Use Lego. Spread out the Lego and call out "(Five!)". The students should take five blocks, join them together to make a pattern, and hold them up. Next say "two blue, one yellow" and other combinations to 5.
Grab It Relay / Race to Touch
Lay the flashcards on the floor at one end of the room, and have the students line up in teams at the other end of the room. Call out a flashcard and have the first person in each team race to grab the card. Those students then go to the back and the next students race to grab the next flashcard the teacher calls.
Hangman
Use review words from past lessons. The teacher chooses a word and writes the appropriate number of spaces on the board. Students guess a letter one by one. If the student guesses correctly, write that letter in the space and give the student another turn. If they guess wrongly, start drawing a hanging man and have the next student guess a letter. Let the first student guess the word take the teacher's place. You may prefer to draw a hanging spider (Spiderman?) instead.
Hot Potato
Play like 'Pass It's using a time limit for added motivation. Set the timer for 10 seconds. When the timer goes off, the student holding the flashcard must say the vocabulary/structure.
I Spy
The teacher says "I spy with my little eye something beginning with G". Students try to guess the object (E.g. garbage can). Use classroom objects and with younger students use colors rather than letters e.g. "I spy with my little eye something (red)."
I've Got It
Have students sit in a circle. Give each student a flashcard or item. Ask "What is it?" and elicit the vocabulary. Call out the vocabulary and have the students stand up and say the flash card. Repeat until all the students are standing, then continue until all the students are sitting. Go at a fast pace so the students are sitting and standing rapidly.
Jeopardy
Make a jeopardy grid on the whiteboard as follows:
| Fruit | Sports | Animals | Body | |
| 10 | _______ | _______ | _______ | _______ |
| 20 | _______ | _______ | _______ | _______ |
| 30 | _______ | _______ | _______ | _______ |
| 40 | _______ | _______ | _______ | _______ |
| 50 | _______ | _______ | _______ | _______ |
In teams, or individually, let the students randomly pick a category and the points to be attempted. The teacher will then ask a question (a 40-point question should be more difficult than a 10-point question) if the students get the correct answer their team name is written in that box. When all the boxes have been filled the team with the most points wins.
Jumping The Line
Put a piece of tape across the middle of the floor or draw an imaginary line dividing the room. Designate one side as 'true' and the other side as 'false'. Line up the students on the line, hold up a flashcard, and say a word. If the students think you said the word that matches the flashcard, they should jump to the 'true' side, otherwise, they should jump to the 'false' side. Students who make a mistake should sit out until the next round.
Lego
Spread Lego on the floor and call a color for the students to pick up. Continue until all the colors have been called. Allow the students to play with the blocks for a few minutes before packing up. While the students are playing, talk to them about what they're making and the colors they're using.
Letter To Word Match
Give each student an alphabet flashcard, and spread alphabet picture cards randomly around the room. Play and sing the 'ABC Song'. When finished, have the students match their alphabet card to an alphabet picture card and say the letter and vocabulary. Change cards and repeat.
Listen and Order
Put the students into pairs and give them number cards (1-10). Call out numbers (out of order) and have the students put their cards in that order. When finished, have the students chant the numbers in the order you gave them.
Magic Finger
Print a letter of the alphabet on the board. Instruct the students to stand and face the board. Raise your 'magic finger' and trace the letter in the air. Be silly and use other parts of your body to trace the letter, e.g. elbow, foot, nose, tongue.
Make A Sentence
Put the students into teams and lay out a selection of flashcards or items. One student from each team chooses a vocabulary item and uses it correctly in a sentence. Give each student ten seconds on the timer. Reduce the time in the second and third rounds. As the item is named, the teacher puts it away and gives the team a point. Write the points on the whiteboard.
Map Game
Use a world map and elicit "Where are you from?", "Where do you live?", "Where do people speak Spanish?", "Where's China?", and any other questions you can think of. Also, show and tell the students about where you are from.
Memory Buzz
Have the students sit in a circle and start building a sentence. Student 1 says "In the classroom, I see a clock", student 2 says "In the classroom, I see a clock and a map", and student 3 says "In the classroom, I see a clock, a map, and a chair" etc. For a variation, see 'Question Chain'.
Memory Master
Have the students sit in a circle. Designate one student to be the Memory Master. Arrange the flashcards face up in the center. Each student chooses a flashcard and says the word. They cannot touch flashcards. After everyone has chosen, the Memory Master must hand the correct flashcards to each student.
Memory Tray
Bring in a tray of various reviews or new objects. Elicit the names of the objects and give the students a minute to memorize what's on the tray. Take the tray away and see how many objects can be remembered. Older students should write a list of objects. The student who remembers the most objects gets a point. Can be done with flashcards.
Musical Chairs
Line up the chairs and place a flashcard on each one. Play some music and have the students walk, skip, and jump around the chairs. When the music stops, the students should sit down on a chair and shout out their flash cards. For more excitement remove a chair while the music is playing and make the chair-less student sit out until the next round.