The acquisition of new vocabulary is essential in terms of overall language advancement. However, there is always a need to review active words from time to time in order to use them fluently in speech. Here, we will present a couple of great vocabulary revision games which will perk up every classroom. Through these games the learners will feel how fun, entertaining and effective the learning process can be.
1. Charades
Charades is a fun and cool revision game. Students need to practice their acting skills to explain the words. This game is extremely easy to organize with minimal advance preparation. The only thing to be ready for is to keep a collection of vocabulary cards for the words you have studied.
The class is divided into two teams. Each team member takes turns acting out one of the words from the vocabulary set and explains it by acting out the word. If his or her own team can’t guess the word, the opposite team gets the chance to guess it. Each right answer equals one point.
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2. Pictionary
Pictionary is also an entertaining game to play for vocabulary review. The rules are similar to those of charades except that instead of acting out the word, it is drawn on the board.
3. Bingo
Bingo can serve as a good revision game. From my experience, most of the groups/students like playing bingo because it gives them the chance to reflect on the words they have digested.
Students are given a blank bingo board and are asked to put the review words into the squares randomly. The teacher puts the active words in a hat or a box, takes them out one by one and defines them. If the student has a word corresponding to the definition, he crosses it out on his bingo board. When someone gets five squares in a row, they should shout, “Bingo!”
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4. A memory style
A memory style card game can be another effective way for reviewing vocabulary. It requires some preparation before the game starts. For each word to be reviewed, one card should have the target vocabulary word and another card should have the definition of the word. You also need to have a big playing grid where you put the words and their definitions face down.
Each person turns over two cards each turn trying to find a match. If the cards do not match, he turns them over again and the next person tries to find a match. If he succeeds, he keeps the cards and gets an additional turn. The player with the highest number of cards at the end of the game wins.
The game can be modified even further. If you have accumulated enough synonyms or antonyms to the target vocabulary, you can practice matching target words to their antonyms or synonyms.
5. Categories
Categories is another awesome revision game which will make students energized and empowered. What they need for the game is to draw 4-6 columns on their paper and write a category at the top of each column. Categories fit the topics covered during the course. For example, if you have covered the business topics of Marketing, Work and Leisure, Ethics, Human Resources, Travel, you write these topics as categories.
You time the students and ask them to write as many words as possible under each category. As a further modification, choose a random letter and write it on the board. Give students enough time to write down a word for each category that starts with that letter.
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6. Letter scramble
Letter scramble will make students really competitive and super fast. What you need is to take a list of words that your students have recently learned and write a scrambled version of each on the board. Students need to unscramble the words on their paper. The first one to finish deciphering all the words wins.
7. Stop the bus
Stop the bus is a cool game my students adore. I usually divide the class into 2-3 teams. One student from each team. This student sits on a chair facing his peers. Then from behind the student in the hot seat, show the other students a word from the lesson. The other students must try to describe what the word is without saying the actual word. And the student in the hot seat must guess.
The student who guesses the word shouts out “stop the bus” and checks the word with the teacher. If correct, the team gets a point. If wrong, other teams have the chance to guess the word by writing their versions on a piece of paper and passing the papers to the teacher.
8. Puzzles
Puzzles is another cool and easy tool to review the material in an effective way. What I like about this way of vocabulary revision is that students can work in pairs or groups while trying to find words matching the definition in the crosswords. They learn by listening to each other, cooperating to find the right answer. In this way, they both review the material and improve their teamwork skills.
Follow this link to get templates of different types of puzzles.
We also recommend watching a video with Alexei Konobeev. The speaker shared games to help your students remember new vocabulary. These games do not require special training and you can adapt them to any age and level.
We hope that all these games would serve their best to liven your vocabulary revision sessions and make them more meaningful and effective.
Which of these games have you tried? Which ones have you picked up for your next revision slot?
Want a fresh, new ESL teaching tool that isn’t a total gamble?
Deal your students a winning hand with card games.
All you need for these awesome in-class activities are some cards.
That means they’re simple, flexible and cost-efficient.
As the teacher, you get to make up the rules. Since they’re easily customized, you can play around with all kinds of variations on classic card games. You’ll hold teaching tools for whatever vocabulary or grammar point you’re working on in class.
Teaching them card games not only builds language, but it also builds cultural knowledge. From elementary schools and retirement homes to casinos and college parties, card game are an important part of our culture. Wherever you go in the world, you’re bound to find some regionally-popular card games.
The card games we’ve assembled here are not only timeless, international favorites, but they’re also perfect teaching tools for an ESL classroom.
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Why Are ESL Card Games Legitimate Teaching Tools?
Never underestimate the power of being different or exciting.
Used correctly, games in the ESL classroom will enrich your lessons.
But how?
Make things fun and engaging for everyone
ESL games perk up your class’s interest and provide a mental break from stressful studying. They can trick the most apathetic students into learning something new. Games reinforce the idea that the classroom is a fun place, and that learning English is a fun activity. For another source of fun, interactive learning, you’ve got to try FluentU.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language lessons.
Reduce teacher talking time
You should always be on the lookout for new activities that will minimize the time you spend talking and shine that spotlight on your students. They’re not in class to just listen to lectures, they’re in class to practice their English as much as humanly possible.
By introducing them to some card games, you’ll provide your students with a way to practice English among themselves and try out their newly-learned grammar and vocabulary.
Build relationships
The student-teacher relationship, as well as the peer relationships between members of the class, can be greatly strengthened by having everyone laughing together.
Teach and reinforce material
Games involve repetitive actions. Students will repeat the same actions and English phrases over and over again, ingraining this in their memories for the long-term. For instance, when playing “Go Fish,” students will need to ask questions using the same sentence many, many times.
By the end of a few rounds, it will be second nature to say “Do you have any…?” You can use this characteristic of games to your advantage, and use them to teach the most difficult vocabulary and grammar concepts.
Let students take ownership of English
Games help students realize that they’re not just learning English for the sake of learning English. Games teach them that there’s more to the English language than just, “Hello, my name is…”
It’s not something boring and dry that they’re simply “supposed” to learn. Your students will come to understand that they’ll be able to have fun and play around with the English language the same way they do with their native language.
Encourage creative thinking
Many of these games involve students having to spell words, identify the right vocabulary and come up with their own sentences for gameplay. This means that they’ll need to get the gears in their brains spinning and be creative with the English they already know. Plus, since games are fun, their brains will decide that making up new English sentences is fun, too!
An ESL Teacher’s Motivations Determine a Game’s Success
I taught hundreds of middle school students while living in South Korea. In the beginning, I used games because I was scared to death of being boring. As a result, I was under constant pressure to be exciting, and I doubt my students learned much.
Eventually I let go of perfection. I used ESL games as a teaching tool, and my classes improved enormously.
Your own classes will suffer if you use games:
- as time for you to take a break
- because you didn’t know what else to do
- to prove to your students that you are incredibly interesting
If you use ESL card games for the right reasons, the energy in your classes will increase. The teaching relationship between you and your students will also be strengthened.
7 ESL Card Games You’ve Gotta Have Up Your Sleeve
1. Spoons
This hilarious card game translates into effective ESL spelling practice for all levels and ages.
It works best for smaller groups of 4 or 5 students. Things tend to get pretty crazy with big groups, but it can be done.
Be forewarned, the cards require a lot of preparation in advance. However, if you make them correctly and have them laminated, they’ll last a long time.
Preparation
In a Word document, create a table. Each square in the table should be about 2 inches by 2 inches. These are your game cards! Type up the alphabet, with one letter per square. Create about 20-25 squares for each letter of the alphabet. Print the document (laminate if you can) and cut the tables into the game cards.
These same cards can be used for a homemade Scrabble game, as well.
How to Play
Choose about 10 vocabulary words and write them on the board where everyone can see them. Dump the cards face up in the middle of the table or desks. Then put plastic spoons or unsharpened pencils in the center.
The quantity of these is important, through—there must be one less than the number of students playing. For example, if there are five students, put out only four spoons or pencils.
The students will each spell the same word from the board by choosing letters from the pile. When one student finishes, he/she takes a spoon. As soon as that happens, the other students must take a spoon also. The student who does not get a spoon writes “S” on a piece of paper (or “P” for “pencil”). Whoever spells “Spoons” or “Pencil” first loses.
2. Memory
One reason this game is so popular is that everyone enjoys the challenge it poses.
It’s another ESL game that transcends all levels and abilities.
Preparation
Create paper cards with key vocabulary words on them.
You’ll want to create a grid of at least 7 by 7 (49 cards) for small groups of intermediate and advanced students, and can make significantly larger grids for more advanced students and larger groups of students. Teeny tiny grids of cards (think 4 by 4, 16 cards) can be made up for young children and beginning students.
You don’t just have to limit yourself to vocabulary words, either. You can use pictures, numbers or colors for young and beginning level students. You can also kick the difficulty up a few notches and provide matching verb conjugations.
How to Play
On your turn, you can select any two cards to flip over. If they are a pair, you can keep the cards and go again. If not, turn the cards back over in their original spot, and your turn is over.
There are a variety of ways to play Memory, depending on your classroom’s technology.
1. Place the cards at the students’ desks.
No matter the students’ ages, it’s best to laminate the cards. Otherwise they become dog-eared and torn up very quickly.
2. Put the cards on the board with magnets or small pieces of tape.
Be especially careful that the tape won’t damage the board. If possible, have the cards hung before class starts to save valuable time. Young students become very antsy and disruptive when they have to wait.
3. Create a PowerPoint game.
For the tech-savvy, you can create a PowerPoint with numbers in the squares, or find a free template online. The students first choose a number. A word or picture is revealed which then disappears. The students choose another number, trying to find a match.
3. Go Fish
This old favorite is for beginning level students and never fails to get everyone talking.
Preparation
You can either use a traditional deck of cards and focus on structuring questions and identifying numbers, or you can make up your own set of illustrated cards for key vocabulary. In Korea, the students’ textbooks usually would have pre-made flashcards in the back of the book that students punched out. These were perfect for Go Fish when they were numerous.
How to Play
Divide students into small groups of 4-6. Deal out 5-7 cards per students, and then dump the rest of the cards face down in the center. Mix them up well!
You know the drill from here on out: First students lay down any matches they have in their hands. Then students will go around in a circle asking each other if they have a match for their particular vocabulary words or numbers. If the other student has a match, he or she has to pass it over to the questioner.
The successful questioner can keep asking for matching cards until they finally get told to “Go fish!” The goal is to have no cards left in your hand, because you’ve laid down matches. With traditional playing cards you’ll need to get all four numbers (one in every suit) to lay down a set. With vocabulary, it’s up to you to decide how many makes a full set, though pairs work well for younger students.
The matching cards get set aside into a pile. At the end of the game, the student who finished their hand first may be the winner—but the ultimate winner will have the most matching sets of cards in their pile.
It’s great for practicing questions, answers and easy vocabulary, like:
Do you have _______________? (a fish, book, house, etc.)
Yes, I do./No, I don’t. Can you give me a ____________? (pencil, dress, spoon, etc.)
Yes, I can (give it to you).
No, I can’t (give it to you).
Sorry, go fish!
Feel free to be creative and adjust the asking phrases to match your key vocabulary. For example, my sixth graders had a unit where the target phrase was “How do you say ~ in Korean/English?” We used their textbook’s flashcards to play Go Fish, but instead of “Do you have ~,” they would ask, “How do you say ‘apple’ in Korean?” If the student had the corresponding flashcard with the Korean word for “apple,” it was a match.
As always, be sure to laminate your cards if you can, or you’ll be remaking them in no time. It’s a good idea to glue words or pictures on to darker paper so that fellow competitors can’t see through the cards.
4. Uno
No, no. Despite the name, this game isn’t for teaching Spanish. It’s actually perfect for teaching your ESL students colors, numbers and a few basic phrases here and there.
This beloved game was a strong presence in many of our childhoods, and it’s so darn popular because it’s simple.
How to Play
Deal seven cards to each student in the playing group. Place the deck in the center and flip one card over to create the discard pile. Students will then take turns playing the cards in their hand on the discard deck.
In case you’re a bit out of touch with your inner child and need some refreshing on the rules, the student who’s actively playing their turn must match the last discarded card’s number, color or command.
For instance, a red 8 can be played on any other red card, a blue “draw two” may be played on any other blue card, and any color “draw two” can be played on any color “draw two.” Black cards can be played at any time!
Because the card matching is super visually-oriented, it’s even easy for beginning English students to pick up on. Now, how do they practice their English with this game? Have the playing student speak the number, color and command (if applicable) of each card out loud while they play it. This will help them practice identifying colors and numbers quickly and naturally.
When a student gets down to one single card, have them shout “One card!” instead of “Uno!” if you like. The winner is the student who gets rid of all their cards first.
5. Kings
Some of you might recognize this one as a drinking game (also known as “Circle of Death,” though we highly recommend sticking with the “Kings” name). I won’t try to slip that one past you. It is! But you can rework this classic party-night game to be an excellent, engaging and activity-driven game for in-class English practice. It’s also wonderful for getting the “wiggles” out of your more energetic classrooms.
Preparation
Create a sheet of rules for the game. You’ll need to assign a different action to every number in the deck (Ace through King). These rules can be created with the input of your students before gameplay starts, or you can make it up ahead of time at home.
Not sure what kind of rules to make? To get your creative juices flowing, here’s one set of rules you could use.
How to Play
The students simply go around in a circle drawing one card on their turn, and then everyone does the activities corresponding to the selected card. Students can keep the list nearby for reference, or you may elect one student to be a “rule keeper” and have them read off what every student must do.
This works on the students’ English comprehension skills, because they’ll need to either read or hear the action and respond accordingly. Those who cannot perform the actions sit out the round, and the winners are the ones who can jump through the hoops until the deck runs out!
6. Dictatorship
This one is all gameplay, no preparation. Just get yourself a deck of traditional playing cards, explain the rules and you’re good to go!
For this one you’ll want to break larger classes into smaller groups. Each group needs its own deck.
How to Play
To play, everyone draws a card, and the highest valued card is the “dictator” for that round. Feel free to call them the “president,” “leader,” “commander” or any other term that suits your fancy if dictator is too harsh or complex.
Whatever you decide, this student officially gets to call the shots for one round. They’ll decide on a couple of fun “rules” that the rest will have to follow depending on the cards they draw. For example: “Everyone with a red card has to dance salsa for five seconds” or “Everyone with a diamond has to jump up and down.”
You can provide them with a list of possible actions if they’re still in the process of learning action verbs and activities like these. Definitely write the sentence structures they’ll need on the board to command their fellow classmates.
After determining the actions everyone will need to do, the dictator will then deal out the cards in a circle. Once the cards are out and everyone has followed orders, reshuffle the deck and pass it to the next student on the dictator’s left (or right). Go around in a circle until everyone has had a chance to be the boss!
One little tip: Give the dictator a limit for how many “rules” they can impose on their subjects for each round—otherwise things might get out of hand. I’d suggest no more than 2-3 rules per round. For lower levels, just one rule will suffice because the other students playing might forget what they’re supposed to do while waiting for the cards to be dealt!
If you’re in the mood for some silly and boundless fun at the end of a class period? Let them command to their heart’s content.
7. Cards Against Humanity
Perfect for adult students, advanced students and only somewhat appropriate in a (very) casual learning environment. You probably won’t want to bring this one into school—and you’ll definitely need to get an “okay” from a higher-up depending on where you teach ESL.
There are a few ways to modify this game and make it school-friendly, so stay with me here.
Preparation
For the unanointed, this is not your grandma’s card game. It’s full of deliciously explicit language, offensive statements and other content that is absolutely not politically correct. How the heck is this great for ESL, you’re wondering?
If you can get away with the official Cards Against Humanity decks, it’s just awesome for helping adult and advanced students to learn more about popular culture, puns, black humor (which is honestly quite a lot of American and British humor) and well-known people and events in the English speaking world.
It’s also hilarious. It encourages students near fluency to totally own the English language and have fun with it.
You will definitely want to remove any cards with exceptionally obscure references. You may also want to create some of your own cards to add to the deck—or craft your own deck entirely based on references and humor that your particular class will understand.
How to Play
Each student will be dealt 8-10 white cards, each of which contains a noun or gerund. One player draws a black card and places it face up for all to see. This black card will have a question or fill-in-the-black statement. Each player (except for the one who drew the black card this round) will put down the white card which answers or fills in the black card’s statement as hilariously as possible.
The player who drew the black card may choose the winning white card, and thus that round’s winning player, based on whatever they feel like—usually whichever card made the statement most humorous.
While it’s loads of fun with mature content, most of you out there probably won’t be able to use these cards for ESL students. However, you can print up you own deck of cards quite easily, making it a fun humor-driven game that expands students’ horizons in terms of English language creativity.
Another school-friendly alternative is the classic Apples to Apples, which follows the same idea, except that it’s recommended for ages 12 and up—so you can surely play it at school.
How to Avoid ESL Card Game Pitfalls
There are a few elements of card games that are sometimes challenging in ESL classrooms. But no problem in the ESL classroom is without a simple solution!
Cultural blocks
Be sure card games of any kind are fine in class. While volunteering in the Philippines, I was told we couldn’t have card games in the women’s shelter. Cards were immediately associated with gambling and the irresponsible use of money. Just to be careful, ask if there are any cultural taboos that would cause you unforeseen problems.
No one understands the game
This happened to me often in the beginning, causing embarrassment. The one lesson I learned was this: Even the easiest game can be hard to understand for a person who is learning your language. If you have a co-teacher, be sure to explain the game’s rules before class first. He/she will then be able to translate when all else fails.
Also, be sure to practice explaining the ESL game before class. Know exactly what you’ll say. It’s helpful to demonstrate things like shuffling, passing a card or taking a spoon.
The class is too noisy
This is a particular danger when playing Spoons. When students catch on to how it’s played, the noise level will increase dramatically.
You have a few options here.
For adult students who are more mature, you can mention the need for quiet before playing. They should cooperate.
For the younger students in middle school and high school, you’ll have a challenge. Some schools have an ESL lab that is far from other classes, and noise isn’t an issue. For those without an isolated classroom, you’ll have to have strong classroom management skills. The more cooperative students will probably respond to firm reminders. You may have to stop the game altogether for classes that are more strong-willed.
Sometimes, however, you can see trouble coming from a mile away. You know which classes just can’t handle the excitement, and you’ll have to prepare a less rowdy activity.
Game materials are destroyed by students
In Spoons, it’s inevitable that a few plastic spoons will be broken. Have plenty of spares on hand—they’re cheap anyway. That’s why unsharpened pencils are better; they’re just sturdier and survive use by multiple classes.
Definitely laminate. If you can’t do that, then break out the clear tape. Avoid the smaller rolls and buy the wider packaging tape. It works just as well as laminating.
Keep an eagle eye on the rowdier students and intervene when they get too rough. Circulate around the room, picking up materials that fell to the floor.
When the ESL Card Games Are Finished…
Remember how you carefully counted out the game cards so that every group would have exactly the same materials?
You won’t get them back like that.
Students will lend cards to other groups and pick up materials that aren’t theirs. Some will actually keep the cards, though that might be accidental (or not). Inevitably you’ll have to sort everything again, putting it all back in plastic bags for safe keeping. Though a little tedious, remember that the class really was fun.
Bringing fun into the ESL classroom takes creativity and dedication. Those two qualities are what make you such a great teacher.
Though the preparation can be hard, when you are laughing with everyone else, you’ll forget about the negatives. What you will remember for a long time to come are the smiles on your students’ faces.
Download:
This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you
can take anywhere.
Click here to get a copy. (Download)
How to use this teaching resource
This is one of my favourite teacher resources.
It provides some really simple but effective and fun word card games ideas as well as activities for general spelling and word study.
I would use this document almost every day to plan for the following types of activities……
- Daily group activities and/or tasks – at least one session per day involved some type of dolch sight word list or theme word card game or activity.
- Home sight word games and activities – Many Teacher Members are sending the full version – ‘101 Fun and Educational Word Card Activities’ home as a reference document for Parents – communicating ideas and ways to help their children learn sight words at home.
- PLUS they are fantastic for those fill in, impromptu and early finisher activities.
101 VOCABULARY / WORD CARD ACTIVITIES….
a sneak preview…..SEE ABOVE DOWNLOADS FOR FULL FREE DOWNLOAD
1. Immerse your Learning Area…
- Absolutely immerse your learning area with words – hang them from the ceiling like a ladder, have them on the windows, pop them on your bulletin board displays, have full class sets in themed boxes (small washing powder boxes work well) or hanging pockets ready for children to use for reference and games everyday…
- Children need to be absolutely enveloped by all sorts of words, eg. theme words, sight words, phonics words, CVC words and more.. EVERYWHERE !
2. Syllables and Sounds Mapping…(MY ALL TIME FAVOURITE ACTIVITY – IT JUST HELPS SOOOOO MUCH PARTICULARLY WITH WRITING)
- Practise clapping or moving to the syllables of each word.Use whiteboard markers on laminated cards to stroke out the syllables in each word (don’t forget each syllable has a vowel).
- The sounds (or graphemes) within each syllable are then mapped using a dot for 1 letter graphemes, and underscore for 2 or more letter graphemes.
- Also can – Bring up the pdf words file on the electronic whiteboard and use digital pen to mark the syllables and sounds as a whole class.
- Also can – Make up a chart with headings – ‘Word’ ‘How many Syllables’ ‘How Many Sounds’ eg. The word ‘river’ has 2 syllables and 4 sounds so would look like this …….
3. Twister Chart
- Make a ‘twister’ style chart with chalk on a concrete floor, using letters instead of colours.
- Children choose a word and place their feet and hands on the letters as they spell out the words.
4. Make a Vocabulary / Word Dictionary...
- Each child has a ‘scrapbook’ with each letter of the alphabet written at the top of every 2nd or 3rd page.
- Whenever you present a new set of words – print your chosen word cards in black and white reducing the size to about 4in 1 in your printer settings.
- Children cut these words out and glue them into the appropriate initial letter of their ‘dictionary scrapbook’
- Great for writing reference and word practice – by the end of the year they have a full scrapbook of all the words they have been ‘exposed’ to.
5. Mini Words…
- Print off smaller size words in black and white using the printer settings (for example 4in1 page).
- These words are then cut up and put into a small lunch container to practise at home.
- Send a copy of these ‘101 Word Card Activities’ home with parents as a reference for activities with these cards.
6. Who Am I ? Game…
- *Have your selected word cards on display.
- *Children take turns giving ‘who am I’ clues for a chosen word.
- *For example, I am yellow, I have 5 letters, I end in ‘y’.
- *Other children guess the word.
7. Hangman…
- *Have your selected word cards on display.
- *Play ‘hangman’ using these cards as reference.
8. Find-a-Word in Reading Books…
- *Using your pile of chosen word cards – children find each word in class reading books.
- *Write down each word and how many times they found it.
- *Could use a ‘tally’ for this.
9. Dominoes…
- *Using your chosen word cards, deal them out so that each child has the same amount.
- *Children take turns placing their cards down making sure the last letter of one matches the first letter of another word card as in dominoes style.
10. Interactive Whiteboard Wordplay…
- *Set your IWB so that your chosen cards pdf file displays.
- *Children circle the letters, sounds, and patterns within the words.
11. Chinese Whispers…
- *Children are sitting in a circle.
- *First child picks up a word card and whispers the word to the child next to them
- *The word get ‘whispered’ around to the last child who says to word out loud.
- *Word card gets held up to check if correct.
12. Dismissal Words…
- *Grab a set of word cards and as children are dismissed or move to another activity – ask each child to say the word or point to a letter / sound in the word etc as they move on…
13. Circle Smaller words within Words…
- *Use whiteboard markers to circle smaller words within the laminated word card words.
- *For example – ‘ball’ – ‘all’.
14. Chalk Words…
- *Children go outside and practise writing their words with chalk on the concrete.
15. Handwriting Practice…
- *Children use whiteboard markers to practise tracing over a set of laminated word cards.
16. Word Classification / Grouping…
- *This is a great activity for early finishers also.
- *Grab a set of cards or more classify/group them according to all sorts of criteria…
- *number of letters
- *words with double letters
- *compound words
- *words that rhyme
- *words with certain phonic sounds
- *same initial letters
- *same ending letters
17. Flashlight Words….
- *Have your chosen word cards on display.
- *Turn off the lights and use a flashlight or torch to flash on each word card.
- *Children say the word as you flash on them.
18. Around the World Words...
- *Children play this in continuous pairs.
- *Flash the word card to the first pair, first child to say the word correctly, moves on to the next child to make a pair.
- *Another card is flashed – first child to answer correctly moves on to the next child and so on..
19. Tic Tac Toe Here I Go…
- *Have your chosen word cards displayed.
- *Children or Teacher uses a pointer to sing as they point to the words in random fashion…’Tic Tac Toe Here I go, Where I Land I Do Not Know’
- *Stop on a card – children say the word.
- *Is fun to go really fast with this and children love being the ‘teacher’.
- *This has always been a simple favourite wherever I have used it.
20. Swat the Word…
- *Have the chosen words displayed.
- *Children use a flyswat to ‘swat’ the words as they are called out.
21. Stepping Stones…
- *Place chosen word cards on the floor in random fashion.
- *Children take turns stepping on the stones (word cards), saying the words as they step on each one.
- *Children be careful not to fall off into the river full of crocodiles
22. Musical Words…
- *Children sit in a circle.
- *1-5 word cards are passed around as music plays.
- *Once music stops, children with cards, stop and look at them and say the word or say something interesting about the word eg. double letters etc – continue with the music.
- *Can build it up to 20 or more cards being passed around good fun.
23. Word Walk…
- *Children grab 1 or more cards , depending on the age of level of the children.
- *Children walk around the room or school (under supervision) looking for their words on signs, books, around the environment…
- *Children keep a tally of how many times they see each word.
- *To make it fun children could have their own ‘word wands’ made from dowel or ‘fairy wands’ purchased from cheap shops.
24. Playdough Words…
- *Children make words up using playdough.
- *If you make the word cards larger size, they can place the play-dough over the top of the letters..
25. Coin Toss / Beanbag Toss…
- *Place selected words on the floor face up.
- *Children take turns to toss the coin, or beanbag onto a word and then say that word or say something interesting about the word eg. double letters etc.
- *Make this more difficult by asking the ‘tosser’ to throw onto a specific word or other clues, such as – a word beginning with ‘b’ or a word with the sound ‘oo’ in it, or a word with 4 letters for example.
26. Crisscross Words…
- *Children write their words downwards, then fill in the missing letters…
27. Letter Stencils and Letter Stamps…
- *Children make up words from the selected word cards using letters stencils or letter stamps.
28. Magnetic Letters…
- *Children make words using magnetic letters.
- *A great way to do this for individual use is to use cheap baking trays for each child to place their magnets on.
29. Beat the Clock…
- *Using the word cards, how many times can each word be written in 1 minute.
- *Great to work in pairs with one child writing and one child doing the timing.
30. Beat the Clock Reading…
- *Hold up the words – how many words can be read out loud in 1 minute.
- *Again, this could be done as a class or in pairs with one child saying the word while the other times.
Copyright – K-3TeacherResources.com
Comments & Reviews
Here is our list of the 10 best word games. This category of board games is pretty self-explanatory. These are games that typically do not have any focus on the theme and are all about words, things that benefit from you being everything from a master of language to a logical genius. You may have to build or you may need to deconstruct but there are many things that you can do with words while playing with our knowledge and preconceived notions of language and communication. With all the amazing games in this category in mind, here is your list of the 10 Best word games.
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#10 | Trapwords
Trapwords makes the list of the best word games because it is a party game that has successfully blended some great mechanics from the past into a wonderful modern game for any medium or large sized group. It is like the classic Taboo, but it takes it further by having the opposing team choose the words you cannot use and you do not know what they are.
You take the role of a group of adventurers crawling through a fantasy dungeon full of traps and curses, with a Boss waiting for you at the end. You have to successfully guess a word that one of your teammates is trying to describe to you. And the further you get, the worse it gets. For 4 – 8 players, games run about 30 – 45 minutes.
FOR MORE: Buy Trapwords on Amazon on Amazon
#09 | A Little Wordy
A Little Wordy makes the list of the best word games because it brings the genre in an intriguing direction that just works, especially for the 2 player showdown it is built for. This game, from the creator of Exploding Kittens, brings together word-forming and deduction. You need to form a smart word but then you need to use interesting pieces of information to guess your opponent’s word before they do the same to you.
Write it down, keep it a secret. Rescramble your tiles, pass them to your opponent. The goal is to examine your opponent’s tiles and try to figure out their word. You do this with Clue Cards. These tell you things such as: what’s the first letter, how long’s the word, or what does it rhyme with? You win by using as FEW of these clue cards as possible to figure out what word your opponent wrote down. For 2 players, games run 5 – 15 minutes.
FOR MORE: A Little Wordy Page | How To Play A Little Wordy | A Little Wordy Review | Games Like A Little Wordy | Buy A Little Wordy on Amazon
#08 | Letter Jam
Letter Jam makes the list of the best word games because even though it is very new, people are falling in love at an alarming rate. From the same publishers as Codenames, Letter Jam is a cooperative word game where players assist each other in composing meaningful words from letters around the table. It has fun communication and it tests an appropriate level of knowledge if you like a game about working together with others instead of against.
At the start of the game, each player receives a set of face-down letter cards that can be arranged to form an existing word (players selecting words for each other). Throughout the game, other players search each other’s cards to make words. Ultimately you are trying to use clues to figure out your master secret word and the more players that successfully do, the better the victory. For 2 – 6 players, games go for about 45 minutes.
FOR MORE: How To Play Letter Jam | Games Like Letter Jam | Buy Letter Jam on Amazon
#07 | When I Dream
If you are looking for something that does have a lot of theme and a lot of additional things going on, When I am Dream may be the title on the list of the best word games for you. This is a real-time deduction game that has elements of storytelling and role-playing. If you strip it all away, however, this is a word game at heart.
This is an active game so get ready. The dream spirits want to have some fun tonight. Players each take turns being the “dreamer” and they “fall asleep by putting on a cloth mask (included). The other players are secretly dealt their role cards determining if they have naughty or nice intensions. A non-dreamer draws an image card and has to describe it in one word. Lighting round style, you have 120 seconds to get through as many as possible. For 4 – 10 players, games last 20 – 40 minutes.
FOR MORE: Buy When I Dream on Amazon
#06 | Wordoku
Wordoku makes the list of the best word games because it is a simple concept that blends some things you know and love to make for a great word building experience that any fan of the genre will love. Wordoku makes for an edge of your seat quickfire challenge that meshes classic mechanics incredibly well.
This game is a combination crossword-sudoku word game where players race to create words and earn points using wooden letter tiles on a 4×4 grid, while skillfully incorporating all the tile symbols to double word values. The game is played over three rounds in which players earn awards for scoring the highest number of points — and for improving their personal high scores between rounds. For 1 – 6 players, games run 20 – 30 minutes.
FOR MORE: Wordoku Page | How To Play Wordoku | Wordoku Review | Games Like Wordoku | Buy Wordoku on Amazon
#05 | Werewords
Werewords makes the list of the best word games because it takes a great word game and throws in a wolf, literally and metaphorically. It is a great deduction word game, taking in clues to get you closer, but it also happens to have this other random hurdle that is going to pop out and ruin days. It is a lively title and should please players of all groups and intensities.
Players guess a secret word by asking “yes” or “no” questions. Figure out the magic word before time is up, and you win. The wrench, however, one of the players is secretly a werewolf who is not only working against you, but also knows the word. If you don’t guess the word in time, you can still win by identifying the werewolf! It is very difficult to hide as the werewolf. For 4 – 10 players, it goes about 10 minutes per round.
FOR MORE: Buy Werewords on Amazon
#04 | Decrypto
Decrypto makes the list of the best word games because it is a masterful blending of a guessing game within a bigger guessing game. You have your own thing going on with your team, but depending on how well you do at that informs the bigger race of which overall team is going to team. You need people to guess from a shortlist of words, how little can you give them to get them there is the question.
Players compete in two teams in Decrypto (white and black), with each trying to correctly interpret the coded messages of their opponent before they do the same. On each team’s personal board, there are four cards tucked into the different screens (#’d 1 – 4). The team can see these words, the opponents cannot. Each round one team member per team is the decoder and draws a card with a series of numbers (relating to the 1 – 4). They have to get their team to guess this order by giving clues, but then you are also giving clues to your opponent. For 3 – 8 players, games run 15 – 45 minutes.
FOR MORE: Games Like Decrypto | Buy Decrypto on Amazon
#03 | Just One
Just One is the only board game in this genre to ever win a Spiel des Jahres award which alone justifies its existence on the list of the best word games, but it is also pretty fantastic. Just One is a cooperative party game in which you play together to discover as many mystery words as possible.
Players take turns having to guess a word. Before they do, the card with the word is revealed to the other players and they need to write down a clue to help them get there. It can be anything, but the hook is that duplicate clues get removed. It is more difficult than you think. The goal is to get a score as close to 13 as possible. For 3 – 7 players, games run about 20 minutes each.
FOR MORE: Just One Page | How To Play Just One | Games Like Just One | Buy Just One on Amazon
#02 | Scrabble
Scrabble breezes onto the list of the best words game because it is one of those untouchable games that continue to get the respect it deserves. Scrabble came out in 1948, is one of the most well-known board games in human history and is still played today because it is the best at what it does.
You start by drawing 7 letter tiles. Players use these to form words on the gameboard. Each word laid out earns points based on the commonality of the letters used, with certain board spaces giving bonuses. But a word can only be played if it uses at least one already-played tile or adds to an already-played word. The high score wins, simple but devastating. For 2 – 4 players, games run about 90 minutes.
FOR MORE: Games Like Scrabble | Buy Scrabble on Amazon
#01 | Codenames
Some people may be upset about Codenames taking the top spot on the list of the best word games over Scrabble, but we will say it, Codenames is that amazing. It almost seems like an accident how well communication flows and layers of difficultly and scenarios unfold themselves as you play. No discredit to the designer, it just all comes together so unbelievably beautiful that it doesn’t seem possible to construct such a thing.
The group is split into two teams. You are spies and you need to get your fellow operatives out of the field before your opponent does the same. This is represented by a grid of many words that secretly each have a blue operative, red operative, bystander or evil assassin under them. Each round, one member from each team gets to look at a decoder card showing all the locations and they need to communicate this to their team by giving 1-word answers. The key is that you need to give clues that apply to multiple spots to win. For 2 – 8 players, games run about 15 minutes per round.
FOR MORE: Codenames Page | How To Play Codenames: Pictures | Codenames: Pictures Review | Games Like Codenames | Buy Codenames on Amazon
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Ages 8+
2-6 Players
Objective:
To create the best scoring hand using the cards
dealt to you. The player with the highest value word
wins the hand.
Contents:
The deck includes 110 cards. There are 74 letter-
letter cards, 32 premium score cards, and 4 wild
cards. All letters have a number value. Wild cards do
not have a value.
P remium Double and Triple Score Cards:
If a player forms a word with more than one premium
card (i.e. double or triple word or letter cards), the
score is doubled or tripled and then redoubled or
re-tripled according to the players cards in that word.
Include premiums for double or triple letter values, if
any, before doubling or tripling the word score.
Scrabble Word Play Poker
— Standard Edition
Game play:
Shuffle the deck of cards and deal each player one
card. The player with the letter card closest to A wins
the deal. These cards are now placed back in the
deck. Make copies of the included score sheet, or
use a piece of paper to keep a tally of each player’s
score, entering it after each hand.
The dealer shuffles and deals 7 cards facedown to
each player, which only the player sees. The deal
always starts to the left of the dealer. Players may
now have one 3 card draw (a player may take a
maximum of 3 cards from their hand and replace
them with new cards from the deck). The player to
the left of the dealer starts the draw. Players now
create the highest value word using the letter cards
in their hand.
Players must lay their hands down in the order of
the game play. A word laid is a word played. Once a
player’s hand is down and their word is formed, the
word cannot be changed.
The player with the highest value word (only one
word may be formed in each hand) wins the hand.
The score for each hand is the sum of the letter val-
ues in each word formed plus the additional points
obtained from premium score cards.
Winner:
The player with the highest final score wins the
game. Players can choose to set a time limit or maxi-
mum score to win the game.
Scrabble Word Play Poker
— Hold ‘Em Style
Game play:
Each player is dealt two cards face down. The dealer
turns the first card from the top of the deck and lays
it face down. This is called a «burn». Three cards are
now placed face up in the middle of the table (flop),
which are community cards.
Players combine the two cards in their hand with
the community cards to form words. The dealer now
burns a second card before turning one more card
Sample Words
Play on Words is the super, get-your-brain-in-gear, word game with CARDS. Get ready to play a word game a whole new way! Break free from the constraints of tile/grid word games and simply play on a tabletop. In this fun, family game for kids and adults, players build words from 8-card stacks showing available letters. Combo cards, flip cards and wild cards give even more options in finding word possibilities. In addition, during each turn players experience a whole new level of creativity by being able to «play on» (adding to, inserting or rearranging) already-played words — even their opponent’s — for added points! The versatility allowed in Play on Words makes this game a mind-sharpening challenge for adults, and helps younger players develop and practice phonics, vocabulary, strategic thinking and teamwork. For 1-4 players. Young players often enjoy playing in teams.
A message from the game creator: Play on Words is a unique word game because it combines the elements of two enormously popular and classic games — Scrabble and Anagrams. The added features and versatility make Play on Words a very engaging game. The no-rush, all-face-up style of play allows for a lot of conversation between players, whether playing casually or competitively. And get ready for the smiles and laughter from the creativity shown by players. For family with kids 8 and up, it’s a great learning game and possibly the ultimate game to have fun playing with the English language. Play on Words has received rave reviews from word game enthusiasts, parents, teachers and kids. We are honored to have received a Parents’ Choice Foundation «Silver Honor» award, and to be showing up in family game nights everywhere!
SPECIAL FEATURES IN GAME:
— Combo Cards: CH, CK, SH, ST and TH (the five most common two-letter consonant combos in the English language)
— Flip Cards: Choose J or X, or Z or V
— 2 Wild Cards