When babies learn to speak, they often first learn to say family names. Learning family names is just as important for language learners whose second language is English! fits perfectly. Encourage your students to understand family vocabulary in useful and engaging situations with these great family activities!
1. Finger Family Song
finger family is a classic nursery rhyme/song that helps children learn family vocabulary. Help kids connect to your theme by singing along in your daily morning meeting! This interactive family song is sure to be a favorite!
Learn more: Learning Station
2. Bus wheels
This classic preschool song contains a wealth of family-type vocabulary, and new verses can be easily created and further incorporated. Although the song is simple, it explores the basic family relationships between children and their comforting parents and guardians. Easy to add to your family, holiday or travel lesson plans.
Details: Super Simple Song
3. Family Domino
Dominoes is a great game for early readers to learn family names! Children connect dominoes by matching terms to members of the illustrated family. Feel free to extend this game by creating your own dominoes and covering even more terms!
Learn more: EZPZ Learn
4. Family Bingo
Family Bingo is another engaging way for kids to practice their family members’ names without them even realizing it. One person picks a card and the student marks the correct family member on their board. Use the linked printables or create your own board with your family photos!
More information: Itsy Bitsy Mom
5. I have, who has?
i have who has is probably the easiest game to adapt to any theme! Create your own set of family word cards or buy them online. Ask card questions to make matches and win the game! This is a great activity when you need to save time on lesson planning.
More information: Teachers pay teachers
6. Focus
After a few basic lessons about families, have students play in pairs or small groups. family focus! Students need access to their short-term memory and knowledge of family vocabulary to remember where matching cards are hidden. Increase the challenge by having the children find words that match the pictures.
Details: Mental Up
7. Who’s in the Tray?
This fun, family-friendly exercise helps students develop visual identification skills and strengthens working memory. Arrange flashcards and photos of family members on the tray. Have the children study her for 30 seconds or so. Then have them close their eyes while you take out the card. Students must guess who is missing.
More information: Twinkle
8. Just a Minute
Wait a second is a great game for middle and high school students to play on any topic. A student must speak for one minute on a particular topic without pausing or repeating. This allows students to utilize new vocabulary terms and practice using them in the correct sentence structure.
More information: busy teacher
9. Confused sentences
Write a few simple sentences about family relationships on a sentence strip. Cut them into pieces and scramble them. Then challenge the students to reconstruct the phrase and read it. This exercise helps children practice using vocabulary terms in context and work on language concepts such as proper sentence structure.
More information: Teachers pay teachers
10. Corrugated tube family
Bring artistic expression into your family study with this cardboard tube family activity! increase. This is a great craft if you want a little more than the traditional family tree activity.
More information: Fantastic fun and learning
11. Family doll
Who doesn’t like a good puppet show? Challenge your students to create a family in the form of puppets and put on a show with them! or just let the kids come up with their own ideas!
Details: Like a cute petunia
12. Family House Craft
Use all your popsicle sticks to create a family picture frame. Kids can have fun decorating this house-shaped border with buttons, sequins, or whatever else they have on hand, then draw pictures of the family and step inside. After explaining who each member is, display student photos on the bulletin board!
More information: New TchrTips
13. Headbands
Hedbanz is one of those games that brings a lot of laughter every time you play it. Write basic family vocabulary and names on an index his card and insert the card into the player’s headband. This is great conversation practice as the children have to describe family relationships as they guess.
More information: ELL Enlightenment
14. Who do you think you are?
personalize old who do you think Include fictional family members on your board. Have students play in pairs and ask each other basic questions to try to find the correct family member chosen by the other player. Homeschoolers: Try this with a photo of a real person in your family!
Learn More: ESL Kids Games
15. Mom, are you okay?
Let the kids play this classic break game on Spin. Have the “it” person adopt a different family persona each round. or “Grandpa, are you okay?”. A simple and active way to get children to use people’s names in play.
More information: Ice breaker ideas
16. Pictionary
Pictionary is a great game for practicing new vocabulary in your English class. Students try to guess which family members their classmates have drawn on the whiteboard. Student photos might give you some fun answers, but that’s just the beginning of adding fun to your daily lesson plans!
More information: ISL Collective