Games with flashcards

The games with flashcards are to be used during the introduction and revision of the new vocabulary. At the same time, it is great opportunity to bring some more fun into the classroom.

Correct order
Invite 6 children in front of the classroom and give each a unit flashcard. Then call out the names of the cards in a certain order and ask the children, in turn, to arrange the cards in order you called them. Repeat with others.

Guess the card
Cut a small square hole in the middle of a sheet of paper about the same size as a flashcard, only allowing the children to see a little bit of the picture through the hole. Ask the children to guess what it is.

Echo
Model for the children what an echo is with Sammy. Say a unit vocabulary word and then make Sammy repeat the word gradually fading out. Then tell the children that you will say a word and they will be your echo. Show them a flashcard and say a word/ask someone to say it. Encourage the children to echo it by repeating it several times, becoming quieter and quieter. Vary the game by asking volunteers to choose a flashcard and say the word for the class to echo.

Collect the cards
Hold up any flashcard that the children know. Ask for a show of hands for children to identify the card by naming the item. Let the first child to correctly identify and keep it. Announce the winner as a child who has the most cards at the end.

Memory
Tape four to six flashcards in a row. Encourage the children to memorize them. Then place sheets of paper the same size as the cards over them and invite the children to name the items. Remove the sheets of paper to confirm.

Snap
Say a word from a unit’s flashcard. Show flashcards for a word along with several others, one by one. Encourage the children to call out: Snap! When they see the flashcard you named.

Name it!
Arrange the class in two teams and tell them to line up in two rows. Ask the first child in each row to come up and turn their backs to you. Hold up the flashcard and count to three and say: Turn around. Give a point to a team of the first child to turn around and correctly name the card. Continue with all the children.

Who’s the fastest?
Arrange the class in two teams and tell them to line up in two rows, facing the board. Put a group of familiar flashcards on the board. Call out the name of the flashcard and let the first child in each line race to touch the right card. Give a point to the fastest child’s team. Continue this way until all the cards are used.

Pass the flashcard
Choose a group of 6 flashcards and pass them facedown around the room. Ask the children to guess who has the card when you say: Stop and ask: Who has the …(sister) card? Give a point to the child who correctly guesses who has the card. Continue with the rest of the cards.

Countdown
Arrange the class into small groups. Mix flashcards from different units together and divide them into piles, one for each group. Ask the groups to arrange the cards into categories. Announce the first group to finish correctly as the winner.

What’s missing?
Place several flashcards facing upwards on the floor or on the table. Allow the children a few minutes to study them. Tell the children to close their eyes while you remove a flashcard. Ask the children to identify the missing card.

Xs and Os.
Arrange the class in 2 teams: one is X and one is O. Draw a large grid on the board with 9 spaces. Put one flashcard facing the board (so the children can’t see the card) in each space. Ask a child from each team, in turn, to turn one over and identify it. If correct, remove the card and write an X or O. The first team to get 3 in a row wins.

Alternative Bingo
Show unit flashcards and ask the children to draw a simple picture of one item. As they draw write the words on small slips of paper and put them into a bag. Ask the children to stand up. Pull out the slips of paper and read the words. Ask the children who drew this object to sit down. Continue until there’s only one slip of paper in the bag.

Animal farm
Call a child to the front of the class and secretly show him/her a flashcard of an animal (cat) Blindfold the child. Give out several flashcards including the cat, to children around the room. Encourage the children to make the sound of the animal on their flashcards. Ask the child to remove a blindfolder and walk around the room and find his/her animal.

Who has it?
Invite several children to the board and give each one a different flashcard. Ask the children to show their cards to the class. Ask: who has got a nest? The children should answer: Mary has got a nest.

Sponge Toss
Place the unit flashcards on the floor facedown. Let the children take turns tossing a sponge or other soft object and identifying the card it lands on by turning it over and naming it.

Easy or difficult
Divide 20 flashcards into 2 stacks: an easy stack (cards from earlier units) and a difficult one (cards from a recent unit). Divide a class into 2 teams. Award 3 points for each correctly named difficult flashcard and 1 point for each easy flashcard.

Flashcard mime
Invite the child to the front of the class. Show him/her a flashcard while hiding it from the rest of the class. Ask the child to mime the word. Let the child who correctly guesses a chance to mime the next word.

The dice game
Have a dice available. Arrange the class into several teams. Put the flashcards on the board and number them 1-6. Call out a word and have a team say the corresponding number. If it’s correct ask that team to throw the dice and award a number of points to.

Where is it?
Display familiar flashcards in different places around the room. Call out the name of one and ask the children to find it and point to it. Or say a sentence I’ve got … with this word and ask the children to point and retrieve the card.

Hit the card
Display the flashcards on the board. Ask two children to come up to the board and stand a bit away. Call out a word. Announce a winner as a first child to run to the board and hit the correct flashcard.

Tick or cross
Gather flashcards that begin with the initial sound children know. Then write a tick and a cross in the board. Hand out two large squares of paper to each child. Tell the children to draw an X and √. Tell the children that you will show them a flashcard and they will say a word. If the flashcard begins with a right sound, they should hold up the tick card. If it doesn’t – cross card. Make intentional mistakes.

Bluff
Invite several children to the board and ask them to stand in a row. Give each of them a flashcard and tell them not to let the class know which it is. Ask the first child in the row to say a word that might or might not correspond with the flashcard he/she is holding. Have the class guess if the child is bluffing or not. Let the class play the game in teams and award points when teams guess correctly.

Face race
Give each child a number between 1 and 5. Display the face flashcards on the board and draw a picture of a face. Say: number 2 – nose. Encourage the children with number 2 to race to the board and touch the nose.

Same sounds
Choose a beginning consonant sound that children know. Display a flashcard of the word that begins with that sound (puzzle). Now say: pencil, bed, teddy bear, door, doll, sister, kite. The children should say the word with the same initial sound as in puzzle (pencil).

Hop and say
The teacher brings a number of flashcards to class and lines the cards up across the floor in a row. Two teams stand at the extremes of the row. When the teacher orders the game to start, the first student from each team starts to jump on the first card. Every time a student jumps on a card she/he says what is on the card.

Swap seat game
Kids sit in a circle. Prepare flashcards and put them facedown in the middle of the circle. When teacher says SWAP, students have to stand up and run to another seat (change seats). The teacher also tries to find a seat. There will be one student standing. That student will have to pick up a card and name it.