The EFL Playhouse Games for Young Learners: Silly Sentences

Skills: combining adjectives, nouns, and verbs to create sentences
Group Size: 4 to 24
Prep Time: > 20 minutes
Playing Time: 5-20 minutes
Interest Level: ages 6 to 15
Ability Level: beginning to lower intermediate

Create three sets of cards. The first should contain simple adjectives; the second, common nouns; and the third, basic verbs. Following are lists of suggested words:

Place all three sets of cards face down on the table. Make sure that the three sets remain in separate stacks. The first student draws the top card and from any stack he or she chooses and reads the word on it. He or she then uses the word in a sentence. If the sentence is correct, the student may keep the card.

Adjectives	Nouns	Verbs
[color words] [number words] short tall long old young new kind mean good bad wet dry hot cold big little ugly pretty first last rich poor smart	boy girl man woman dog cat bird fish home car bus truck park store tree grass flower game class ball doll pen pencil crayon book	run walk sit stand eat shop sleep go stop write paint sing jump dance play study bake draw color work wash clean cry laugh talk

The next student then draws a card from the stack of his or her choice and uses it in a sentence. As before, the student wins the card if the sentence is correct. If the student can use both the word he or she has drawn and the card previously drawn in a sentence, he or she wins both cards.

The third student draws a card from the stack of his or her choice and uses the word correctly in a sentence for the card. This student may win any of the previously drawn cards by using those words in his or her sentence as well.

Play continues, until all cards have been disbursed. The student who has the most cards wins.

Variation: To use this game with younger students, you may substitute picture cards for word cards; however, this greatly increase prep. time.

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