Online compatible : Yes - Although this game works best in a classroom, at kindergarten-ages, students are generally happy when a teacher hides flashcards in plain sight around the classroom, and are given a wide view of the area to find them. Without physically being able to gather the cards, once a student has identified the cards location, a teacher can point toward different places in the classroom. When the teacher is pointing at the correct place, the student can say "Yes", or a teacher may wish to introduce a phrase for the situation, such as "Here it is."For elementary school children, teachers could hide objects in slightly more difficult places, but still in full view of a camera, and play the game as a race. The first student to describe where the object is wins a point for their team.
Age group : Best played by students aged between 3 and 10
Materials :
- A selection of large items to hide (plastic bowling pins work well)
Preparation time : None
Number of players : Works equally well in groups or private classes
Objective : To be the team with the most points
Instructions :
This game can be played in a variety of ways to suit different age groups. For kindergarten-aged children, hand out flashcards for the students to hide in the classroom. Pretend to close your eyes (but make sure to keep watch over the class, just in case), and let your students hide the flashcards in the room. After counting to ten, and after all cards have been hidden wander around the room looking for the cards. When a flashcard is found repeat the vocabulary from the card. After all cards have been found the teacher will switch roles with the students and play again.
For elementary school students, split classes into 2 teams. One team hides the items, and the other must find them. Set a timer for 1 minute and, if possible, have your students hide their items in a separate room to the opposing team. Once all items have been hidden reset the timer and give the second team 1 minute to find the items. After the minute is up count how many items have been found. The team finding the items gets one point for each item that is found, and the hiders get one point for each item that is not. Switch roles and play again.This game is especially suitable to practice prepositions of place, such as "in, "on", "under", "behind", "next to", etc. Whenever a card is found have students use a phrase or the vocabulary to describe the location where it was spotted.
Timers are a very useful tool in the classroom, but for games such as "Race to find it" one team must sit patiently and wait for while their opponent is searching. Even one minute is too long for some children, so, instead of a timer, you could have the waiting team read through a stack of vocabulary cards. Once all of the flashcard vocabulary has been read, the oppostion must stop searching. Or, for a more active approach, the waiting team could throw balls into a bucket. Then, when a certain number have been successfully thrown inside the searching team stops.