[ctina628]

Hello. I teach 3 year olds in Spain and I´m looking for some ideas for games and activities that will keep them interested. I only teach them for a half hour once a week. Their level of English is very basic as you can imagine (colors, counting to 5). I have a big class and whenever I´ve tried to do something where they move around the class it is a disaster (50 children in a small room). So far I´ve done songs (head, shoulders, knees and toes, the Wheels on the Bus, and Itsy Bitsy spider). I´ve also had them look at flashcards and tell me what color the flashcards are and then I put them around the room. I then take one student in front of the class and say "Go find blue." then the student will walk over to blue. After awhile though the children get antsy and I need some new material! While 30 minutes sounds like a very little amount of time I end up planning like 10 activities because their attention span is so short. Any really simple game ideas?

[makaoschool]

Hi,
Super Simple Learning
These, if you don't know them, are probably the coolest songs for young kids. They have a lot of free stuff on youtube with really nice videos, but I think it's still worth buying the CDs if you can.
But is easier with the younger if you have the same lesson stages every time.
It's nice to begin with a hello song and end with a bye bye one, and that's about 1/6 of your lesson already
Then you may play games in which they are in two or more teams, so there is some competition in the game, but only one or two students of each team are doing something at the same time. I've read som nice idea somewhere on the forum about a game - Action Relay - one of each team starts from one end of the room and has to go to the other but in a specific way (jump, hop, tip-toe, run, etc.)
Nad here's a new idea about a popular song that captures the kids' attention.
YouTube - Two Little Dickie Birds by Pamela Sunshine

[Hagrid]

Hi! I can sympathise as I also teach a three-year old in Spain for an hour´s lesson. It´s my first year teaching such a young age! The ideas are really good here but it´s even more difficult as I only teach one individual child so it´s hard to find appropriate games. Plus the academy doesn´t have many resources/games etc for this age group. She has a textbook (Teddy´s Train) but I find that she gets bored of colouring and can´t draw very well (plus doesn´t seem to like it). I´ve read various Mr Men/Little Miss stories and the Hungry Caterpillar to her, we´ve also done the songs Head, Shoulders,Knees and Toes, I can sing a Rainbow, If you´re Happy and You know it, Old McDonald (and animals) and we´re doing Hokey Cokey now. I´m starting to run out of ideas. Plus I feel like I have to fork out for activities/games out of my own pocket! Any more ideas would be greatly welcomed!

[uscollegeranking]

@makaoschool, thanks for the link! Do you also happen to know if any website has free flash activities or games kids can play online?

Thanks in advance.

[tomhume89]

I used to teach kids around that age- maybe around 30 kids or so. Off the top of my head here are two activities.

-One game was getting a4 flashcards of vocab (e.g. pig, cow, dog, cat) and putting them up in different corners of the room and shouting "DOG!" and getting them to run to that corner. Repeat ad nauseaum. Obviously this can be changed for any new vocabulary.

-For teaching numbers the bouncing ball 'game' works well. Gett kids to close their eyes, bounce the ball, and count how many times it bounces. Get the kids to bounce the ball too for some added enthusiasm.

[makaoschool]

Love the bouncing games ), thanks

Here are some links with online games suitable for younger kids:
BabyTv games

FisherPrice games

[KareBear_1987]

i also teach this age group for 30 minutes once a week (I have 15 different classes)

I have found that generally there attention span is about 5-7 minutes. And I have found that using repitition in my activities is great also so I do the same activity every other week as the first time I do it they are just figuring it out and understanding directions and the second time they typically understand the activity better and put the vocab into their memory instead of trying to figure out my directions!!

Things I have found to work:
1. "Feed the Monster": I took an old folgers coffee container and turned it into a monster. Then I hand out my flashcards and say, "oh the monster is hungry, who can feed it?" "It wants...insert vocab word" THEY LOVE IT! Took a while to get them to fully understand (about 3 times doing it but now the get it and get excited when I bring the monster to class!)

2. Can you Find it?: Simple but I do it the first day I introduce new vocab words to a group I make my flashcards with black paper on one side so i turn them with the black paper facing up and say, "Can you find vocab word? and then they get to take turns turning over one card. I then take the card from them show the class and ask "is this the vocab word?" They have fun yelling no and laughing at me for thinking it was

3. Treasure hunt: Turned a tissue box into a treasure box and then before the kids come in the room I hide flashcards throughout. They have to find them, bring them to me and say the word in exchange for a gold coin! THEY LOVE IT!

I do a bit more but these are the kids favorites. My general class plan is: Hello Song, vocab review, game (one of the above and a few more I have), song related to topic, storybook (i have to get them to basically memorize each monthly book per my school's curriculum so the first time I read it to them and then every other time they echo read), goodbye song.

Sometimes I do felt things too...we just are doing facial parts so I made faces out of felt and the kids get to put them together. I ended up making 13 so each kid could have their own and then I'll ask the class, what is this and hold up a mouth. If they'll say the word they get a mouth for their face...lots of work for this one but I'm doing facial parts for two months so I figured it was worth it!

Good Luck. Don't get discouraged and if something doesn't work the first time don't give up on it BUT do it again. They'll never fully understand the first time but by the fifth time you won't have to even explain they'll just get excited!

[mesmark]

Quote uscollegeranking

@makaoschool, thanks for the link! Do you also happen to know if any website has free flash activities or games kids can play online?

Online Phonics Games - free phonics games
MES Games - free vocabulary games

Those are 2 sites you can use with students.

[maureen Simpson ESP]

Hi There

I am teaching a 4 year old in Spain too. I use matching pairs picture games, which you can make yourself with clipart pics on card. Also you can hide the pictures around the room or in the garden and get the child to hunt them out and say the word when they find them.
Also keep empty packets, cartons etc and make a shop.
Hope that helps

[chokosaki]

Hey there! I guess I'm a little late but I'll post for others that need the same thing....

On my site, Keep Up ESL: Free lessons, games, flashcards, cartoons, stories, and more!, you can get some great interactive material that is designed with kids in mind. There are some simple storybooks and cartoons available that the children I teach absolutely love. Also, there are talking flashcards in the quick study section (along with a memory game). I hope these help!