Classroom supplies tips
for ESL kids teachers
Classroom supplies tips to use in your ESL kids classes
Essential supplies to have in your kids English lessons!
A length of rope
A cheap length of rope can be used in many fun ways. Held at a height kids can jump over or limbo under it to collect the correct flashcard or object (for little ones just lie the rope on the floor for them to jump over). To teach left/right, lie the rope down the center of the room, have students stand over it legs either side. Teacher shouts left and the students jump to the left, etc.
Beanbags
Hand-sized bean bags are a great classroom supply, especially for teaching action, body and [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] vocabulary. Instructions such as the following can be used: “Put a (green) beanbag on your head”, “Put a (yellow) beanbag between your knees”, “Jump over the (red) beanbag”, “Pick up the (blue) beanbag”, “Throw the (purple) beanbag to a friend”, etc.
Blindfold activities
A blindfold is a great teaching supply to have as kids love to be blindfolded. A cotton scarf is fine to use as a blindfold – I use ones that airlines give out for sleeping. There are lots of activities you can do with a blindfold:
- for question practice have students stand in a circle with one student in the center wearing the blindfold. Spin him/her around a few times and have him ask the nearest student a question. When the student answers the blindfolded student must guess who it is.
- for fun “Where are you?”, “I’m here” games
- for giving directions: to find a hidden object give directions to the blindfolded student, such as, “Go forward (3 steps); go back, turn left, turn right”
- have blindfold students guess objects by feeling or even identifying food by smelling and tasting
Blu-Tack
Extremely useful. You can stick posters, pictures, [hide_on_uk]colored[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]coloured[/hide_on_us] paper, students’ work, virtually anything on the walls of your classroom or use to stick pictures on your board. It’s also good for the “Treasure hunt prepositions game“.
Calendars
Have a big, [hide_on_uk]colorful[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colourful[/hide_on_us] calendar on your classroom wall. At the beginning of each class have your students point out the correct date and tell you the day and date in English: “Today is Monday the 4th of August”. Try doing this quick activity each class.
Classroom posters
Posters on your classroom wall can be used for much more than making the room look [hide_on_uk]colorful[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colourful[/hide_on_us]. For young students you can have them find different [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us], letters and words on your posters. Play touch: Teacher says “Everyone, touch red / the letter ‘d’ / the word “elephant” / etc.”; students run to the posters find the correct [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] / letter / word to touch.
Egg timer
Great for timed games, throwing around the classroom (see ‘Time bomb’ game) and setting time limits for tests, etc. I use mine all the time!
Glitter
Kids just love using glitter with their drawings – it can really liven up a picture. By using a glue stick students can draw shapes and objects, sprinkle glitter over the glue and then lift up the picture so the unwanted glitter falls off. Some glitter usage examples:
- weather pictures (yellow glitter sun, blue glitter rain, rainbow glitter!), stars and moon
- Christmas pictures
- glitter face pictures
- glittery Easter eggs
- glitter snow scenes (glue figures to the inside of a jar lid, put water and glitter into a jar, close the lid and shake)
- etc.
Origami paper
Great for teaching [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us] and just for doing paper folding. You can get it quite easily in arts and crafts stores and stationery stores. There are lots of simple activities you can do:
- Give each student 2 pieces of different [hide_on_uk]colored[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]coloured[/hide_on_us] paper (origami paper is ideal for this). Teacher calls a [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] (e.g. “Blue”) and the students with that [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] hold it up. (submitted by Jo Ruoss)
- Give each student a different [hide_on_uk]colored[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]coloured[/hide_on_us] paper (or even 2 [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us]). Teacher calls a c[hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] and an action (e.g. “Blue – Jump!”). Other actions can be stand up, spin around, run on the spot, sit down, hop, wiggle, star jump, etc.
- Place different [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us] around the room. Teacher calls out [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us] and students go and touch or retrieve the origami papers.
- Give each student a [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] and make sure at least 2 students have the same c[hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us]. Teacher says “Blues, high 5!” and the kids with blue paper have to find each other and High 5
- Make a line of papers with the ‘Rainbow song’ – as the song is played students put the papers in the same order as the song. Or, the teacher puts the papers in the correct order and the students touch each paper as the song is sung
Pin boards
Great for teaching the weather, days of the week, months and dates: have your students draw one set of weather picture cards for the classroom (rainy, windy, snowy, sunny, hot, warm, cold, etc.). Make sure they also write the word on the cards and [hide_on_uk]color[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colour[/hide_on_us] them in. They need to be as attractive as possible.
Before the next class, laminate the cards as you will need to use them every week. Prepare a small cork board with the words, “Today the weather is …” at the top and attach a plastic folder to the board (at the bottom) to keep the weather cards in.
Each lesson, students have to take out the cards which best describe the weather and pin them to the board. In addition: the board could also have days of the week cards, months of the year cards, date cards, etc. which the students pin to the board each class. It’s a really nice classroom resource.
Play-Doh recipe
Play-doh (see picture here) is such a useful supply, especially for younger students. It can be used for making food and animals, teaching [hide_on_uk]colors[/hide_on_uk][hide_on_us]colours[/hide_on_us] and even used to make alphabet shapes. You can buy it at most toy stores but it can be easily made – either before class or during class as an activity. Here is a worksheet play-doh recipe that can be used to make play-doh in your class.
Stop watch activities
A stop watch is a great classroom supply. It can be used to add an element of competition to activities (e.g. put the alphabet in order in less than 1 minute) and students can try and beat their previous best times in following weeks.
It is also a good tool for teaching “How long does it take?” – set up various activities for students to complete and time them (e.g. How long does it take you to count to 100?, say the alphabet?, run around the room 10 times?, write your address?, etc.).
