Vocabulary Games
Here are 4 vocabulary games that can be played using vocabulary from any content area. These games are great ways to practice declarative knowledge and, specifically, academic language.
Charades
Objective: Students will develop an extensive vocabulary by drawing on experiences to bring meanings to words in context such as interpreting, multiple-meaning words, and analogies.
Materials
- a stopwatch or other timing device
- a notepad and pencil for scorekeeping
- 5 blank slips of paper per team
- two baskets or other containers for the slips
Preparation
- Players form 2 teams.
- Each team gets 5 slips of paper.
- Have each team huddle together to come up with phrases or words to put on the pieces of paper.
- Book titles
- Character names
- Settings
- Themes
- Facts from non-fiction texts read
- Vocabulary words related to a topic recently studied
- Once they have finished writing their phrases, the teams put slips of paper into their box or basket.
To Play
Each round of the game proceeds as follows:
- A player from Team A draws a phrase slip from Team B's basket.
- After he/she has had a short time to review the slip, the timekeeper starts the timer.
- Team A then has three minutes to guess the phrase. If they figure it out, the timekeeper records how long it took. If they do not figure it out in three minutes, the timekeeper announces that the time is up, and records a time of three minutes.
- A player from Team B draws a phrase slip from Team A's basket, and play proceeds as above.
- The game continues until every player has had a chance to "act out" a phrase.
- The score for each team is the total time that the team needed for all of the rounds. The team with the smallest score wins the game.
Gestures
To Indicate Categories:
- Book title: Unfold your hands as if they were a book.
- Movie title: Pretend to crank an old-fashioned movie camera.
- Play title: Pretend to pull the rope that opens a theater curtain.
- Song title: Pretend to sing.
- TV show: Draw a rectangle to outline the TV screen.
- Quote or Phrase: Make quotation marks in the air with your fingers.
To Indicate Other Things:
- Number of words in the title: Hold up the number of fingers.
- Which word you're working on: Hold up the number of fingers again.
- Number of syllables in the word: Lay the number of fingers on your arm.
- Which syllable you're working on: Lay the number of fingers on your arm again.
- Length of word: Make a "little" or "big" sign as if you were measuring a fish.
- "The entire concept:" sweep your arms through the air.
- "On the nose" (i.e., someone has made a correct guess): point at your nose with one hand, while pointing at the person with your other hand.
- "Sounds like:" Cup one hand behind an ear.
- "Longer version of :" Pretend to stretch a piece of elastic.
- "Shorter version of:" Do a "karate chop" with your hand.
- "Plural:" link your little fingers.
- "Past tense:" wave your hand over your shoulder toward your back.
- A letter of the alphabet: move your hand in a chopping motion toward your arm (near the top of your forearm if the letter is near the beginning of the alphabet, and near the bottom of your arm if the letter is near the end of the alphabet.
Adapted from: http://travelwithkids.about.com/cs/travelgamestoys/l/blcharades.htm
Vo-Back-U-Lary
Place vocabulary pictures/ words in a pocket chart. Pick someone to be “It”, and have that student come to the front of the room. Select a word without allowing the student to see it, and tape it to the student’s back. Have the student turn around and show his back to the class. The class then gives clues about the word until the student guesses it.
10,000 Pyramid Game
Working with a partner, one student is given a list of words within a category and has 60 seconds to get their partner to name as many words as possible. The student may tell about the word, but cannot use the word itself, point, or use their hands. Students may describe it, tell what it is used for, where it is found, who uses it, use synonyms and antonyms, use a sentence that needs the word for completion, or other verbal hints. Any word may be skipped and then revisited if time permits.
Happy teaching,
Kelly Harmon