ELL Activities for Elementary: 25 Low-Prep Language Games and Routines

The best ELL activities for elementary students get them listening, speaking, reading and writing in English every day with clear support, such as visuals, gestures, sentence frames and a partner, inside short routines they already know. Low-prep games like picture talks, total physical response, barrier games and sentence building give English learners many chances to use new language without the stress of performing alone. Below are 25 activities organized by skill, with tips on adapting each one to different proficiency levels and fitting them into the content you already teach.

What makes an ELL activity effective

Good activities for English learners share a few features:

• Comprehensible input: pictures, objects, gestures and demonstrations make the meaning clear.
• Lots of output: students speak and write, not just listen.
• Structured interaction: partners and small groups with clear roles and sentence frames.
• Predictable routines: the same structure repeated with new content, so students focus on language instead of directions.
• Connected to content: vocabulary and language from science, math or social studies, not isolated word lists.

Speaking and listening (1–8)

1. Picture talk. Project an interesting photo. Students describe what they see with a partner using frames: “I see ___. I think ___ because ___.” Beginners point and name; advanced students make inferences.
2. Total physical response (TPR). Give commands with actions: “Stand up. Touch your nose. Walk to the door.” Add new vocabulary from the unit, like “Point to the stem.”
3. Barrier game. Partners sit back to back. One describes a simple drawing or block structure; the other recreates it. They compare and talk about what was clear or confusing.
4. Find someone who. Students walk around with a grid of prompts (“Find someone who has a pet,” “Find someone who likes rain”) and ask classmates questions in full sentences.
5. Inside-outside circle. Two circles face each other. Partners answer a question, then the outer circle rotates and they answer again with a new partner. Repetition builds fluency.
6. Think-pair-share with frames. Pose a question, give 30 seconds to think, then partners share using a frame before anyone shares with the class.
7. Would you rather. “Would you rather live in the ocean or the desert? Why?” Students move to a side of the room and explain with “I would rather ___ because ___.”
8. Listening detectives. Read a short passage aloud. Students listen for specific words (animals, colors, action verbs) and hold up a card each time they hear one.

Vocabulary (9–14)

9. Vocabulary charades. Students act out unit words while classmates guess. Add the frame “Is it ___?”
10. Picture-word matching. Match word cards to pictures, then use each word in a sentence with a partner.
11. Word sorts. Sort words into categories (living and nonliving, shapes, past and present verbs). Students explain their sorts aloud.
12. Four corners vocabulary. Label corners with four new words. Read a definition or show a picture; students walk to the matching word.
13. Word wall games. Point to a word and ask a question: “Which word means the opposite of hot?” Students answer with the word and a sentence.
14. Total recall chain. One student says a word from the unit, the next repeats it and adds one, and so on. Great for reviewing before a test.

Reading (15–19)

15. Echo reading. Read a sentence with expression; students repeat it. Use short texts tied to the unit.
16. Choral reading. Read a poem or short passage together several times. Choral reading lowers anxiety and builds fluency.
17. Partner reading with roles. One reads, one listens and asks a question; then they switch.
18. Picture walk. Before reading, look through the pictures and predict with vocabulary support. Introduce key words on the way.
19. Sentence strip sequencing. Cut a short story or process into sentence strips. Students read and put them in order, then retell.

For more on building reading comprehension with English learners, see our guide to ELL strategies for reading.

Writing (20–23)

20. Sentence building. Give word cards (nouns, verbs, adjectives) and have students build sentences, read them aloud and copy them.
21. Interactive writing. Write a short message together. Students share the pen to write known letters, words or punctuation.
22. Picture prompt with a frame. Show a picture and give a frame: “The ___ is ___ because ___.” Students write one to three sentences.
23. Dialogue journals. Students write a short note to you each week; you write back, modeling correct language without marking errors.

Daily routines (24–25)

24. Morning language warm-up. A two-minute routine: the date, the weather and one question of the day answered with a frame (“Today I feel ___ because ___”).
25. Exit sentence. At the end of a lesson, students say or write one sentence about what they learned, using a frame like “Today I learned that ___.”

Sentence frames are the backbone of most of these activities. Our list of sentence frames for ELL has frames for describing, comparing, explaining and arguing.

Adapting activities to proficiency levels

The same activity can work for every student if you change the support, not the content. Here’s how one activity, picture talk, might look at different levels:

Many states use the WIDA framework to describe what students can do at each level. Our explainer on WIDA proficiency levels shows how to match activities to each one.

Tips for running activities smoothly

• Model first. Do the activity with a student or a co-teacher before the class tries it.
• Use the same routines all year. Change the content, keep the structure.
• Pair thoughtfully. Sometimes pair a newcomer with a peer who shares their home language; other times pair with an English-proficient peer.
• Give wait time. Count to five silently before calling on someone or repeating a question.
• Recast, don’t correct. If a student says “He goed to the store,” respond with “Yes, he went to the store.” Keep the conversation going.
• Value home languages. Let students think, plan or discuss in their home language before sharing in English.

Fitting activities into your schedule

You don’t need a separate ELL block to use these activities. Most take 5 to 15 minutes and fit inside content lessons: TPR to introduce science vocabulary, a barrier game during math to describe shapes, picture talk before a social studies lesson. Coordinate with your ESL or ELD teacher so students practice the same language targets in both settings.

A sample 15-minute vocabulary routine

Here’s how several activities combine around a 2nd grade science unit on plant parts:

1. TPR (3 minutes): “Point to the roots. Show me the stem with your arm. Open your hands like leaves.”
2. Picture-word matching (4 minutes): Partners match word cards (root, stem, leaf, flower, seed) to a labeled plant photo and read each word aloud.
3. Think-pair-share (4 minutes): “What do roots do?” Frame: “Roots ___ so the plant can ___.”
4. Exit sentence (4 minutes): Students write or say one sentence about a plant part, using the word wall.

The same four steps work for any unit. Only the words and pictures change, so students quickly learn the routine and spend their energy on the language.

Students with IEPs

Some English learners also have IEPs or 504 plans. Follow the accommodations and goals the team has written, and coordinate with both the special education and ESL teachers so supports work together.

Prepare materials faster

Picture cards, sentence frames and word sorts for each unit take time. An AI worksheet tool can draft vocabulary cards, frames and short readable texts for your topic and students’ levels, and you review them before using them in class.

For more strategies, frameworks and support for English learners, visit our guide to ELL strategies.