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ESL Classroom Games

Games for English learners. Most of the sites here are free and made to be shown to the whole class, and the no-prep games get students speaking.

13 games

Baamboozle

Team quiz games run from the teacher's screen, so students need no devices or accounts.

Any grade · Free; Baamboozle+ from $4.99/month · One screen

Also in: Review games, Elementary, Middle school

Categories

A quick word game that works in any subject.

Give a category such as animals, verbs or elements, and a letter. Teams have one minute to write as many matching words as they can. Words that no other team wrote score double.

3–12 · Free · No materials

Also in: No-prep games, Reading and language games, Elementary, Middle school, High school

Charades

Acting out words, good for verbs and for young or beginner learners.

A student picks a word card and acts it out without speaking while the class or their team guesses. Use action verbs, animals, jobs or story characters.

K–5 · Free · No materials

Also in: No-prep games, Kindergarten, Elementary

Duck English

Vocabulary, grammar and phonics games made for smartboards and touchscreens, with no ads and no account. Includes a team scoreboard.

Free · One screen

Also in: Elementary

ESL Fun Online

Games alongside grammar lessons and vocabulary practice for English learners.

Free with ads · Student devices

Also in: Elementary, Middle school

ESL Games Plus

Interactive games for vocabulary, grammar and sentence building, plus team games made for classroom practice and printable puzzles.

Free · One screen or student devices

Also in: Elementary

ESL Kids Games

Quick online vocabulary games for young English learners.

One screen

Also in: Kindergarten, Elementary

Games to Learn English

A small set of simple games for practicing English vocabulary and grammar.

Free · Student devices

Also in: Elementary, Middle school

Games4esl

Games, worksheets and lesson plans made by teachers. The games are designed to be shown to the whole class.

Free with ads · One screen

Also in: Elementary, Middle school

Hot Seat

Vocabulary review where the class does the explaining.

One student sits facing the class with their back to the board. Write a word or term on the board. The class gives clues without saying the word until the student in the hot seat guesses it. Play in two teams and time each turn to keep it moving.

3–12 · Free · No materials

Also in: No-prep games, Reading and language games, Elementary, Middle school, High school

LearnEnglish Kids

The British Council's games and tongue twisters for children learning English.

Student devices

Also in: Kindergarten, Elementary

Pictionary

Drawing vocabulary on the board for a team to guess.

Split into two teams. One student from a team draws a word from your list on the board while their team guesses within a time limit. No letters, numbers or talking from the artist.

2–8 · Free · No materials

Also in: No-prep games, Reading and language games, Elementary, Middle school

Wordwall

One activity can be switched between 30+ formats such as quizzes, matching games and flashcards, and printed for offline use.

Any grade · Free Basic plan (3 activities) · One screen or student devices

Also in: Review games, Reading and language games, Elementary, Middle school

Other categories

Games like Kahoot · Review games · Online games · No-prep games · Math games · Reading and language games · Science and social studies games · Kindergarten · Elementary · Middle school · High school