficulty.

You can see some of these ideas in action HERE, where I share snippets of my own video-classes and show you how I introduce and review vocabulary with my preschoolers.

Simple Show and Say (3 – 8 years old)

To see how I do this in my video classes, CLICK HERE.

Show a flashcard, say the word and invite children to repeat it. Then say the word again. If relevant, make the sound or action of whatever it is you are showing and invite children to do the same. For 6-8 year olds increase the number and difficulty of the words, or show picture-word cards so they can read the word as well as repeat it.

Yes or No

Show a flashcard and ask a simple question, “What’s this? Is it a cat?” Allow children to reply, then answer “Yes, it is!” or “No, it isn’t!”

Mystery Window (3-8 years old)

To see me play this game in my video classes, CLICK HERE.

Cut some holes or slots from a piece of cardstock. Place a flashcard behind it, so that only some parts of the image are visible. Invite children to guess what it is, and then reveal the card to see if they are correct. Remember, the smaller and fewer the holes, the more difficult it will be for children to guess, so adjust this according to the age of your kids.

Flying Flashcard (3 – 8 years old)

To see me play this game in my video classes, CLICK HERE.

Move a flashcard quickly across screen. Ask child if they know what it is. Move it again more slowly and ask again. Then stop the card and say the word.

Which one?

Show two flashcards together at the same time – you can simply hold them up, or stick them to a board or baking tray. Say the name of one of them and ask them to point to the correct one. Then remove the incorrect card and say, for example, “It’s this one! This is the cat!”

What’s the sound? (3 – 8 years old)

You could use a mobile app or your voice for this activity. Stick two or more cards to a board or a baking tray. Play or make the sound of one of them. Point to each card in turn, “Is it the cow? Or is it the horse?” Play the sound again and invite the children to guess. For 6 – 8 year olds I recommend using an app for the sounds, as it’s more realistic and less babyish for them than using your voice.

Includes only animal sounds, but it’s a great free app and you can easily choose the sounds from lists or categories.

Includes 76 sounds of animals, vehicles, instruments, tools. Although it says it’s for toddlers, you can use the sounds for older children too. The only problem is you can’t see them all in one window, so to choose a particular sound you have to scroll through to find the one you want.

Pictionary (3 – 8 years old)

It’s best if you have a small white board for this activity. Just draw a picture and ask students to guess what it is! You can make it as easy or difficult as you like, depending on the age of the children.

If you are sending a pre-recorded video you could turn it into a quiz for 6 – 8 year olds: draw several different pictures and ask your students to send you a video or audio message of themselves giving you the answers.

Other Ideas for 3 + year olds

Mystery Box (3 – 6 years old)

To see how I use the Mystery Box in my own video classes, CLICK HERE.

I use my mystery box a lot in normal classes with my little ones and they love it! It’s easy to make one out of a shoebox, and you can also use it when teaching kids online – show the box, shake it around so they can hear the sound of whatever is inside and ask if they can guess what it is. I always put in something related to the theme we are learning and that I know they will be able to name. For example, I might put in an apple if we have been doing a fruit theme.

My mystery box also doubles as a feely box; obviously for online classes the children can’t feel for themselves what’s in there, but you could put your hand in and describe the object for them. If your students are too young to understand descriptions in English, you could trace the shape of the object in the air for them to help them guess, or mime using the object (for example, if it’s an apple you could pretend to put it to your mouth and take a bite). Alternatively, act like you’re thinking out loud and say “Hmm…is it an orange? No, I don’t think so!”, etc. Exaggerate actions and facial expressions to really engage them! Once you’ve created the suspense, open the box and show them what’s inside.

Guided Drawing (3 – 8 years old)

Using a small whiteboard, show your students step by step how to draw a picture and invite them to follow along with you at home. You can choose to make the pictures as simple as you like, according to the age of your kids. Ask them to send you a photo of their finished picture afterwards. You could also ask 6 – 8 year old students to describe their picture for homework.

Scavenger Hunt (3 – 8 years old)

This is certainly a fun activity that is great for getting kids moving around. However, for it to be successful you’ll need to figure out a way to manage it properly.

A lot of teachers seem to be recommending Scavenger Hunts for live-stream classes with preschoolers, although I’m not sure how they control the time. I can easily imagine a situation where the kids run off from the computer to find the items and one or two don’t reappear because they are obsessively looking for that one particular teddy to show to everyone else, and it absolutely can’t be any other teddy. Or they get distracted because they find another toy they haven’t played with in ages and completely forget about the class! Especially for 3-6 year olds, you’ll need to ensure parents are right there with them to keep kids on task.

Personally, I can see it working really well as a follow-up activity that children do in their own time. You can show them a list with pictures and words of the objects and ask them (or parents) to send you a photo after class once they have collected them all. For older students you could give them a list with the words only, not pictures, to make it harder.

If you want to do a Scavenger Hunt in a live-stream class I would suggest you manage it differently depending on the age of your students:

3-6 year olds: this age group often find competitive activities stressful, and I can imagine some kids getting upset if they don’t have or can’t find an item on the list when the rest of their classmates can. Setting a time limit may also be stressful for them. For this reason, if you’re doing this in a live-streaming class I would recommend you ask them to find a small number of objects, and that all the items are things you absolutely know they will all have! For example, a sock, a spoon, a book, a toothbrush, etc.

7-8 year olds: kids in this age group generally enjoy competition more, so they are less likely to get upset if they haven’t got one of the items on the list. You can set a time limit, give them more items to find, or ask them to find more obscure items.

Puppets (3 – 6 years old)

Many ESL preschool teachers use puppets in their normal classes to help teach vocabulary and get more timid kids to open up. If you have a puppet, it’s great a tool to use in your online classes too! You can talk to the puppet, make the puppet repeat words, and have the puppet talk and wave to the children.

Read-Aloud Picture Books (3 – 8 years old, depending on the story)

Another activity you can do when teaching kids online is to read picture books. You should be aware, however, that there are copyright issues with live-streaming or recording yourself on video reading certain books aloud and showing the pictures. I’m not sure how it can be enforced if you keep it on a private platform, but it’s something to bear in mind before you start enthusiastically posting videos of yourself on Facebook, for example. Having said that, many publishers have lifted read-aloud restrictions for the duration of the coronavirus crisis, or are allowing it with certain caveats. I suggest you check out this website for information on what different publishers’ rules are at the moment.

Another way of reading books without any worry about infringing copyright is to re-tell traditional stories such as The Three Little Pigs or Goldilocks and the Three Bears using clipart that you print and cut-out. Stick the cut-outs onto a whiteboard or baking tray, re-telling the story in your own words.

More games and activities suitable for 6-8 years olds

The great thing about teaching kids from first grade upwards online is that they are able to read and write by this age, allowing you to play a lot of different word and spelling games with them.

To play these games you need to be able to move the letters or words around on your board. You can make the word cards out of cardstock and place a small piece of adhesive magnet on the back of each, or just write the words onto Post-It notes.

Here are some ideas for games you can try:

Anagrams

Take a whiteboard or baking tray and stick or write the letters of a word to it. Make sure the letters are mixed up, so children have to guess what the word is. Pronounce the letters as you introduce them and invite your students to write them down on a piece of paper. Give them time to guess the word, or ask them to pause the video.

As with pictionary, you could make it into a quiz: write several different anagrams and ask your students to send you a video or audio message of themselves giving you the answers.

Bingo

You can absolutely play bingo with your students in an online class! Stick at least 10 words on a board. Read each word out loud as you introduce it. Ask kids to divide a piece of paper into 6 squares and write down six different words – one in each square. Give them time to do this (or they can pause the video if you aren’t talking to them live). Remove the cards form the board and put them in a pot or a shoebox. Pull out a word card one by one, saying the name and then showing it. If a child has that word they put a cross in that square. The first one to cross off all the words on their bingo board wins! Don’t forget to shout “BINGO!” when you complete the board! The great thing about this “online bingo” is that you or your children’s family members can play too!

Rebus Sentences

For anyone unfamiliar with a rebus story, it is one in which certain words are substituted by pictures to help young children read-along. Rather than a whole story, you can compose rebus sentences for you kids! Stick a mix of word cards and flashcards to your white board or baking tray and ask them to read the sentences back to you. For example:

The (word card) – banana (picture card) – is (word card) – yellow (picture card)

If you are sending a pre-recorded video, you could ask them to write down the sentences in full and send them to you instead, or ask them to record themselves saying the full sentences to send to you.

Mixed-up Sentences

This is basically the same as anagrams, but with words instead of letters. Write or stick the words of a sentence mixed up onto a whiteboard or baking try and have kids re-order the sentence correctly. Depending on the age and level of your kids, you could mix up word cards and picture cards to make a rebus sentence puzzle.

Secret Code Spelling

This is a great game for revising any vocabulary you want! Invent a secret code where you substitute letters for words. Display the code on your whiteboard – you can write the code in words, or use flashcards. For example:

yellow=a, purple=b, blue=i, green=n, pink=o, red=r, orange=w

Read out the words and ask children to write down the corresponding letters to form the secret word! For example, if you read out “red, yellow, blue, green, purple, pink, orange” the secret word is “rainbow”.

If you want to see a review of the different ways you can set up your online classes, head over to my post “What are the best free tools and platforms to set up virtual classes and teach English online to kids?”

Who Am I? Game Questions & Ideas

Who Am I? is a guessing game where players use yes or no questions to guess the identity of a famous person. Questions are based upon the traits and characteristics of a person everyone will be able to identify. This game works well with any size group, however the larger the group, the more fun the game becomes.

Table of Contents

Who Am I? makes an excellent ice-breaker, as the game can take as little as ten to fifteen minutes. If players take turns, the game lasts longer. We have provided a list of Who Am I? game questions and Who Am I? Names for your playing convenience. Playing a guess who I am game makes any party or get-together more fun.

How to Play “Who Am I?”

There are several ways to prepare to play this game.

Additionally, depending on the group size and the amount of time you wish to take for the game, you can choose one of the following methods.

A specific amount of time or number of questions is given to the players. Ten to twenty questions are usually enough, depending on how difficult the category, as well as the age and maturity level of the players. The game should not take more than about twenty minutes – ten for preparation and explanation and ten for play.

Encourage players to move throughout the room, mingling and asking each other questions. Once a player guesses their character’s identity correctly, they can continue to play answering the questions other players ask, or you can decide they need to wait in an area away from the other players.

Who Am I? Game Rules

Make sure you explain the game to the group before you begin playing.

Each person tries to figure out which famous person they are by only asking “Yes” or “No” questions to gain clues about the name that is on their back or forehead.

“Who Am I?” Game Questions

Players may ask any question that can be answered by Yes or No. Play is more fun and proceeds at a steadier pace if the questions are like the following:

The following is an example of questions you might ask for the category “Disney Characters.”

“Who Am I?” Names List

The following list of names will help you get ready for your game of Who Am I?

Additionally, you can choose to use categories such as Bible characters, sports stars, actors, etc. Base your choices on the composition and age level of your group. For example, classic rock stars work for adults, while Marvel characters would be a better choice for teens, and Disney characters suit children. You may also wish to choose a character category that fits with a party theme, such as names of sports cars for a boy’s birthday party where kids are going to a local go-kart track.

Game Variations

Who Am I? Charades

Players take turns acting out the names of famous people.

What Am I?

The same as Who Am I? However, instead of people, names are for things, such as a house, an apple, a tree, etc.

Category “Who Are We?”

For a very large group, select someone to be “It.” It leaves the room and the rest of the group forms a circle and decides who they will be. For example, they may decide to be surgeons or flight attendants. It reenters the room and asks Yes or No questions, one for each member of the group. Answers must be true, but can be cleverly stated to confuse It. After each member of the group asks one questions, “It” guesses the mystery category.

The fun of “Who Am I?” increases when the sticky notes or cards are on the foreheads of all the players, as everyone looks rather silly. Use this game as an icebreaker at the beginning of a party, a way to get people to mingle and meet, or to liven things up when a party begins to falter. Fun is guaranteed whenever you play “Who Am I?”

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Susan majored in English with a double minor in Humanities and Business at Arizona State University and earned a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from Liberty University. She taught grades four through twelve in both public and private schools. Subjects included English, U.S. and world history and geography, math, earth and physical science, Bible, information technologies, and creative writing.

Susan has been freelance writing for over ten years, during which time she has written and edited books, newspaper articles, biographies, book reviews, guidelines, neighborhood descriptions for realtors, Power Point presentations, resumes, and numerous other projects.

10 Vocabulary games for preschoolers

Teaching vocabulary to preschoolers is not just about giving the definitions and some examples, but about creativity and fun techniques to practice the words with them. One of the best and practical ways to teach them vocabulary is using games. Here are some of them.

Categories

This game helps children to categorize the words in the columns, to get their meanings and to find a relationship between these words. For each category, you can use flashcards (fruit, vegetables, clothes, sports, etc) and give a list of different words to your kids (banana, skirt, apple, tomato, tennis, baseball, shirt, shorts, kiwi, etc.).

out the odd word

This game is a bit similar to the previous one because it is again related to categorizing. Here the teacher gives a list of words, asking kids to cross out one odd word from each line. For example:

How many?

Here all you need is to show a picture of different things (animals, fruit, vegetables) and to ask your younger learners to count how many things there are in the picture.

2-litre jar

This is a fun game to play with your kids. You show them a 2-litre jar and ask to come up with words that can be placed in this jar. For example, they can say coffee, candle, but they cannot say happiness or animal, because they cannot be placed in this jar.

I spy

One might call this game an old one, but my younger learners adore it. To begin the game choose an object and give some hints to your kids, such as: “I spy something that is big and blue”. The pupil that guesses the word takes a turn to spy something and let other kids guess.

Apple Pass

Get your kids to sit in a circle. You can use a real apple or a fake one. While you pass the apple to the next student, you must say one English word. The student then throws to another student and says a different English word. The student who fails to catch the apple or to say a word is out. And the game continues until you have one winner. It can be played with different categories, such as fruit, vegetables, animals, etc.

Touch

This game is all about giving some instructions. The teacher says: “Touch the board”, “Touch the chair”, “Touch something black”, etc. And young learners go around the classroom to find the appropriate objects and to touch them.

Basketball

Make a paper ball and prepare a box where your kids can throw an imaginary ball. Show a flashcard to the first student. If they say the right word and throw the ball into the box, they get two points. But if they fail to do one of these things, they get just one point. The person who gets the most points is the winner.

Pictionary

This is a nice activity for recycling vocabulary. You can play this game in groups. Tell one of the students a word and ask him/her to draw a picture of it on the board. The first student to guess, what the picture is, gets a point and takes a turn to come up to the board and to draw the next picture.

Line True or False

Put a line of tape on the floor and make appropriate signs for «True» and «False». Show a flashcard and say its word (you can say a wrong word). If students think that you have said the correct word they jump on to the True side, if not they jump on to the False side. The student who gives the wrong answer is out.

What games do you play with your preschoolers?