I've got this list of some games that have worked well for my Elementary (3rd-6th) grade. My co-t don't really like bomb games and all of our activities have had to be adjustable to the book.

Hope someone can use them. Maybe I'll to be able to pay it forward to this website someday!

Pass the Bomb

Directions for 4 different pass the bomb games suitable for classes of any size ranging from one student all the way up to 40+ students. The handout includes 57 category cards and instructions for 4 different pass the bomb games. All you need is a timer and an object to pass around the class.

Can you explain letter relay a little better? once one student has it they just keep passing it up by writing it on each other's backs? how do they figure out what is written on their own back?

I had these files in my USB. Don't remember where they came from though! Hope it helps. 

Quote from: stemarty on March 18, 2014, 10:48:15 AM

Quote from: bird212 on March 18, 2014, 10:42:23 AM

Can you explain letter relay a little better? once one student has it they just keep passing it up by writing it on each other's backs? how do they figure out what is written on their own back?

I thought it was pretty straight forward. I used to play this in elementary

-The students stand in a line (two lines = two teams)
-You whisper the letter to the student in the very back.
-He/She will draw the letter on the students (who is in front of them) back with their finger.
-Then that student will draw on the next student in front of them.
-Repeat until it reaches the "leader" then they must run and write it on the board.

Rather than whispering, I'll write the letter on a piece of paper and show it to the 2 students at the end. If a student doesn't get the letter that's drawn on their back, then they can just shrug and have the person behind them draw it again. Also, it is a good idea to rotate out the person in the front, so that the lines are constantly shifting. This gives everyone a chance to receive the letter from the teacher, and everyone a chance to write on the board.

Yes that works too :D
I like the paper idea.
Rotation is important so it doesn't get boring. I always played it that the leader, (when finished writing on the board) goes to the back and starts the next chain.
Process is repeated until the "original" leader is back at the front.
You can make this a relay race.

Here are some games I've played:

"reading relay"
- Paste a piece of paper with a dialog/ paragraph at the front of the classroom and sort your students into teams.
- Have one student from each team run to the paper and read the first few sentences. Then they run back and write it down on their teams paper. Then the second student runs and repeats until every student has gone.
- For advanced levels: either make the paragraph hard or tell the advanced students to only write 1-2 sentences. It's no fun if they just do all the work. 

Reading relay ver.2
- Put your students into teams of 4.
- Put 4 different pieces of paper on the board with different paragraphs/sentences.
- Each student will be assigned one paper to copy. They will run back and forth to finish writing the entire paper. When they are finished they can tell another student to run and complete their paper.
- This can be done two teams head to head or timed.
- I prefer timed (so one team at a time but timed on a stopwatch) because its absolute chaos to monitor 2-3 teams running and screaming.

Story Rotation
-In small teams give each team member the first part of a story
ex: Today was a wonderful day but then.......
- Every team member should have a different beginning.
- After 30 seconds yell "CHANGE" and they move the papers clockwise and continue the story.
- Keep going until the paper has rotated and returned to its original owner. Read and vote for the best.

20 questions/ Who am I
- Have the students sit in a circle.
- Buy sticky nametags and write popular characters/ famous people on them (Harry Potter, Iron Man, Lady GaGa)
-Stick a sticker on each students forehead.
- One student will stand in the middle and can run and ask any student a question. It should be a "yes/no"  answer kinda question. If they are having difficulty help them out by giving clues.
- You should play too, and start to show them how its done.
- If the student guesses their name, they can take the sticker off and sit down.

Hot Potato.  (this isn't really a speaking game, just more  of a fun ice breaker)
- Get a ball.
- Have the students stand in a circle.
- Play music
- Students pass the ball (nicely) in a clockwise direction. When the music stops, whoever is holding the ball "dies" and sits down.

A lot of good ideas in this thread! 
Here are some low preparation, low-tech activities that I have done with my middle school students:


- "Simon says":          Great for body part and action verb review.
- "Hot seat":              Use flash cards behind sitting S's back. Other students give hints.
- "Taboo/Charades":   High level Ss use words, low level ones can try to mime the word.
- "Q&A free throw":    Form 2 lines. T asks a question. First S to answer can throw a tennis
                                ball at a bin/bucket. Repeat with next in line. Most points wins.
- "Boss":                   Show 1 S a photo of a person. That S must then direct team to copy
                                the pose from photo. Good for body part, preposition, and verb review.
- "Vocab Go-Fish":     Make vocab cards for target sentences. Kids play go fish with them
                                rather than a regular deck of cards. Kids use vocab sentence rather
                                than "Do you have a...?"
- "Vocab Survivor":    Similar to rock/paper/scissors survivor. 2 lines. T asks questions, Ss
                                race to answer. Winner sits. First team to be seated wins.
-"Sit down & shut up":One of the most difficult games to master, apparently. But we try!

running dictation
backs to the board
scateggories
spelling bee
story chain (http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/lesson-share/extras/grammar/grammar-activities-chain-story/145279.article)

Here's a game list I made. Games come from various sources on the web. 50 or so pages of games put into rough categories. Thought it may be of some use to others too.

Here's a game list I made. Games come from various sources on the web. 50 or so pages of games put into rough categories. Thought it may be of some use to others too.

This is amazing, thank you!!!