Describing things / Adjectives games and activities
for ESL kids lessons
Games and activities for teaching “Describing things / Adjectives” to ESL kids
Big / Small / Long / Short
You are going to fill a bag with objects. Get 2 of each object, but make sure one is bigger than the other. For example, a big and a small car, big and small plastic apples, long and short pencils, etc. In the class, pull out each object and elicit the word and adjective (“It’s a big apple”). Throw the objects around the room as you go through them.
Once all the objects are out of the bag (and scattered around the room) you can do one of the following:
- ask each student in turn to retrieve one object put itt back in your bag (“Isabel, put the big apple in the bag, please”).
- shout out each object and let all the students race to get them.
- play “Touch” (“Everybody, touch the small apple”).
Jobs superlatives
Have students in small groups or pairs brainstorm as many jobs as they can in 2 minutes – they need to write down (as a group) on a piece of paper. Then get each group to change papers. Write some questions on the board for the students to discuss, including:
- Which job would you most/least like to do?
- Which job is the most dangerous / safest?
- Which job has the highest / lowest salary?
- Which job in the most exciting / boring?
- etc.
Finally, collate all of the group answers on the board to find out overall which jobs were chosen for each question.
Describing people and things lesson plans
We also have FREE lesson plans on using adjectives which includes games and activities as well as other lesson materials.
- Click to download our Describing people lesson plan.
- Click to download our Describing things lesson plan.
Describing people and things songs
We have a songs available for download focusing on using adjectives to describe people and things:
- Describe your friend song (describing people)
- Let’s look at the animals song (describing things)
Picture fun
Have students cut out a picture of a person in a magazine. Students should describe the person, how old they are, what their job is, what their hobbies are, etc. and then present that person to the class. This is good for practicing adjectives (e.g. tall/short, fat, thin, slim, long hair, etc). (Submitted by Kelly)
Smells game
Preparation: Take eight small, empty jars; opaque jars work best (e.g., plastic vitamin containers). Put good-smelling things (e.g., shampoo, syrup) in four of the jars and bad-smelling things (e.g., vinegar, strong dried herbs) in the other four. Only a small amount is needed. Place all the jars in a big paper bag.
Execution: Write “It smells good” and “It smells bad” on the board. You can also draw a happy face and a disgusted face to clarify things. Teach the phrases. Each student then comes up to teacher, one at a time. The student is then blindfolded and you hold an open jar under his/her nose. He/She must say whether it smells good or bad. Great fun! (Submitted by Max Becker-Pos)
