Ideas for optional games and activities

for grades 4–6

Alphabet words You can play this game with lots of different lists to
Say a word beginning with the letter ‘a’. Ask a student practice different vocabulary sets (In my schoolbag
to say a word beginning with the letter ‘b’. Continue / bedroom / garden / etc). You can also play it to
in this way around the class. If a student can’t think of practice routines. Say I get up at seven o’clock. Then I
a word beginning with their letter, you can invite the …. Invite a student to complete the sentence. Invite
rest of the class to help. another student to add an activity using Then or After
that. Students take turns around the class.
Back to the board
I get up at seven o’clock. Then I have a shower. After
Divide the class into two teams. Place two chairs at that, I get dressed. Then I have my breakfast. Etc
the front of the class facing away from the board.
Ask one student from each team to sit on each of the Chat line
chairs. Write a word, e.g. sword, or a collocation, e.g. Divide the class into two. Ask half the class to stand
have a shower, on the board. The students in the two up and line up next to each other. Ask the other half
teams must explain the word to their team mate in of the class to line up facing these students so every
English and without using the word on the board. The student has a partner to talk to. If you have an odd
first student in the chair to say the correct word wins number of students, have one group of three. Provide
a point for their team. questions for the students to discuss. They then ask
and answer the questions. Monitor and listen. Then,
Bingo
move a student from the end of one line to the other
Tell students to write down six to ten numbers (or end of their line. That line of students shuffles along
words from a new vocabulary set) in their notebooks. so everyone has a new partner. They ask and answer
Check students have done this, then call out numbers the same or different questions. This is great for
1 – 20 (or the set of words) in random order. If speaking practice, reviewing functions, and reviewing
students have a number / word in their books, they grammar. You could also follow it up with an error
can cross it out. The first student to cross out all their correction task.
numbers / words is the winner. In a stronger class,
invite students to call out the numbers / words. Collages
Ask students to create collages using magazine
Busy day
pictures. They cut out images related to a topic, e.g.
Play a memory game. Say a sentence about furniture, travel, clothes etc. and paste them onto an
something you have done today, e.g. I had a shower. A4 sheet of paper. They then tell their partner what
Invite a student to say, You had a shower. I brushed my they have in their pictures.
teeth. The next student should add to the list, e.g. She
had a shower. You brushed your teeth. I ate breakfast. Colours
Continue around the class, inviting students to take Tell students to think of an object in the classroom or
turns to add to the list. If a student forgets an item, in a picture in the Student’s Book and say what colour
they are out of the game. The last student left in the it is. Their partners guess the object.
game is the winner. e.g. It’s red.
Catch questions It’s the door.
Bring a small ball to the class. Ask one of the No!
questions practised in the unit’s Speaking section, It’s the school bag.
e.g. What’s your name?, How old are you?, When’s your
birthday? After you’ve asked the question, throw Yes!
the ball to a student. The student must answer the Descriptions
question, then ask another question and throw the Divide the class into two teams. Hold up objects from
ball to someone else. around the classroom. Invite students from Team A to
Chain stories say two adjectives which describe the object (small,
Ask students to stand up. Say On my pizza, I’ve got big, red, yellow, etc). Ask students from Team B to form
tomatoes. Invite a student to add an item to the pizza, sentences with the adjectives in the correct order.
eg: On my pizza, I’ve got tomatoes and peppers. Dos and Don’ts
Repeat with students around the class. If a student Invite a student to come to the front of the class.
can’t remember the list of items, they have to sit Invite other students around the class to say
down. The last student left standing is the winner. sentences using must or mustn’t, e.g. You must touch

Steps Plus dla klasy V • Ideas for optional games and activities
1 for grades 4–6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press
your nose. You mustn’t jump up and down. The student e.g. The first letter is F.
at the front of the class should follow the instructions Is it ‘fish’?
until he / she gets one wrong. Then the student who
No, it isn’t.
said the last sentence can come to the front of the
class and repeat the game. Is it ‘floor’?
Draw and guess Yes, it is!
Divide students into two teams. Start drawing a Four in a row
known item on the board. Students from each team Invite a student (or pair of students) to the front of the
call out guesses as to what the item is. The student class. Hand the student (or students) four printable
who guesses correctly wins a point for their team and flashcards from previous lessons. Call out the words
takes a turn to draw an item on the board. for the flashcards. The student (or students) stick the
Error correction cards on the board in the correct order. Repeat with
other students and other flashcards.
Write eight incorrect sentences that you have heard
in a class speaking practice or have found in students’ Guess who / what!
writing. Do not say who made these mistakes. Write Ask students to think of a famous person, animal
an additional two sentences that are correct. Write or item and describe him / her / it to the class. The
the sentences in random order. Ask the class to work student who correctly guesses the person or item
in pairs and decide if the sentences are correct or not. then takes a turn to describe a new person or item.
If they are incorrect, ask students to correct them. eg: He’s a star. He’s English. He’s in the Harry Potter films.
Carry this exercise out orally, encouraging students to (He’s Daniel Radcliffe!)
be respectful of one another’s answers and opinions.
Guessing game
Extra word Divide the class into two teams. Invite a student
Write a sentence on the board, including one extra from Team A to say sentences about a popular TV
word which should not be there, e.g. I’ve done finished programme, person, place or thing, without naming
my lunch. Invite a student to the front of the class. it (although they can say what they are describing
Ask the student to circle the word which should to help others to guess). Invite students from Team
not be there. Repeat with other students and other B to guess who or what is being described. Award a
sentences. point for each correct answer. The team with the most
Feelings points wins.
Invite students to think of positive and negative Hangman
adjectives, e.g. angry, bored, worried, excited, pleased, Choose a word from the unit as your mystery word.
proud, etc. Write students’ suggestions on the board. Draw a space for each letter in the word on the board.
Divide the class into two teams. Invite a student from The students take turns to guess a letter. If the letter is
Team A to choose an adjective from the board and in the word, write it in the correct space. If the letter is
make a sentence using the present perfect, e.g. I’m not in the word, draw the first line in a simple picture
worried because I’ve lost my mobile phone. I’m excited (if you don’t want to use the traditional ‘hanging man’,
because I’ve bought tickets to see my favourite band. you can draw a five-petalled flower, a house, etc).
Repeat with students from each team in turn. Award Encourage students to look back through the unit as
one point for each correct sentence. The team with they choose letters and try to guess the word. You can
the most points is the winner. play this game in teams if you like, with students from
Find the picture each team in turn guessing a letter.
Invite a student to choose one of the people in one of Match the word
the Words, words, words scene pictures. Invite other Revise new words using the printable flashcards.
students to ask questions to find out which person Hold up each flashcard, say the word and ask the
it is, e.g. Is it a boy? Has he got a cough? etc. The first class to repeat chorally, then individually. Correct
student to guess the correct picture takes a turn to pronunciation as necessary.
choose another picture. Write the words on the board, one at a time. Invite
First letters individual students to the front of the class and hand
Tell students to think of an object in a picture in the them two flashcards. The students stick the correct
SB, or in the classroom, and say what letter it starts flashcard on the board, next to the word.
with. Their partners, or the rest of the class, guess the
object.

2 Steps Plus dla klasy V • Ideas for optional games and activities
for grades 4–6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press
Memory game e.g. old
Play a memory game with the class. Place various young
classroom objects of different colours on your desk. tall
Invite the students to look at the items for one minute
short
and try to remember all the objects and what colour
they are. Cover the items on your desk, or tell the Pass the pictures
students to turn their backs on the desk. Invite the Print and hand out a set of printable flashcards. Play
students to say as many objects (with their colours) as some music (perhaps the song from the previous
they can remember. unit). Tell students to pass the flashcards around the
Mime time class. Stop the music. The students call out the words
for the flashcards they are holding. Repeat so that all
Invite a student to come to the front of the class. The
students get a turn at calling out a few words.
student asks What am I going to do tomorrow?, then
mimes an activity. The other students in the class try Picture it!
to guess the activity, e.g. You’re going to swim! The first Describe an animal / a monster / a person / an object
student to guess the activity correctly takes a turn to to the class and tell them to draw what you are
mime an activity for the class. You can use this activity describing. See how accurately the students draw
to practice different grammar structures by modelling what you are describing. In a stronger class, you can
different questions, e.g. What am I doing? What did I invite a child to describe something to the class.
do yesterday?
Simon says
Missing words
Tell the students that they should all obey you if you
• In a weaker class, say three months of the year / first say the words Simon says. Tell them that they are
numbers / days of the week in order, but miss one out of the game if they follow an order that doesn’t
word out of each set of four. Students must say begin with Simon says, or if they fail to do what Simon
which word is missing, e.g. March, April, June. (May!) says to do. Begin by saying something like, Simon
• In a stronger class, do the same activity but faster. says, swim. Look to make sure everybody is miming
Then ask students to say the four words in order. the action. Give another order such as, Simon says,
climb a tree. Check again. Continue giving orders. Mix
Musical mill drill
it up and say something like, Ride a bike, without the
Place some pictures of pairs of people in different preface Simon says. Call out the students who mime
situations face down around the room. Make sure the action. Play until one student is left. This is the
there are enough for each pair of students in your winner.
class. For example, the Queen and Prince Phillip, two
children, an arguing couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina That isn’t right!
Jolie etc. Play a piece of music that you know your Divide the class into two teams. Invite a student from
students will enjoy. Ask them to dance around the Team A to say a false sentence using the present
room. Stop the music. Students all move to stand at a continuous, e.g. It’s raining. / Artur is wearing a red
picture in pairs. They turn over the picture and have a shirt. Invite a student from Team B to correct the
conversation in the manner of those two people. sentence, e.g. No! It isn’t raining. It’s sunny. / No! Artur
isn’t wearing a red shirt. He’s wearing a blue shirt. Award
Noughts and crosses
a point for each correct answer. The team with the
Draw a 3x3 grid on the board and stick a printable most points wins.
flashcard in each cell. Students work in teams. They
take turns to say the word and draw a nought or cross That’s wrong!
in the cell. The first team to get three in a row wins. • In a weaker class, say false sentences about items
or people in the classroom, or about pictures
Odd one out
or information in the SB. The sentences can be
Stick four printable flashcards on the board (or write factually incorrect to practice new vocabulary (eg:
four words), three from one vocabulary set (eg: Anna’s bag is red.), or grammatically incorrect to
classroom objects) and one from another set (eg: practice new grammar (eg: Anna’s bag are blue.).
numbers). Ask students to say the words for each Invite students to correct the sentences, eg: Anna’s
flashcard, then say which one is the odd one out. bag is red. (That’s wrong! Anna’s bag isn’t red! Anna’s
Opposites bag is blue!)
Tell students to take turns to say a word. Their partner • In a stronger class, invite students to make their
says the opposite word. own false sentences.

3 Steps Plus dla klasy V • Ideas for optional games and activities
for grades 4–6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press
True sentences What is it?
Write prompts on the board and invite students Ask one student to think of objects in the classroom.
to make true sentences, using the affirmative or The other students ask questions and try to guess the
negative form of be. object. The child who correctly guesses the object
eg: My dad / a director then takes a turn to describe a new object.
(My dad isn’t a director.) e.g. Is it blue?
It / ten o’clock. Yes, it is.
(It’s ten o’clock.) Is it on the floor?
I / eight years old. No, it isn’t.
(I’m not eight years old.) Is it on the shelf?
Yes, it is.
Vocabulary grab
Is it a dictionary?
To make a listening text or song more kinaesthetic,
play the vocabulary grab activity. Put students into Yes, it is!
groups of 4-5. Give each group 8-10 words written on You could also ask a student to think of a person
word cards from the text that you want to pre-teach. in the class and answer questions from the other
Ask students to place the words face up and check students.
their meaning first as a group, then as a class. Ask
What’s in the fridge?
students to listen to the text, or song, and grab the
word when they hear it. They are competing against Say There’s an apple in the fridge. Invite a student to
one another. The student with the most words in each add to the list, e.g. There’s an apple and there are some
group at the end of the listening, is the winner. strawberries in the fridge. Continue around the class.
If a student forgets an item from the list, they are out
Vocabulary ladders of the game. The last student left in the game is the
Divide the class into two teams and ask students to winner.
line up, one behind the other, facing the board. Write
What’s missing?
the numbers 1-10 from the bottom to the top of the
board, at a height the students can reach, and draw a Write the vocabulary set from one of the units on
line under each number to create their ‘ladders’. Hand the board. Tell the class to look at the words for one
the front student from each team a marker pen. Tell minute (or less), then close their eyes. Erase two or
the students you will give them a topic. When they three of the words from the board. Tell the class to
hear it they must race to the board and write one open their eyes and say which words are missing.
word connected with that topic, e.g. if the topic is You can repeat the game a few times, using different
weather, they might write rainy. They then pass the vocabulary sets each time.
marker to the person behind them and then run to What’s the time?
rejoin their team at the back of the line. They can call
Draw a blank clock face on the board. Invite individual
out to help each other. The team that finishes first,
students to the front of the class. The student asks
i.e. writes ten words, gets one point. You then award
What’s the time?. Other students in the class say a time
the team a point for every word which is actually
(e.g.: It’s half past four). The student draws the correct
connected with that topic, is spelt correctly and is
time on the clock face.
different from the other team.
What’s the word?
Vocabulary review
Play a game in two teams. Write one of the words
The pictures in the Student’s Books are often very
from the unit on the board with one or two missing
detailed, so are ideal for vocabulary review games.
letters. Invite a student from Team A to come to the
• Ask students to look at the picture and find other board. Ask What’s the word? The student completes
words they know. the word on the board and says the word. Repeat
• Call out words, e.g. dog, parrot, lizard, frog and tell with students from each team in turn. Award one
students to point to the things in the picture. In a point for each correct answer. The team with the most
stronger class, call out the words very fast. points wins.
What am I doing? Where is it?
Mime an activity and invite students to guess what Ask students to place a rubber (or other small item)
you are doing, e.g. Are you cooking? No, I’m not. The on / next to / in front of / behind / in (tucked in the
student who guesses correctly takes a turn to mime pages of ) / under a book (or pencil case, bag, etc) and
an activity for the rest of the class to guess. ask and answer questions with their partners.

4 Steps Plus dla klasy V • Ideas for optional games and activities
for grades 4–6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press
e.g. Where’s the rubber?
It’s under the book.
Who is it?
Invite a student to think about someone in the class.
Invite other students to ask questions to find out who
the person is, e.g. Is it a girl? Is she wearing a T-shirt?
Has she got long hair? Does she wear glasses? etc. The
first student to correctly guess the person takes a turn
to think of someone else in the class.
Who wants to be a millionaire?
Tell students to write ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’
style questions about the unit topic, e.g.
Queen Elizabeth’s husband is …
a Charles b Philip c Andrew
Choose one student to take the hot seat at the front
of the class and play ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’.
Encourage students to ask the questions they’ve
prepared.
Word bingo
Ask students to write six of the new words from the
unit in their notebooks. Help students if necessary.
Call out the words, in jumbled order. Students check
to see if they have the word on their list. If the word is
on their list, they can cross it off. The first student to
cross off all their words is the winner.
Yes or no?
Hold up printable flashcards from previous lessons
and say a Word, sometimes the correct word, and
sometimes the wrong word. Students say whether or
not the word matches the picture (yes or no). Invite
students to hold up flashcards and say correct or
incorrect words for the rest of the class.

5 Steps Plus dla klasy V • Ideas for optional games and activities
for grades 4–6 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Oxford University Press