Games for small classes

[elspeth]

So, my after school classes this year are tiny. I'm talking like 4 students per class; they are all low-level phonics/reading comprehension classes. Their text book stuff doesn't take very long and there are only so many times I can play the same game. Do you have any ideas? Any active games work really well with my kids. Sometimes their energy exhausts me 

[KTeacher]

Do you have any board games? Board games teach them directions and a small class is perfect for this!

[Katherine84]

I found pass the ball worked really well with my tiny elementary classes last year - and if you have a decent enough space you can get them tired out with running around after the ball as well (if you don't mind the noise!) I had 3 students in one class and they all got really involved trying to get the ball as quickly as possible!

[elspeth]

That's a good idea! Unfortunately, I'm working mostly with 1st and 2nd graders. Guess I should have posted that earlier. They don't understand much that I say. However, I'm sure they would love board games. I shall ponder. Maybe I can create my own!

[Tgoh]

I've only taught grade 3 and kindergarten, so I'm just a little out of your range atm ^^.

What I found works well with kindy are things like slap games with flashcards. Gets the students moving and helps improving recognition between vocal and the picture/concept.

You can also mix in other kinds of games, for example a bullseye game. Lay out a few flashcards on the ground, and give the students a piece of crumpled up paper. Either aim to hit all the cards and say the vocabulary, or give each card points.

If the students don't understand a lot of what you say, simple games are probably the best, especially ones that involve action where you can demonstrate.

Hope that's helpful ^^

[logan.leduc]

I run into this problem alot.  I have one school where my largest class is 10, and my smallest is 4.  All of the games  I grew up with and ppt games really arent an option with this!

[ammyleee]

With my first graders, the game they really enjoyed was "duck duck goose"--- although they said it as "duck duck GO".  I just showed them how to play the game and they seemed to enjoy the game and it kept them occupied for a good 10 minutes

[shteeven]

I've done the tried and true (also very obvious) simon says, with with body parts, colors (around the room), and other such stuff.

[Korea 2011]

Musical chairs is a fun game for 1st and 2nd graders.  Whatever vocabulary I'm reviewing with them or teaching them, I will print them out in flashcard form.  I place the flashcards on each chair and play music while they walk around the chairs.  Then, when they sit they have to say what's on the flashcard.  This is my go to activity when I have a small class.  The kids really enjoy it because they get to walk around and dance silly to the music.

Enjoy!

[elspeth]

Thanks for all the great ideas! I will definitely be trying them all.

My favorite one is a team game. You write the lesson vocab on the white board and tell the students you will "say one word". They compete to see who is the first student to touch the correct word.

Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work with 3/4 students. 

[doffltms]

Here's a PPT that I made (with the help of my co-teacher) with Simon Says rules translated to Korean. :) It worked really well for my first & second graders, who had never heard of the game before.

[tmalbracht]

I had the same problem last year. I used a lot of board games from Mes-english.com. The games are simple enough and you can just use pictures or you can add letters and small words to help with their reading.

With the younger kids I did a lot of TPR, songs, and circle time. They love to sit in a circle and play games. Pass around flashcards, balloons, a ball, whatever and practice vocabulary.

[jfear67]

You could try the "Hot seat" game. One student faces the class and you write a word on the board and the other students have to try to explain the word in English without actually saying it. Just played it with my lowest level 1st  graders and they really enjoyed it.

[triciap19]

My after school students LOVE Go Fish.  They also like the category game.  They stand in a circle and I give them a category such as animals.  If a person takes too long or can't think of one they are out.  Last person standing gets a candy.

[ginac]

My little ones love snakes and ladders, go fish, pictionary (drawing game on the board), slap games with hands or feet , Simon Says.

[Ju Jin]

Good idea.. I will use this.

You could try the "Hot seat" game. One student faces the class and you write a word on the board and the other students have to try to explain the word in English without actually saying it. Just played it with my lowest level 1st  graders and they really enjoyed it.

[zzizzibe]

I'm having the same problems, my afternoon class has 5 kids!!!
Thanks for your ideas~~

[cwoo]

My elementary school only has 4 students in total so finding games to occupy them can be tough. Duck duck goose and uno work well. The kids' favourite thing to do is run around the classroom so I have played many a game of 'pretend to be...' (pretend to be a lion, pretend to be the wind etc) this works well as you can link it into most lessons, although the animal round is always requested!

Another thing my kids love to do is throw wet tissue at the white board, just draw a shape (we still have to use a snowman as the kids don't let me draw anything else!) with different amounts of points, the kids answer a question and then get the chance to throw the tissue to make it stick. Where the tissue sticks gives the students their points. You could also write target vocab on the board and tell the students to throw the tissue at the right word. Good luck!

[joeco]

i love that wet tissue game! ha! that's awesome. definitely going to use that.

[cdub]

Thank you for these ideas! I am having the same problems and was having trouble finding info.