Photo: Signs for subway stations.

Free Directions Games and Activities for the ESL English Classroom

Fun Directions Theme Vocabulary Learning 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.
© The Magic Crayons

The Games

  • 1. Beep Beep

    Resources

    • White board & Markers

    How to play

    Draw a cartoon road map, like a simple maze. Add a few drawings of students houses, the school, convenience store and so on.

  • Put on a blindfold and place your car (the pen) at the left edge of the map. Students shout out directions to navigate your car from the left to the right.

    Students are usually too focused on the board to notice that you are not wearing the blindfold properly.

    Once students understand the game a well behaved student can be the driver.

    Set a time limit otherwise every student in the class will want to drive. Repeat next lesson instead.

English Flash Cards

Enhance your English lessons with our themed Flash Cards! Organized by study theme and featuring fun and clear illustrations, our Flash Cards are perfect for ESL and EFL teachers working in Japan and international schools. Grab your set today and make learning English fun and engaging!

Also available to buy from our store in Teachers Pay Teachers.

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  • 2. Squirt

    Resources

    How to play

    Time: 10 minutes
    Receptive Language: instructions, directions
    Productive Language: forward, back, left, right, stop, etc

    Game Explanation: Take the students outside & divide them into teams. Each team is assigned a watergun & the waterguns are scattered around the playing area. One student from each team is blindfolded & brought to the middle of the playing area (try & make sure that the waterguns are all equally equidistant from this beginning point).

    On your command, each team begins yelling directions (in English) to their blindfolded teammate in an attempt to get him or her to the team’s assigned watergun first/ The first student to find his team’s watergun can take off his blindfold & squirt (or ‘kill’) the other blindfolded students. Repeat until all of the students have had a chance to hunt, blindly & awkwardly, for their team’s plastic & water-shooting replica of a death-dealing machine.

    Note: Check with your kindergarten before you play this game with your students, & if you’re unsure about your Japanese someone at the office will be glad to contact the kindergarten on your behalf.

  • 3. Blind Leading The Blind

    Resources

    How to play

    Time: 6-8 minutes
    Receptive Language: instructions, stop, go, right, left, turn around, back up
    Productive Language: stop, go, left, right, turn around, back up
    Game Explanation: Review (or introduce) stop, go, left, right, turn around, back up. Using chairs, tables & anything else you can find in the classroom, create an obstacle course. Blindfold a student. He must make his way from one side of the classroom to the other by listening to & obeying the shouted directions of his classmates. If he crashes into any of the obstacles, blindfold the nest student & try again.
    Note: This game can also be played in teams.

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  • CLASSROO GAMES FOR LEARNING DIRECTIONS

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