Pre-Games : warming up for ELSS

Pre-games should:

be simple
be fun
allow children to associate an English word with an action/article
allow late children to easily join in
be leadable by a junior leader

Simon Says

Instructions

Students must follow whatever the teacher says(and does), if and only if the request is prefaced with the phrase, "Simon says ..." If not then students should not follow. If a student fails to follow he is out.

Example

"Simon says, stand on one foot" must be complied with. "Jump up and down" should not.

Comment

Use a junior leader for this. It is important to do at the same time as say so students associate the English with an action. Also a student who fails to follow should only be out for a short time -- let him join again quickly.

Red Light, Green Light

Instructions

Stand with back to children about 10 m in front of them. When you say "Green Light",they can move. When you say "Red Light" and turn around, they must stop. If you see someone moving then you send them back to the starting line. Continue game until someone touches you!

Comment

Association is taught. You can also play this as "Stop, Go" to teach these 2 words.

Hot and Cold

Instructions

Hide a toy or other prize in the room with one person absent and everyone else present. Bring in the absent student. As he looks around, the other students repeat "cold, cold, cold" when he moves away from the object, and "hot, hot, hot" when he/she gets closer.

Comment:

This will allow students to understand the abstract meaning of "cold" and "hot"

BattleShip

Instructions

Before the time divide into four. When children arrive the teacher will shout "front" (or "bow"), and the children must all move to the front 2 squares. Similarily for "back" (or "stern"), "left" ("port") or "right" ("starboard"). In addition are the commands, "Hit the Deck" (all children sit down) and "Torpedo" (children leave the classroom). "Man overboard" (all children go to the edge of the ship)

Example

Teacher says "Front". All children run to front 2 squares.

Comment

Good to teach relative directions. End with the command "Hit the Deck" to start the singing portion of the class or "Torpedo" to end the class.

Hide and Seek (Many->One)

Instructions

One person goes to hide. All others look for the person. When they find the person, they hide together. Game continues until everyone is crowded in one place.

Comment

Last round should end with a leader hiding in the classroom. It is played this way so latecomers can easily join in.

Sneaky Patty

Instructions

Gather everyone in a circle with a chair in the middle. Place a teddy bear under chair. One child is blindfolded on the chair. Turn on some music. One-by-one children come up and try to snatch the teddy away. The blindfolded child must stay seated but can move their hands. If she touches somebody, that child sits on the chair.

Treasure Hunt

Instructions

On 10 individual cards, draw (or cut from magazine or digital picture) pictures of 10 things from around the class area. Hide all the clues but one before class. When it's time to play, gather the group around you. Hand out the first clue and away they go.

Example

Clue 1: fridge. Children race off to the fridge where they find clue 2. Clue 2: Welcome mat. They race off to the welcome mat...Final clue: Picture of leader: when they get back to you start class.

Comment:

Late coming children can be helped to find where the group is. Also you can write the English name of the object below the picture.

Balloon Bouncing

Instructions

Everybody lies down in a circle. Try to keep a balloon up as long as possible. While the balloon is up, count 1,2,3,4,5...

Comment:

Helps children with their numbers. Also it is a challange to see how long can keep the balloon up.

Poison Tag

Instructions

One child is "It" and the rest get chased. Everyone puts their hands on their chests (the "It" person can use a hand to tag) and takes off. If an "It" person tags you, no matter where they tag you, you have to put your hand there and now you're an "It" too. Soon everyone is running around with their hands on weird parts of their bodies. Last person tagged is "It" for the next round.

Freeze Tag

Instructions

Somebody's "It" and the rest get chased and tagged. A player who is tagged must immediately freeze. They can be unfrozen only if another player crawls between their legs.

Comment:

Works well for under-6 classes

Blob Tag

Instructions

One person as "It," and the rest get chased and tagged. Whenever,a person gets tagged he joins hands with the "It" person to form the "Blob."

Comment:

Teacher intervention is needed to keep reducing the size of the playing area as the Blob gets bigger.

Blame Game

Instructions

This is done as a chant...
All: Who took the cookie from the cookie box?
Student: Jon took the cookie from the cookie box.
Jon: I didn't take the cookie from the cookie box.
The above is repeated until with each child entering a new child's name. When no more children's names left, the last child says, "I don't know."

Comment:

Older children or adults

References. Some of these games are adapted from information at the Better Homes and Gardens Website. (http://www.bhg.com)