Group Activities

DAY 1: Who wants to be a millionaire?

Directions:
1. Split the class into groups and then have them take turns answering true or
false questions until they choose to stop and 'bank' their money or until they
get a question wrong and lose everything. Write the following figures on the
board.
Student 1 $500
Student 2 $1000
Student 3 $5000
Student 4 $10000
Student 5 $25000
Student 6 $50000
Student 7 $100000
Student 8 $250000
Student 9 $500000
Student 10 $1000000
2. Ask the first student a very easy question and if they get it right then move
on to the second student in the group and ask if they would like to continue
or 'bank' the $500.
3. Make the questions harder as you move on to the next but in general they
should be relatively easy. During these questions they aren't allowed any help
from other students, unless they're using a lifeline.
Below are few examples of the easy questions
a. Doraemon has no ears – True
b. There were 5 members of the Beatles – False
c. Anpanman's weakness is water – True
d. Humans have 4 arms – False
e. We live on the moon – False
f. The sun is hot - True
4. To add to the fun, give them 2 lifelines that they can choose to use at any
stage during their team’s turn (they can only use each lifeline once per
round).
a. Phone a friend - Call someone else in the team and ask them for help (feel
free to make them pretend that they're actually talking on a phone for
laughs).
b. Ask the group - Let the team discuss what they think is the best answer.
5. That basically wraps it up; with 4 groups it takes around 15mins to get
through 1 round. Keep track of how much money each team puts in the bank
and you can add it up to see which team wins.
DAY 2: Classroom Pictionary activity

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Directions:
1. Make 4 sets of 10 cards, set 1 is for easy words, set 2 for medium, set 3 for
difficult and set 4 for very difficult. Write words of your choice on the cards
depending on the level of the students you teach.
2. Use objects for the easier categories and ramped it up to verbs and adjectives
for the more difficult categories. Here are some examples of the words:
a. Easy: book, car, tree
b. Medium: movie, snow, light
c. Difficult: open, shout, slow
d. Very difficult: surprise, clean, throw
3. Split the class into around 4 groups and have a student from the first group
come up and choose a category, with 1 point on offer for a successful 'easy'
drawing up to 4 for a successful 'very difficult' drawing.
4. Once the student sees the word they have 1 minute to draw on the
blackboard, remembering to follow Pictionary rules such as giving no verbal
clues and not drawing letters and numbers. The remaining students in the
team try to guess the word; the rest of the class stays silent.
5. Continue the process with the other teams while keeping track of the scores.
To spice things up if the answering team is not successful in the 1 minute,
give the other teams the chance to guess.
DAY 3: Line up according to...
Directions:
1. The game involves groups of students lining up in order, depending on the
criteria you choose, whether it's their birthday, height or any number of other
options.
2. Begin by splitting your classroom into teams, if there are 30 students in your
class then 3 teams of 10 should work well. Explain that they must line up in
order using only English to communicate with each other, teams caught
cheating will be disqualified from that round; give them a little leniency of
course.
3. When a team finishes, the person at the front of the line puts their hand up
and you walk down the line checking that they are indeed in the correct
order. You can alternatively assign each team with a captain who is in charge
of organizing the team, making sure they don't cheat and signaling to you
when they have finished.
4. Give one point to the first successful team and start the next round using
different criteria, here are some ideas:
a. Height
b. Shoe size
c. Birthday

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 d. Time they woke up this morning
e. Time they went to bed last night
f. Number of brothers and sisters
g. Number of pets
h. Number of times out of the country
5. For fun you can try a round where they're not allowed to communicate
verbally at all, limiting them to just hand movements and physical gestures.
Add up the final points at the end of the game and see which team wins!

DAY 4: Odd one out

Directions:
1. Ask the students to stand up at their desks and choose someone to go first.
They need to listen carefully to the words you say and decide which is the
odd one out. If the student is correct then they can choose either their row or
column to sit down with them, if the student is incorrect then nobody gets to
sit down. Continue the game until everyone sits down.
2. If your students have good English, challenge them to give the reason behind
their choice.
Here are a few examples of odd one out questions that you might like to use:
a. John, Steve, Matthew, Kate - Answer: Kate (because it's a girl's name)
b. Brother, Mother, Friend, Daughter - Answer: Friend (because they aren't
family)
c. Summer, Winter, Spring, March - Answer: March (because it's a month,
not a season)
d. Tokyo, Sydney, New York, Brazil - Answer: Brazil (because it's a country,
not a city)
3. At times there can be more than one answer that you might not have
thought of so feel free to accept different answers if the student has a good
explanation.
DAY 5: Sentence Betting
Directions:
1. The basic premise of the game involves students reading sentences written in
English on the whiteboard/blackboard and betting fake money on whether
they think it's a correct sentence or not.
2. Split the class into teams of around 3 or 4 students and hand out an even
amount of fake money to each team, you can keep track of their totals on the
whiteboard without needing fake money but it makes the activity a lot more
fun if they have something physical to work with.

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 3. Give each team a piece of paper and write the first sentence on the
whiteboard. Here are a few examples.
a. Correct: I want to buy a new computer.
b. Incorrect: Yesterday I will go to the library.
c. Correct: I love playing basketball after school.
d. Incorrect: You're photo is beautiful.
4. Give the students around a minute to discuss the sentence in their groups
before asking them to make their bets on the piece of paper you gave them.
Let the students know that if they're unsure about a sentence then they
should probably bet less money.
5. It's also a good idea to make the maximum bet half of what they currently
have so they can't lose all their money. For example, if you gave each team
$10000 then the maximum bet would be $5000. A typical bet might look like
this:
Correct sentence: $5000
OR
Incorrect sentence: $3000
6. Collect the pieces of paper and hand out the winnings/collect the losses equal
to how much they bet. Play as many rounds as you like, get each team to
count their winnings at the end and see which team finishes with the most
money. You might like to keep track of this on the whiteboard as the game
progresses.
DAY 6: Animal Alphabet Relay
Directions:
1. Begin by writing each letter of the alphabet on the whiteboard and splitting
the class into groups of 4 to 6 students.
2. Explain that one member of each team will come to the front and say the
name of an animal while erasing the letter it begins with. For example, if the
first team says "tiger" then they erase the letter 't' and other animals
beginning with 't' such as turtle can't be chosen. A member of the next team
will then do the same, and so on until a team can't think of the name of an
animal that begins with one of the remaining letters. The last team remaining
wins!
3. Make sure as many students as possible have a turn coming to the front and
saying the name of animal and keep an eye out for students using books or
other resources who are trying to get an unfair advantage.
4. To speed things up a little you could let students erase not only their starting
letter but also one more, which definitely makes things more difficult for the
teams that follow afterwards.
DAY 7: What Will You Bring on Vacation?

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Directions:
1. Tell your class that you are taking a vacation to a destination of your choice.
You are taking an important object with you and if the students can figure
out what makes it important then they will be able to join you on this most
awesome of vacations. All the objects must be related in a way that you have
decided previously and not shared with the students. For example, you might
decide that all students bringing sports equipment can come on vacation, "I'm
bringing a soccer ball on vacation, what will you bring?" If a student says "I
will bring a book" then unfortunately they can't come but if they say "I will
bring a tennis racquet" then they can come!
2. Once you have told the students the object you are taking, it's time for the
first student to make their guess. Begin with them standing up and allow
them to sit down once they have chosen an acceptable object. It may take a
while before they start catching on but if they listen hard then they'll
eventually realize what kind of objects will be accepted.
DAY 8: Pats of the Body Memory Race
Directions:
1. Split the class into two lines in a manner you see fit, this might be by last
names, girls vs boys, old vs young or simply those who sit on the right vs
those who sit on the left.
2. The students standing at the front of the line have to watch your movements
carefully as you stand in front of them and quickly point to a part of your
body, this could be anything from your feet, hands, ears, mouth, nose, elbow,
fingers, teeth, hair, shoulders, knees etc.
3. The first student to correctly say the name of the body part can sit back down
at their desk while the other student must return to the back of their
respective line.
4. Continue this process until one of the teams has everyone sitting back down
at their desk, they are the winners!
5. Make sure the other waiting students remain quiet to keep the game fair,
give them only one guess each and feel free to play more than one round to
give the losing team a chance to improve.
6. You can even introduce a points system where the winning team gets an
amount of points equal to the number of students left in the other team's
line.
DAY 9: Simon Says
Directions:
1. Tell the students to listen to the instructions you will give them, they can
follow your actions too but at some stage you will try and trick them so they
have to be very careful not to get caught out.

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 2. Have everyone stand up and begin the game, for example you might start by
saying "Simon says, hands on head" while placing your hands on your head.
The students should follow your instructions, quickly putting their hands on
their heads. If they don't do it correctly or are just too slow then they are out
of the game and should sit down.
3. Continue the game with those remaining, slowly increasing the speed in an
effort to catch them out. At any point you can try and trick the students by,
for example, saying "Simon says, hands on ears" while placing your hands on
your shoulders. Anyone who puts their hands on their shoulders is out of the
game.
It's a simple, fast activity that is great for improving listening skills and is especially
fun for younger students who love moving around.
DAY 10: Drawing Instructions
The aim of the game is for one student to describe a simple picture or series of
shapes to another student who will draw the picture on the whiteboard/blackboard
without looking at it. That means they'll need to listen hard to what the other
student is instructing them to draw.
Directions:
1. You can split the class into pairs and have them all do the activity at the same
time it works best as a quick activity to start or finish a lesson that everyone
can enjoy together.
2. Begin by finding 2 volunteers, one who will give the instructions and the
other who will attempt to draw the picture. Have one student face the
whiteboard/blackboard while you show everyone else in the class the picture,
it's a good idea to start with something simple like random shapes rather
than a complicated scene that is difficult to explain let alone draw.
3. It's then up to the other student to give instructions in English, such as:
a. "Draw a large circle"
b. "Draw a small square inside the circle"
c. "Draw a horizontal line that touches both sides of the circle"
4. It's always fun for the other students watching, especially when things don't
go to plan. Give the volunteers a few minutes to finish the picture before
comparing the original picture to the finished product, how close were they?
5. Find some new volunteers to draw the next picture and play again!
DAY 11: Describe an object without naming it
Directions:
1. Before you begin you'll need to make small pieces of paper with the names
of a range of different objects written on them. You can use any type of
objects you want but it's a good idea to separate them into categories such
as easy (worth 1 point), medium (worth 2 points) and hard (worth 3 points).

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 2. Split the class into teams and ask a student to choose easy, medium or hard.
Give them around 30 seconds to describe the object (only words, no actions)
in front of their group without naming it (while other teams stay quiet). If they
say the object's name or their team can't guess correctly they get 0 points
but if their team guesses correctly then they get however many points their
object was worth.
3. Continue the process with the other teams while keeping track of the scores
and see which team wins!
4. You might like to let other teams guess the object if the original team are
unsuccessful in their 30 seconds, giving them the chance to earn more points.
5. If the students are finding it easy you can write some words next to the
object that the student isn't allowed to use when describing it. Here are a few
example objects you might like to use:
a. Ball - Can't use round, bounce or sport
b. Food - Can't use eat, delicious or snack
c. Computer - Can't use keyboard, screen or Internet
d. Money - Can't use cash, coins or credit
e. House - Can't use home, roof or room
f. Pen - Can't use write, ink or pencil
g. Sun - Can't use big, hot or sky
h. Moon - Can't use night, bright or light
i. Mountain - Can't use climb, big or hill
j. Window - Can't use glass, wall or look
k. Car - Can't use drive, wheel or license
l. Tree - Can't use leaves, nature or roots
m. Shoes - Can't use feet, socks or toes
n. Camera - Photo, picture, take
DAY 12: Truth or Lie
This simple activity will help students get to know each other a little better while
helping improve their English at the same time.
Directions:
1. Give students some time to think of two truths and one lie about themselves,
with the aim of surprising classmates when they guess which one is the lie.
2. It makes it more fun if they think of facts that may trick or surprise others so
encourage them to be creative.
3. There are endless options but here are a few examples:
a. I have two sisters.
b. I can't swim.
c. I am a black belt in karate.
d. My favorite food is chocolate.

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 e. I am taller than my dad.
f. I have never been skiing.
4. The next part can be done as a class or in smaller groups of around 6
students. The first student says their two truths and one lie (in any order)
while the others students listen and then guess which statement is the lie
(usually by a show of hands).
5. Give everyone a turn and if it goes well you might want to have another
round to give students the opportunity to think of more creative ideas now
that they have the hang of it.
DAY 13: Describe an object without naming it
Rows & Columns is a handy ESL classroom activity that can be played a number of
different ways depending on class numbers, your student's level of English and the
type of questions you want to ask.
Directions:
1. Have all the students stand up at their desks and find a student to answer the
first question (or alternatively ask for a volunteer). Ask the student a question,
it can be true or false, multi choice or anything related to what they’re
currently learning.
2. If the student answers correctly they can choose either their row or column to
sit down with them, if they answer incorrectly nobody gets to sit down.
Continue the game until everyone sits down.
3. It’s always fun to see which of their friends the students will keep happy when
choosing either their row or column. You can control the game as you see fit
by giving lower level students plenty of chances and asking bright students
more difficult questions.
4. To make things more challenging you can introduce a penalty system where a
wrong answer forces both the row and column of that student to stand up
again. There are a lot of variations to this activity so feel free to adapt it for
your students, classroom and teaching style.
DAY 14: Forming Sentences with Words
Directions:
1. Before you start you'll need to cut out a number of small pieces of paper,
enough for one per student and preferably more. After this, write a range of
different words on the pieces of paper remembering that you'll need a wide
variety to ensure it's actually possible for the students to form correct
sentences.
2. That means using everything from adjectives to nouns, verbs and adverbs etc.
Here are a few examples of words that will probably come in handy:
a. a, it, the, she, is, we, of, house, car, fast, slow, blue, went, live, happy,
up, to, he, sister, will, no, yesterday, who, go, food, dad, see, run, small,

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 am, I, rabbit, movie, meet, but, think, can, space, fly, because, so, there,
on, should, under, here, be, my, red, eat, not, today, tree, school, why,
really, please, yes, quiet, off.
3. It's a good idea to make to make multiple versions of important words and
feel free to throw a few funny ones in there too.
4. Randomly hand out the pieces of paper to the students so they each have
one word. Tell them they have around 5 minutes (or however long you
decide) to form sentences with other students (they don't need to worry
about punctuation).
5. Once they think they have formed a correct sentence they should let you
know so you can check it, if it makes sense, those students can sit down.
6. The other students continue to try and form sentences until they are
successful and sitting down, the 5 minutes has elapsed or there are just no
more sentences that can possibly be made.
7. Record the number of students who were unable to be part of a proper
sentence and try to beat it in future rounds. Remind the leftover students that
some words can be harder to use than others so they shouldn't feel bad.

DAY 15: Describe an object without naming it

Directions:
1. Before you start you'll need a number of small pieces of paper (one for each
student in the class) with a different country written on each one. Here are
some of the countries you could use:
a. France, Australia, Italy, Greece, USA, Japan, England, Mexico, New
Zealand, China, Germany, Switzerland, Iraq, Brazil, Canada, Portugal,
Egypt, South Africa, Ireland, Russia, Belgium, Korea, Argentina, Morocco,
India, Spain, Canada, Nigeria, Scotland, Thailand.
2. Hand out the pieces of paper to the students (one each) and let them read
which country they have. Explain to them that you are going on a world travel
trip and each one of the students is a destination on your journey.
3. You will read out clues to the next location and it's up to the students to
listen carefully and raise their hand when they think it's their country that the
clues are referring to. Pretend to fly across the room, check the students’
piece of paper to make sure they are the intended destination, read out the
next clue and continue on until you've been to every country in the room.
4. Make sure you organize the order beforehand as well as the clues that you
will read out. The type of clues you use depends of the level of your class but
here are some examples of clues I use:
b. France - Eiffel Tower
c. Australia – Kangaroos

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 d. USA - Statue of Liberty
e. Brazil - Famous for soccer
f. Egypt – Pyramids
g. South Africa - Animal safaris

DAY 16: One Part Drawing

Directions:
1. To get started, split the classroom into teams, preferably into columns or rows
so you don't have to move desks around and they can easily pass sheets of
paper between each other. If there's plenty of whiteboard/blackboard space
then you can use that but sheets of paper work fine otherwise.
2. The aim of the game is for each student in the team to draw one part of an
animal, person or character, combining their efforts to hopefully produce
something resembling the real thing. The students must listen carefully to the
part you say at each point, quickly drawing it and passing the drawing on to
the next student so they can do the same. You then judge the completed
drawings at the end of each round and award points to the teams who did
best.
3. For example, you might tell them to draw a monkey. With each team ready to
go, say the first body part, which might be "tail!" the first student then has
around 10 seconds to draw a monkey tail somewhere on the paper before
passing it on to the next student in the team. "Ears!" might be the next part,
the mouth, arms and so on. Mixing up the body parts adds to the fun so feel
free to announce them in any order you please.
4. Change the order after each round so whoever started the first drawing
finishes the next or allow them to move around as they please between
rounds. A good idea is to allow the last person to draw "anything!" to give
them a chance to complete a possibly disjointed picture.
5. Here are some examples of things you could use in your classes for your
students to draw:
a. Animals: monkey, giraffe, cat, dog, panda, koala, tiger
b. People: yourself, Ichiro, Harry Potter
c. Characters: Pikachu, Super Mario, Anpanman, Minnie Mouse,
Doraemon, Sponge Bob
And here's an example of the order you could use to get them to draw the
parts in:

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 a. Monkey: ears, tail, mouth, arms, legs, body, head, nose, anything
b. Giraffe: neck, legs, body, eyes, nose, ears, head, anything
c. Harry Potter: broom, glasses, legs, arms, body, clothes, head, anything
DAY 17: Guess the action
Help ESL students remember a range of important English verbs with this fun
classroom activity where they attempt to guess the actions performed by their
classmates.
The game plays like a simple version of charades where a student receives a secret
word and tries to act it out to the other members of the team.
Directions:
1. Before you start you'll need to make small pieces of paper with a range of
secret words written on them. You can use any type of words you want but
verbs are best for this type of game, for example;
To make the game interesting you can have easy words (worth 1 point),
medium words (worth 2 points) and hard words (worth 3 points).
Easy (1 point): Eating, sleeping, running, singing, flying, cleaning
Medium (2 points): Laughing, studying, looking, throwing, talking, cooking
Hard (3 points): Thinking, pointing, lifting, climbing, opening
2. Split the class into teams and ask a student to choose easy, medium or hard.
Give the students around 20 seconds to act out the word in front of their
group (while other teams stay quiet). Continue the process with the other
teams while keeping track of the scores and see who wins!
3. You might like to let other teams guess the word if the original team are
unsuccessful in their 20 seconds, giving them the chance to earn extra points.

DAY 18: Unscramble words

This ESL classroom activity involves a fun anagram game where students unscramble
jumbled words that you write on the whiteboard/blackboard.

Directions:
1. Prepare a range of scrambled words (something related to what you've been
teaching in your class works well) that can be put into easy (1 point), medium
(2 points) and hard (3 points) categories. Split the class into groups of around
4 to 6 students and have a student from the first group choose a category.
2. Once you have written the scrambled word on the whiteboard the team of
students have around 1 minute to come up with the answer (while the rest of

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 the class stay silent). Continue the process with the other teams while keeping
track of the scores.
3. To change things up a little feel free to let other teams guess the anagram if
the original team are unsuccessful in their 1 minute, giving them the chance
to take each other's points.
4. As well as having 3 categories of difficulty you might like to have different
word categories ready to go such as animals, clothes, body parts, fruit and
sport.
5. You can find a large number of examples in our word scramble section but
here are a few of the animals you could use:
a. Easy (1 point)
bird - drbi
dog - dgo
cat - tac
lion - olin
b. Medium (2 points)
frog - rgfo
myoekn - monkey
tiger - greti
eagle - leeag
c. Difficult (3 points)
elephant - tpnlehea
giraffe - gfriefa
donkey - oendyk
crocodile - orcdcielo
DAY 19: Truth or lies
This fun ESL classroom activity is played in a similar way to Rows and Columns, with
the difference being that rather than answer standard questions, students must
listen to a statement from you and decide whether you are telling the truth or lying.
Ask the students to stand up at their desks and find a student who will go first (or
alternatively ask for a volunteer). They need to listen carefully to your statement and
decide if you are lying or telling the truth.
Directions:
1. If the student is correct then they can choose either their row or column to sit
down with them, if the student is incorrect then nobody gets to sit down.
Continue the game until everyone sits down.
2. Feel free to adapt the game to suit your students and teaching style.
Here are some examples of statements you could use when playing this game of
truth and lies (throwing a few funny ones in there is always a good idea):
a. I live on the moon.

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 b. Today is the day after yesterday.
c. I am older than you.
d. Tennis balls are square.
e. I wear shoes on my hands.
f. Hours are longer than minutes.
g. All girls have short hair.
h. We are not outside.
i. I have blonde hair.
j. Tokyo is in Japan.
k. I am friends with Tom Cruise.
DAY 20: Linking letters and words
Directions:
1. You begin by saying a word, the first student will then think of a new word
that begins with the last letter of your word, the following student will do the
same, taking the final letter of the previous word and using it as the first
letter of a new word.
2. For example if the first word is car then the next word could be red, followed
by, dog, golf, food and so on.
3. The catch is that students have to think quickly and not repeat any word that
has already been used, if they repeat a word or are too slow then they are
out of the game.
4. If it's a little easy for your class then you can introduce further rules such as
making the words all part of one topic. For example the words might have to
be related to sport, starting with bat, tennis, soccer etc.
DAY 21: Countries of the world
Countries of the World is a fun ESL classroom activity that helps students remember
the English names of various countries from around the world.
Directions:
1. Split your class into teams of between 4 and 6 students and number each
team. Give them space on the whiteboard/blackboard to write the names of
as many different countries as they can, one team at a time.
2. Let a student from the first team come to the front and write the name of any
country in the world, a member of the second team then comes to the front
and does the same, the catch is that they can't repeat a country already used.
3. The game gets progressively more difficult as the number of countries left
available runs out. If a team can't think of a new country then they are out of
the game, while the others continue until there is only one team remaining,
the winners!
4. You can be lenient on spelling but make sure they don't have access to any
maps or geography books which could lead to an unfair advantage.

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 5. If the game takes too long or the students find it a little easy then feel free to
play the game in a similar fashion to the Animal Alphabet Relay, where the
first letter of each country chosen is removed from the alphabet, i.e. if the first
team chooses Australia then 'A' is erased from the whiteboard and other
countries starting with 'A' such as Austria and Angola can't be used.
DAY 22: Countries of the world
If you've got a few minutes to spare then this counting game is always a good time
filler.
Directions:
1. Explain to the class that they will simply be counting from 1 to 40, one at a
time from one end of the class to the other. The only catch is that they must
replace all multiples of 5 with the word 'cat' and all multiples of 7 with the
word 'dog'. A multiple of both 5 and 7 (i.e. 35) must be replaced by 'cat-dog'.
2. It might sound easy but once you get the speed up it can be easy to make a
mistake. It can be difficult for native speakers of English to keep track of the
numbers but it's even tougher when English isn't your first language.
3. Get started and see how far your class gets before they make a mistake, can
they make it to 40? If the activity is too easy for them then feel free to make
any number that includes a 5 or a 7 also require the word 'cat' or 'dog',
increase the goal to 100 or just give them less and less time to say the next
number. You can also try eliminating students that make a mistake in order to
find your classroom's Cat Dog Counting champion!
Just to be sure, this is how the basic version of the game should go:
1, 2, 3, 4, cat, 6, dog, 8, 9, cat, 11, 12, 13, dog, cat, 16, 17, 18, 19, cat, dog, 22,
23, 24, cat, 26, 27, dog, 29, cat, 31, 32, 33, 34, cat-dog, 36, 37, 38, 39, cat.
DAY 23: How many words can you make?
Directions:
1. Working individually or in groups, students try to make as many English
words as they can from the letters that make up a word of your choice.
2. Write the word on the whiteboard/blackboard and give them 5 to 10 minutes
(or however long you feel they need) to finish before checking that their
words are valid and spelt correctly. Whoever makes the most words wins!
3. Alternatively you could assign points depending on the length of the words
created, i.e. 2 points for 2 letters words, 3 points for letter words etc.
Here's an example of words that can be made from the letters in
'English':
a. letters: shingle
b. letters: single, sleigh, hinges
c. letters: shine, hinge, sling, lines
d. letters: legs, sigh, line, sing

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 e. letters: his, leg, she, gel
f. letters: hi, he, in, is
DAY 24: Fast answer race
Put your ESL student's mental reflexes to the test with a fast answer race. This
simple classroom activity involves two teams of students racing each other to
correctly answer your questions.
It's a good activity for learning opposites (antonyms) and parts of the body. While
you can play the game using whatever type of questions you would like to, I'll be
using opposites in this example.
Directions:
1. Split the students into two lines however you wish, this can be boys vs girls,
young v old or simply those who sit on the right side of the classroom v
those who sit on the left.
2. The students at the front of the line have one chance to listen to the word
you say and correctly say the opposite word before the opposing student can
do so. If they are correct then they can sit back down at their desk while if
they are wrong or too slow then they have to return to the back of their
respective team's line.
3. The students at the front of the line have one chance to listen to the word
you say and correctly say the opposite word before the opposing student can
do so. If they are correct then they can sit back down at their desk while if
they are wrong or too slow then they have to return to the back of their
respective team's line.
Here are some examples of the opposites
fast - slow in - out true - false
happy - sad north - south east - west
heavy - light on - off yes - no
good - bad new - old up - down
high - low left - right
hot - cold tall - short
DAY 24: Final auction
Having a final class auction is a both a fun classroom activity and a great way to
wrap things up with your students, this is always my favourite class of the school
year.
Directions:
1. You might like to give out the fake money evenly or based on a different
method but if you choose to do a quiz you'll find plenty in our quiz section.
2. Once they all have some fake money to work with you can either let them bid
individually or as groups (perhaps the teams they were already in if you did a
quiz).

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 3. Before the class I usually go out and buy 5 or 6 cheap prizes including
anything from candy to stickers and small toys, it's up to you what to choose
but it often depends on the age of your students (older students might not
be so keen on stickers for example).
4. Stand at the front of the room with a countdown of how many items are left
in the auction written on the whiteboard/blackboard and start the bidding at
a small price to get things rolling. Let the students raise their hands and call
out their bids in English until someone bids a price that no one else is willing
to match, after they hand over the fake cash the prize is theirs!
Continue until all the prizes are gone remembering to give yourself enough time to
gather up all the fake money before the class ends.

DAY 25: Homophones

Homophones are great ways of learning different words in English, it is also a
wonderful drill to enhance one’s pronunciation.
Directions:
Cut pieces of paper about the size of 12x4 inches. In each piece of paper write the
words below, make 2 sets.
I, here, our, to, tail, there, road, prince, meet, plane, no, nose
Next, write the words below on the board, write to sets.
two, hour, hear, eye, tale, their, plain, rode, prints, know, meat, knows
Group the students into two. Instruct them to form 1 straight line per group. Give
each group the pieces of paper. Give them 1 minute to match the words written on
the paper to the words on the board. Each member should be given a chance to go
in front to match the word he/she got.

The group which completed the task in less time is declared the winner.

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TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES
DAY 26: Antique Can
Team-building activities are a fun way to teach children teamwork, leadership,
communication, decision-making and problem-solving skills. To succeed at team-
building games, children have to learn to work together, listen carefully,
Directions
For this exercise, you will need a large can and an object to place inside of it.
1. Direct the group to stand in a circle. Assign limitations to each player or to
the entire group. You could, for example, blindfold one or more participants
while asking others to use only their feet.
2. Show the children the can. Make up a story about how ancient, powerful or
valuable it is and that it must not be dropped on the ground. Challenge the
group to pass the can around to each member without dropping it or spilling
its contents.
3. If the can--or the object in the can--drops to the ground, the group must
start over. After explaining the task to the group, ask them to set a time goal
for completing the task.
4. Discuss with participants their tactics, methods of communication and
performance. Ask them how they felt about or dealt with the limitations
placed on them. Invite them to connect the limitations imposed on them in
the game to the obstacles they sometimes face in life.

DAY 27: Hula Hoop

Directions

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For this exercise, you will need a hula hoop. Ask the children to stand in a tight
circle with one hand inside the circle, raised to about head level. If you have
available to you an area with a mild slope, use it; it will make the game more
challenging.

1. Tell participants to extend a finger from their raised arm. Lay the hula hoop
on top of their fingers. The hoop may immediately start to rise. Hold it in
place as you give the group directions.

2. Tell them they must remain in contact with the hula hoop at all times, but
they must not hook a finger around it or pull it. The hula hoop must simply
lay on top of their fingers.

3. Once they understand the rules, tell the children to simply lower the hula
hoop to the ground. Step aside and allow the children to figure this out on
their own. At the end of the game, ask participants to discuss their tactics,
conflicts and methods of communication.

DAY 28: Mine Field

An important part of childhood development is learning social skills, cooperation
and the dynamics of working in a team. Children respond well to learning activities
that involve fun and games. Team building games are an effective way to help kids
learn the social interactive skills they will need through adulthood such as
responsibility, appreciation for others and compromise. According to Alanna Jones,
author of "Team-Building Activities For Every Group," team building activities
promote camaraderie, cooperation while enhancing team cohesion.
www.ehow.com/list_6510814_team-building-games-kids.html

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Directions
"Mine Field" is a team building game for small or large groups of children that you
can add your own rules, rewards or consequences to. The main object of the game
is to have children work together to reach a goal, making it through the mine field.
In a spacious area, create a make-believe minefield by placing random objects like
cones, pillows, bowling pins or toys.

1. Divide groups of children equally and allow them a few moments to discuss
and plan their strategy.
2. Blindfold one child from each group and begin the game.
3. Blindfolded children must walk from one end of the make-believe minefield to
the other while being vocally guided by his/her group who are able to see
the items. Because the blindfolded child is fully dependent on his/her group
he/she learns to rely on a team to accomplish a goal, while the child "guide"
learns a lesson in responsibility and helping others.

DAY 29: Human Sculptures

"Human Sculptures" involves teamwork from beginning to end in a charade-like
theme. By setting open ended goals, children learn to verbally consult with one
another to come up with ideas to succeed as a team.
Directions
1. Divide children into two teams and have each team choose a leader.
2. Give each leader a pen and paper. Team leaders must collaborate to establish
a category of interest that will be the topic of each round, such as celebrities,
zoo animals or popular films.
3. Have the two separate teams then collaborate to choose a related theme to
use to create a human body sculpture, write it on a piece of paper, and return
the paper to you.
4. Each team will form a human body sculpture that represents the idea written
on the paper, while the other team tries to guess what it is. For example, if
the main topic is "cartoons" and a team chooses "King Of The Hill," team
members may lay over each other in a hill-like pile while one team member
climbs to the top to represent the "King."

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DAY 30: To Be Or Knot To Be
This team building game promotes problem solving skills and encourages kids to
work together to overcome obstacles.
Directions
1. Assemble a group of 12 or more children and have them stand in a circle
facing each other.
2. Instruct them to close their eyes and extend their right hand.
3. Each child must use their right hand to grab onto the hand of another. While
retaining this position, the children open their eyes and use their left hands to
connect with a different child.
4. No child should be holding both hands of another. Each child must be
holding on to two other children.
5. Once all the children are connected by both hands and have formed a
"human knot," they must work together to untangle themselves without
letting go of one another's hands.
6. You should soon witness considerable communication and strategy
formulation among the children as they try to free themselves from the
"knot."

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DAY 31: Superlative Games/Never Have I Done It…
Directions
1. The Superlative Game is really a matter of breaking down the group in
sections, over and over again.
2. Stand everyone in a corner who has birthdays in June, hair that is brown.. ect.
This will teach the children that they all have something in common and that
no person should ever have to stand alone.
3. It is an ice breaker that will bond each child, with at least one peer. This can
be done outside or inside as well, depending on the space you have. Since
each child may be able to fit into more than one spot, it can get quite chaotic
but fun!
Directions
This is a fun game for kids. This can be done outside or inside depending on your
space and your element.

1. Every child starts with 10 fingers held up. And each child will say the phrase
“never have I ever..” followed by something they have never done.
2. If a child has done it, they must drop one finger down.
3. The winner will have the most fingers up at the end of the game. This will
help the children learn more about one another, and create bonds.

DAY 32: Pithu

Game Objective: This is a fantastic team building game for kids that has its roots in
India. A team has to complete a task before the opposing team tags them.

Materials Required:

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7 flat blocks (wooden or plastic or stone chips)
A soft rubber ball.
Directions
1. Make 2 teams of 5 kids each.
2. Mark a start line.
3. Draw a small circle (roughly 1 feet diameter) about 7 steps away from the
start line.
4. Mark a rough outer boundary, of any shape, for the game either by a marker
tape or by flagging the area.
5. The boundary should be large enough keeping in mind that players have to
run strictly within it during the entire course of the game.
6. In the small circle place all the 7 blocks one over the other vertically to form a
small tower (called “Pithu”).
7. One team will be “Striking” team and other will be “Fielding” team.
8. A striker from the striking team will stand at the start line while his team
mates will scatter themselves around the play area but within the outer
boundary.
9. The fielding team will assign a “Catcher” who will position himself just behind
the blocks tower (Pithu).
10. Remaining fielders will also scatter themselves around the play area.
11. A Striker will get 3 chances to strike the Pithu with a soft rubber ball.
12. He will be “Out” in two scenarios. First, if he is unable to strike in all 3 allotted
chances. Second, the Catcher, who is standing behind the Pithu, catches the
ball thrown by him at “One” bounce.(not two bounces)
13. If a player is “Out” he is suspended from the game and has to wait outside
the boundary.
14. If the Striker strikes the Pithu then he and his team mates have to gather all
the 7 scattered blocks and rearrange them quickly to form the Pithu.
15. The fielding team in the meantime, have to collect the ball quickly and “Tag”
any of the Striking team player by hitting him/ her with the ball before they
reassemble the Pithu.
16. The fielding team player, holding the ball, cannot run around to tag the
Striking team player. Instead, he has to remain at his place and figure out to
whom he should pass the ball among his team mates who is in the best
position to tag the Striking team player.
17. The Striking team players, in the other hand, are free to run around the play
area in order to save themselves from being tagged as well as look for the
opportunity to rebuild the Pithu.
18. If a Striking team player is tagged by the Fielding team then, he/ she is “Out”
and has to sit out.

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 19. The game will continue till the Striking team reassemble the blocks and shout
“Pithu!”
20. Now, the Striking team will take the fresh strike with a new Striker and
remaining players.(who are not Tagged Out in the last round)
21. This cycle will continue till the last player of the Striking team is tagged out.
22. Now the teams will swap roles and the game will continue. At the end of play
the team who has made more Pithu WINS this group game for kids.

DAY 33: Sit Down If

Directions
Considered one of the best indoor team building activities for kids, this is a
humorous game and a quick refresher from the classroom monotony.

1. Prepare a list of things starting with 'Sit down if...'

a) you have brushed your teeth today.
b) you are wearing yellow.
c) you are hungry.
d) you like chocolates.
e) you hate ice-cream.
f) You are born in December.
g) you are the eldest child.
h) you can speak two languages.
i) you have blue eyes.
2. Make the whole class stand. Read out these lines one by one. The last student
standing is the winner.

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