Games and Activities

1. Bingo- Teacher will call out each of the vocabulary words. The first student to get

an entire row (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal) yells out “bingo!” and wins. Once

many students have a “bingo,” you can continue to play for “blackout,” meaning

the entire board is crossed out. Materials include a print-out bingo grid.

Appropriate for all ages.

2. Charades- This simple but classic game is a great way to encourage your student to

get out of their seats and participate in the lesson.

Materials: a list of people, actions or concepts related to the subject you are teaching.

Game: Select a student to stand at the front of the room and act out a word from your list

(no speaking allowed). The rest of the class must then guess what the student is

attempting to portray. Other students can shout out their guesses or put their hands up –

depending on your teaching preference! Whoever guesses correctly can act out the next

word.

3. Hangman- A traditional but interactive game which improves students’ spelling and

subject knowledge, but is also enjoyable.

Materials: whiteboard and pen or interactive whiteboard, plus a list of subject-specific

words to inspire your students.

Game: Divide your class into two teams then select a student to stand at the front of the

class and think of a word related to the lesson (or you could give them a suitable word).

The student must then draw spaces on the whiteboard to represent each letter in their

word. The rest of the class then guesses the word, one letter at a time (allow one

student from each team to guess alternately). Incorrect guesses result in a hangman

being drawn (one line at a time). The first team to guess the word wins, unless the
 hangman is completed. The game then repeats with another student thinking of a

relevant word.

4. Scatter-gories

This fun game will encourage your students to think ‘outside-the-box’ and draw on a

range of subject knowledge.

Materias: pieces of paper, pens/pencils and a list of subject-specific categories e.g.

Earth and Space (topic): rocks, landforms, weather, and solar system (categories).

Game: Split students into small groups and ask them to note down the categories on

their pieces of paper. Choose a letter (A-Z) at random and give students 1-2 minutes

(depending on how many categories) to think of a word for each category, beginning

with that letter. Once the time is up, allocate points for unique answers, i.e. if two teams

write down the same word for a category then neither get any points. Repeat the game

with different letters.

5. Puzzles-This creative group game encourages students to work together and visualize

academic concepts in an abstract way.

Materials: images, words,

Game: Separate your class into groups (or simply use table groupings) then hand out a

puzzle for each group to piece together.

6. Draw swords- This quick-fire game tests students’ fine motor skills and promotes quick

thinking, as well as generating some healthy competition.

Materials: Dictionary or textbook, plus list of key vocabulary.

Game: Split your class into small groups and choose a student from each group to start.

The nominated student then places the dictionary or textbook under their arm. You then

say a word or image in the target language which the students must then race to find in

their book (like drawing a sword from under their arm!). The first student to find the
 word/image is the winner. The game continues with different words/images until every

student has had a turn.

7. Face Creator- students will create face according to spoken directions, after which they

will construct a short story.

Materials: paper, colouring, and pencil

8. Brain Pop Videos in Spanish- students will listen to a video in Spanish based on the

topic after which they will answer comprehension question.

Materials: video, books and pen

9. Restaurante (Restaurant)

Vocabulary Topic: Food and meals

Materials: Menus in Spanish, diner-style guest checks, worksheets with a picture of an

empty dinner plate, colored pencils

How to Play: Pair students up and have them decide who will be the mesero (waiter) and

who will be the cliente (customer). Meseros bring clientes their menus and jot down their

orders on the guest check, then go to “cook” the meal requested.

This is done by drawing the meal on the plate worksheet. When they serve the cliente,

they’ll know right away if they got the order right, and clientes can leave additional

feedback by tipping well (or not at all!). Students should switch roles for the second

round.

10. Adivina Quién? (Guess Who?)

Vocabulary Topic: Physical appearance, clothing

Materials: 20-30 full-color photos of people

How to Play: Hang photos in a grid on the board where everyone can see them, or

project a PowerPoint slide containing 20-30 photos of people. Working in pairs, one
student will choose a photo of a person to describe. The other student asks questions

about appearance and clothing to narrow the field until he or she is ready to guess.

Partners switch roles and play continues.

11. Mi Familia Loca (My Crazy Family)

Vocabulary Topic: Family and pets

Materials: Blank family tree template worksheets, a set of 20-30 small photos of famous

people and animals (the sillier the better—cartoon characters welcome!) for each

student, a folder or binder

How to Play: In pairs, students sit facing each other with a binder standing between

them to block the view of each other’s family tree template. One student will place

photos on the family tree template to create a familia loca.

The second student must recreate that family tree without looking, so will ask questions

like, “¿Quién es tu mamá?” (Who is your mother?), using the answers to place photos

on their family tree. When the tree is complete, students remove the binder and check

their work.

12. El Taxista (Taxi Driver)

Vocabulary Topic: Professions and workplaces

Materials: Play money, stations around the classroom with two chairs side by side

How to Play: Divide the class in half: Half of your students are taxi drivers, and the other

half are customers. Each taxi driver chooses a station and sits in the “driver’s seat.”

Customers each get a handful of play money and must decide what person they need to

see (a pharmacist, teacher, lawyer, etc.). Each customer sits in the “passenger’s seat” of

a cab station and gives a clue about where they are going—without naming the person

they need to see or the place they are going.

For example, someone going to the doctor might describe having a headache. The taxi

driver makes a guess about the location based on the clue. If the taxi driver is correct on
their first guess, the customer gives him or her $5; if not, the passenger gives another

clue. A correct guess on the second guess is worth $3.

If a third guess is needed, the customer can name the profession of the person they

wish to see; a correct guess is now worth $1. When the round is over, customers move

into a different taxi station and play continues. The taxi driver with the most money at the

end wins.

13. Limpia Tu Cuarto (Clean Your Room)

Vocabulary Topic: Parts of the house and its furnishings

Materials: A worksheet with a cross-section of a house or labeled floor plan, small

photos of furniture and items found around the house, a binder or folder

How to Play: Students play in pairs, with a binder or folder standing between them to

keep their home diagrams secret from the other player. Each student selects a photo

card to place in each room—locations do not have to make sense. The goal is to “clean

up” your partner’s items before he or she can clean up yours.

To play, one student must ask the other for an item, i.e. “Necesito una silla. ¿Está en la

cocina?” (I need a chair. Is it in the kitchen?) If they correctly guess the location of the

item in their partner’s house, the partner must hand them the photo. Play continues as

students take turns guessing; the first person to collect five items wins.

14. Cucharas- Perhaps you’ve heard of (or have played) the card game “spoons.” This is

simply the Spanish twist on the game, which can be used to teach or review Spanish

verbs or vocabulary.

First, make a deck of about 50 cards for each group of about six students that’ll play in

class. What goes on these cards? Well, that’s totally up to your and your current

teaching topics. Generally speaking, you’ll want have 25 cards with 25 matching card.

The first half might be infinitive verbs, and the second half might be conjugated versions

of these verbs. Or the first half could be conjugated verbs and the second half could be
subjects that match up with them. Once you’ve gotten your content created, print out the

flashcards.

When the students can match two related cards, they can take a spoon from the center

of the table (and try to do so without the other group members noticing). When other

players notice that a spoon is being taken, they too may grab a spoon. Whoever gets the

most spoons at the end wins!

Materials: spoons and cards

15. Globo

This game is a little more active than the others, so get ready to move. Prior to playing

Globo, you’ll need to track down a sports ball such as a volleyball or a beach ball. If

you’ll be playing the game indoors, try to choose a ball that will cause no damage to

indoor furniture. That being said, it’s probably best to play Globo outside or in a

gymnasium, if available.

For this game, have students take turns throwing the ball. If the ball hits a certain object

(for example, the wall or a tree), then the student gets a question corresponding to a

specific category. You could say that hitting the tree means the student gets a grammar

question. Need ideas for questions to ask? Check out e-spanyol.hu or take exercises

from the textbook or workbook you use in class.

This is a nice, easy-going game that really doesn’t have winners or losers, it just gets

everyone moving, active and thinking on their toes.

Materials: Sports balls

16. El Juego de Correr

To play this game, split your class evenly into two teams. Start counting at #1 and give a

different sequential number to each member of the team. Then dole out these numbers

to the other team’s players as well. If there are 12 students in your class, this means that

you’ll now how two groups of 6 with students numbered from 1-6.
Have each team line up in a row. Next, say any English word and then a number in

Spanish. For example, “apple” and “nueve.”

Both students numbered “nueve” should rush to the whiteboard and write manzana as

quickly as possible. The winner is then awarded a point. The game continues until one

team scores the winning number of points (determined by you or your students).

17. Direcciones -Just in case Simón Dice didn’t provide enough mandatos fun for your

students, there’s always the game Direcciones! The practical applications of this game

make it an optimal one to play in class.

During this activity, ask your students to partner up. Distribute maps of cities and ask

your students to take turns leading each other to destinations on the maps.

The student giving the directions should have a destination in mind, but they can’t share

it with their partner. The partner being guided must listen carefully and make their way to

the intended destination on the map. Mes-english.com has a simple option of a town

map that works for this exercise.

18. Chispita (Spelling)

This is one of the best spelling games to learn Spanish. If you have heard of the English

game Sparkle (chispita in Spanish), this is the same thing, just in Spanish. Students sit

on their desks. The teacher gives a word in English, and the students spell the word

letter by letter. Have them include articles, accents, tildes, adjective agreement, etc. For

accents, have the students say acento after the accented letter. Once the word is

completed, the next student must say chispita. The student after the chispita must sit

down. The last person sitting on their desk is el rey/la reina de chispita!

19. Circumlocution game (Vocabulary)

Circumlocution is a huge skill to produce, especially with second language learners.

What happens if you cannot remember a word? Well, you work around it! In this game,

modeled off of a few game shows, have students partner up or form groups of 3-4. Place
a topic up on the board. It may be as general as nouns and adjectives, or as specific as

female celebrities. Everyone can see this word. Once the topic is revealed, one or two

people in each group must turn their backs to the board. At this point half of the class

can see the board; display the magic words (4-5). The goal is for the students reading

the words to describe them to the other students WITHOUT actually saying the word.

Give them a time limit, usually 2-3 minutes is sufficient. If you have more advanced

students, make the time a minute or less. As you can see, students are left to their own

devices and, hopefully, your voice is simply to talk them through how to describe the

words without actually saying them!

20. Scavenger Hunts- Teacher will show a vocabulary word to the students and they

will be instructed to find the picture that matches the vocabulary as quickly as possible,

for the students to advance to another level, to get another word he/she must shout

hurray!

Materials: pictures and flashcards with vocabulary words