Games Ideas for Young Learners

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Games and childhood are natural allies. What child doesn't like to have fun? And what adult doesn't look back in fond remembrance on the games of his or her childhood? Just search for people anywhere, and the majority of them will also tell you that they are enjoying those same games from their youth with their children as well. More than just entertaining, however, many traditional children's games are easily adapted for use in the ESL or EFL setting. Listed below are some of my favorites. Look them over....See any you like? Use them! Now, help this list expand by submitting YOUR favorites!

	Against the Clock
	Alpha Toss
	Blind Man's Treasure Hunt
	Blind Postman
	Close Your Eyes!
	Disaster!
	I'm Going to the Supermarket...
	I Spy
	In the City
	In the Dark
	The Letter Hunt
	Occupation, Please!
	Photographic Memory
	Police Artist
	Question Toss
	Red Light! Yellow Light! Green Light!
	Ring, Ring, Who Has My Ring?
	See, Hear, Taste, and Smell
	Sentence Scramble
	Silly Sentences
	Sorry!
	Swat It!
	Taste Test
	Thwibbledy-Thwop
	Who Am I?
	Yes, No, Maybe So

Printable Games
	Alphabet Dominoes
	A letter-initial sound matching game; played like Double Six Dominoes.
	Animal Alphabet
	A letter-initial sound matching game; may be played like Memory.
	Around the House Bingo
	A vocabulary game; reviews rooms in a house and basic home furnishings; coordinates with Let's Go 2.
	CVC Match-up
	A beginning reading game; reviews the concept of rhyming words and drills the consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word pattern.
	One or More? Bingo
	A beginning grammar game; encourages players to differentiate between singular and plural nouns; may also be used to build auditory discrimination skills.
	Rhyming Word Dominoes
	A beginning reading game; players match rhyming short vowel words.
	Subject-Verb Gramminoes
	An elementary grammar game; students follow basic dominoes rules of play to match sentence halves and create grammatically-correct sentences.
	Telling Time Bingo
	A beginning listening game; students must recognize times to the hour and the half hour.
	Weather Dominoes
	A beginning vocabulary game; played like Double Six Dominoes.