The Time Bomb Game

The Time Bomb Game is a fun ESL game that is good for all levels and can be used with any vocabulary and/or sentence structure. The kids like this game and will enjoy playing it any time, so it's a good game to keep in your head if you are ever stuck with some extra time. If you use a CD player, it can be more controlled by the teacher to make sure that everyone is getting a turn, while still seeming random to the kids.

THE TIME BOMB GAME

Target English: anything
Things You Need: flash cards, stopwatch or CD player, small toy that can be easily passed
Age: 4 or older
English Level: any

Game Outline:
1. Have the kids sit in a circle and give each one a flashcard. They must place the flash card on the floor in front of them.
2. Give one student the smal toy and explain that while the music is playing, they must pass the toy around the circle.
3. Play the music and let the students pass the toy in a circle. Make sure that they are properly passing the toy and that all students have a chance to have the toy.
4. Stop the music. The student who is holding the toy must say the vocabulary on their flashcard or use that word in the target english sentence.
5. Repeat until all students have had a turn.

Variations

  • You can also use a stopwatch for this. However, if you use a stopwatch, you don't have as much control over which student is holding the toy when the stopwatch goes off.
  • Kids also like to be the ones to control the music. You can let the student who just held the toy when the music stopped control the music the next time around.

Hope you and your kids have fun with this game.

Love,
Shannon Sensei

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