Elementary School Games
“Hi Friends” is the textbook used in elementary school. Within these textbooks there are several different games recommended to use for the various lessons. They are very simple games, but they’re the games that your teachers will probably already know so they won’t require much explanation.
Ohajiki Game (おはじきゲーム) (Good for: 10-20 minutes Materials: ohajiki, textbook)
This is basically reverse-bingo. Certain lessons have lots of vocab words, laid out as pictures across the page. The students use little objects (the ohajiki) and put them on some (or all) of the pictures. Then, when the teacher says that vocab word, they remove their ohajiki.
Pointing Game (ポインティングゲーム） (Good for: 5-10 minutes Materials: textbook)
Another simple game where the teacher says the word and the students point to that picture in the textbook. To make it more exciting, get the students into pairs and share one textbook, and the first one to point to it gets a point. You can also have the students play with each other, so that one is calling out the words and the other is pointing to them.
Key Word Game (キーワードゲーム） (Good for: 5-15 minutes Materials: Large vocab cards for the board, eraser)
This is a good vocabulary practice game and all the kids love it. Students sit in pairs and in groups with one eraser in the middle. The ALT picks a keyword for the round. Then the ALT reads through the vocabulary words and students repeat. When the ALT says the keyword, the students try to be the first to grab the eraser.
Stereo Game (Good for: 5-10 minutes Materials: none)
In this game 4-5 students come to the front. Each is given a vocabulary word to remember. Then the rest of the class asks a question (Ex. Where do you want to go?) and the students in the front yell out their vocabulary words at the same time. The rest of the class needs to decipher what each person has said.
Dengon Game (Good for: 10 minutes Materials: none)
This is basically telephone. Students sit in lines. The ALT whispers a word/phrase to the first person of each row. When the ALT says, “”Go!” Students whisper the word to the next person and so on until the last person hears the word and runs to the ALT to tell him/her the word.
Other games not in “Hi Friends”
Lucky Card Game. (Good for: 10-15 minutes Materials: Small vocab cards (one for each student)
For this game, you need a stack of vocab cards based on that lesson’s topic (i.e. for a “What food do you like?” lesson you could use fruit cards). Each student gets one card. They then walk around the room and talk to the other students using that day’s grammar point, with their answers determined by the card they’re holding. A sample conversation could be: A: “What food do you like?” B (holding the apple card): “I like apples.” A (holding the grape card): “I like grapes.” After this conversation, the students switch cards, so that their next “liked food” will change each time with each new person they meet. At the end, the teacher randomly picks a lucky card. The winner gets a prize. The rounds should be short (2-3 minutes) so multiple rounds can be played.
Karuta (Good for: 15-20 minutes Materials: Small vocab cards (Hi Friends has ones they can cut out, or your school should have them)
A game all children will know and love. It’s very easy to play but it does require a bit of preparation. The students split up into groups and spread out small vocabulary cards in front of them. You then call out a card and the first one to smack it gets a point. You can play just as calling out the vocab word (i.e. apple, banana) or you can do longer sentences (I can play baseball). Most of the kids already know how to play this game. The students like to add the rule that if a player makes a mistake by touching the wrong card then the next round they take a “yasumi” or break. Basically, they are out one round if they grab the wrong card.
Missing Game (Good for: 10 minutes Materials: Large vocab cards for the board)
After putting all the cards on the board and reviewing them, they close their eyes while you remove a card from the board. They then have to say which card has been removed. You can gradually increase the amount you take, and also mix them around to make it more challenging. You can also have students who correctly answered remove a card from the board.
Line Janken (Good for: 10-20 minutes Materials: Large vocab cards for the board)
This is a competitive game which doesn’t require much preparation --just the flashcards you are using for that lesson. Get the class into 2 teams and line up around 10/12 flashcards on the chalkboard. The two teams start at opposite ends and the first two people in the team walk towards each other saying the words as they go. When they meet, they janken. The winner gets to continue saying the words while the loser goes to the back of their line and the next person starts. Again they meet and janken. Once someone reaches the other side, the team gets a point. I always make sure to have my teacher and I follow along the two kids and make sure they’re saying the words properly - they usually get very excited and start mumbling or skipping words.
Flyswatter game (はえたたきゲーム) (Good for: 15-20 minutes Materials: Large vocab cards for the board, flyswatters for each team)
This is a great game to practice listening, vocabulary words, and sentence patterns. There can be as many teams as needed for your class. Each team is given one flyswatter. Put all the vocabulary cards that you are reviewing on the board. One person from each team will come to the front with their team’s flyswatters. One version is students can ask questions like, “What color do you like?” Then the ALT answers, “I like BLUE.” The children in the front with the flyswatters then run to the board and hit the blue card. The person who hits the card first, wins a point for the team. This can be modified to fit any lesson from “Hi Friends” or any other topics.
Collect Card Games (a.k.a. Interview game) (Good for: 10-20 minutes Materials: small vocab cards)
This game is used to help students review the target phrases of the lesson. Students walk around with small vocabulary cards and look for a friend to interview with. For example, they will ask, “Do you like ____?” If the students have the card they say, “Yes, I do. I like ____.” And give the card to their friend. If students don’t have the card, they move on and find a new friend to interview. The student with the most cards at the end wins.
Fruit Basket (Good for: 20 minutes Materials: small vocab cards (one for each student))
Students make a circle with the chairs. Make sure there is one less chair than there are students. Assign each student a fruit (use only 4-5 different fruits depending on the class size). Once everyone is assigned a fruit, one person stands in the middle and calls out a fruit. The person in the middle and all the students with that fruit need to find a new seat. The person left without a seat is now out and becomes the new caller. When a person calls “Fruits Basket” everyone needs to find a new seat.
This game can also be modified to Color Basket and Body Basket.
Other Fun Games
Typhoon Game (a review game good for end of semester/end of year)
http://www.englipedia.net/Pages/GeneralGame_SuperMarioTyphoon.aspx
Bingo, Hot Potato, Go Fish - you can find explanations on Englipedia
Other Useful resources that I use for game ideas:
http://genkienglish.net/teaching/welcome/
http://www.englipedia.net/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.eslcafe.com/idea/index.cgi?Games