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Hello Parents!
Golden Week is right around the corner, and I’m sure many of you are looking forward getting to spend extra time with your kids. But just because they aren’t in school, that doesn’t mean it has to be a break from learning English.
Below are some ideas for fun activities, where you can encourage English usage, with both easier and harder ways to play the games.
- Bath time Alphabet
This idea came from our very own Sam! He suggests buying an alphabet sheet from Daiso and a water gun. Challenge your kids to shoot certain letters, and you can even add point values to make the game more exciting. Tip: For beginning learners, it’s better to use the phonics sound rather than the name. Try “ah-ah-ah” rather than “A”. This helps the children to make easier connections to words starting with similar sounds. To make it more challenging, you can suggest a word such as “apple” and have them guess which letter it starts with. A numbers chart could also be a good way to learn.
- Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are all about the fun of discovery, critical thinking, and of course, the end prize! Depending on your child’s level, write some “clue” words on paper, and create steps leading them to a “treasure” of some kind. An example similar to one I used in preschool could go something like this:
Tell your kids you received a note that their snacks were stolen and hidden by a monster, and they have to find them. The first clue could be “green.” [Which is a sight word in preschool.] They will look behind everything green and eventually find another card with the word “Circle” [Another sight word.] leading them to the next clue and so on.
You can choose your own words, or to make it more challenging, write simple sentences, and even use words like “up, down, left, right, in, under, behind, etc,” when helping them find the right location. This game a guaranteed to be fun, and you can play it many times, anywhere!
- Shopping List
When I was a kid, I was always bored having to go grocery shopping with my Dad. The only exciting part was getting to pick out a couple of snacks at the end, but I wish my Dad had known how useful the store could be for learning new vocabulary! The game could go something like this:
Make a shopping list for fruits and vegetables with English word. You can present it like a problem if you think your kids won’t be excited at first. [Kids love solving problems!] For example “My boss gave me this shopping list for work, but it`s in English and I can’t understand! Can you help me?” Tell them the word in English, and give hints using descriptors: “Watermelon. It`s big, round, and green.” or “Eggplant. It’s long and purple.” Another version of this game for a higher level could be to have your children write the list for you. For example, describing the food in Japanese but asking them to write it’s name in English. Challenging them to find and write 3 red foods can also be a fun game.
- Obstacle Course
Using anything you can find around the house, make an interesting race course, that includes balancing, jumping, crawling, and anything else you can think of. Challenge your kids to do the obstacle course like a certain animal. In between each new obstacle, put a picture of an animal. The children have to do the obstacle pretending to be that animal. [If it`s a frog, they jump for that section, or a turtle they crawl slowly.] Try drawing the pictures of the animal you’re going to use for the game with your child beforehand, and talk about it`s features to introduce it. “How many legs does it have? Can it fly? Does it have ears? What color is it?” To keep the game fresh, change animals to different parts of the course.
For higher level, turn it into a guessing game. Describe the animal to your child and see if they can draw the correct animal. “This animal likes bananas, it’s brown, it has a tail, it can climb.” They can even try spelling the animal’s name.
- I-Spy and 20 Questions
These games are great for when you’re out on a walk, at the park, or stopped at a red light. I-Spy is a guessing game about what you can see. Start by saying “I spy something…green!” The kids guess “Flower? Tree? Car?” If they don`t know the word, it’s okay! Ask them to try describing it.
20 Questions is a little higher level, but a similar idea. Parents choose a character/animal/object and don’t say what it is. Only tell them the theme to begin. “It’s a food.” The kids get 20 questions they can ask you to try and figure it out, but it must be a yes or no question. “Is it salty? No. Is it a fruit? Yes.” You can make it 10 questions or offer 3 hints to encourage them to keep trying.
- Race around the world
This can be a great way to teach about other country’s animals or food. Before starting, print out or draw pictures of food or animals or clothes from those countries. The topic could be anything! Make paper airplanes and designate different furniture as certain countries. See if they can fly their airplane to the sofa “America” or the table “Africa.” When they land on a country, they have to choose which picture they think goes with that country.
Example: If you choose clothes, you could print off traditional wear from India, Korea, Africa, etc. After they land their plane on a country, they take one of the clothing pictures and lay it on top of the country. Reveal the answer once they’ve landed and placed a picture on each country.
Afterwards you can discuss the picture. Ask “What’s your favorite?” “Why?”
- Laundry Basketball
Encourage your kids to help you with the laundry by turning it into a game of basketball. You can play it either by asking them to shoot the dirty clothes into the washing machine and yelling out the name of the clothing in English, or make them organize the clothing into several baskets, and they have to shoot the clothes into the correct basket.
For example: Make 5 baskets, labeled “Shirts”, “Pants”, “Socks”, “Underwear”, “Pajamas” etc.
Other ideas:
-Try to use board games you and your child already know the rules to, but switch to playing them in English.
– Go to the Zoo or Aquarium virtually! There are lots of videos on Youtube from Zoos and Aquariums all around the world. Just search “Zoo Virtual Tour” or “Aquarium Virtual Tour.”
– Play English movies, or song in your free time. While driving or watching Netflix, try an English show or Youtube channel. We often use Pinkfong and Super Simple Kids.
If you try any of these, or made your own original ideas, I’d love to hear about your experiences when you return from Golden Week! In the meantime, have fun, and always keep learning!
Carly
