Photo: Colored Tissue Paper.

Free Colors Games and Activities for the ESL English Classroom

Fun Colors Theme Unit Vocabulary for Children in PreSchool, Nursery, Kindergarten, and International School Classrooms. Educational Resources Written, Tried and Tested by English Language Teachers Working With Students in Japan.
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The Games

  • 1. Colour Touch Game

    Resources

    How to play

    Objective: Teacher or a student call out a color, the class runs to find it.

    Teams: Whole class.

    Preparation: None.

  • How to play

    The Teacher calls out a colour. The students race to find & touch an object of the same colour somewhere in the classroom within a predetermined time limit. As the game develops reward well behaved students with the role of teacher.


    This game can be played with all of the students racing to touch objects at the same time (good for nen-sho classes), in teams, or individually. Modify as needed. The flashcard can be shown to younger (sho) students. For Chu, show them the card and try to get them to produce the language as a group when they touch it. For cho just try saying the color (no f/c) then get them to repeat the language after they have identified it.

Color Theme Resources

Teach English colors with our comprehensive resources! Our Colors Theme Teaching Resources include songs, crafts, flash cards, and posters, perfect for engaging and interactive lessons. Ideal for EFL and ESL teachers, grab your set today and make learning English fun and engaging for your students!
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  • 3. iSpy Cars

    Resources

    • None

  • How to play

    Time: 5-6 minutes
    Receptive Language: instructions, colours, car
    Productive Language: colours, car
    Game Explanation: Based on another childhood road trip classic (& always more satisfying than ‘I Spy’, especially if your parent thought it was funny to try & trick you & your siblings), Killer Cars requires a classroom with windows facing a (preferably busy) road. Each student selects a colour (‘White car!’, ‘Green car!’, etc). Every time a car passes the school that matches one of the students’ selected colours, that student scores a point. Whoever has the most points at the end of a pre-determined time limit is the champion.
    Note: In Japan pick white if you want to win.

  • 2. Shape Search

    Resources

    How to play

    Time: 5-7 minutes
    Receptive Language: instructions, ‘Touch [coloured shape]’
    Productive Language: shapes & colours
    Game Explanation: Review shapes & colours. Pin or tape a coloured shape to each student’s back. Call out ‘Touch a [coloured shape]’. Every student must search for & touch the coloured shape you’ve called out.

  • 4. Doctor Feelgood

    Resources

    • None

    How to play
    Time: 6 minutes
    Receptive Language: instructions, colours, body parts
    Productive Language: colours, body parts
    Game Explanation: Basically an extended version of Colour Touch, Dr Feelgood is played by having the students touch various items of a certain colour (as decided and called out by you, the instructor, at least at first) with specified body parts (hand, nose, knee, etc).

  • 5. Colour By Number

    Resources

    • Coloring pages
    • Crayons - Amazon #Ad

    How to play

    Time: 12 minutes
    Receptive Language: instructions, colours
    Productive Language: colours
    Game Explanation: Before class, prepare some colour-by-numbers worksheets, with the areas to be coloured in identified in English (‘BLUE’). Place some coloured pieces of paper with the colour name written on each at the other end of the classroom. Students must check their colouring sheets, race to the other end of the classroom to find out what colour goes where, and race back to colour the sheet. The first student to correctly colour his or her worksheet is the winner.
    Note: This can also be played as a team game, but you’ll probably need much bigger colouring sheets.

  • 6. Love And Hate

    Resources

    • Floor tape - Amazon #Ad
    • Floor chalk - Amazon #Ad

    How to play

    Time: 8-10 minutes
    Receptive Language: instructions, ‘I love (colour)’, ‘I hate (colour)’
    Productive Language: ‘I love / hate (colour)’
    Game Explanation: Make a large circle on the floor with chalk or tape & tell the students that they will be disqualified if they venture outside of the circle. Begin the game by becoming ‘It’ & calling out ‘I love red!’ For ten seconds chase any students wearing red (remember to enforce the within-the-circle-only rule). Any students you tag must stand at the edge of the circle, straddling the tape or chalk line with their legs widely spaces. After the ten seconds are up, call out ‘I hate blue!’ Any students wearing blue do rock scissors paper & the winner becomes the new ‘It’, calls out ‘I love green!’ & chases any students wearing that colour. During the 10 second chase that ensues any students wearing green can free the students tagged in the first round by crawling through their legs. Continue play until all of the students have had a chance to be it, if possible.

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