Here is a game I played with my first graders today. They loved it! Last week I had the opportunity to spend time with a wonderful teacher. She shared some awesome games with me, and this is one of them.
For the “la manzana envenenada”game you will need to print pictures of apples of different colors. I laminated mine and added a tiny magnet on the back. You will need a tree. You could make one with paper or draw one on your board. How does the game work?
You will need a volunteer to leave the room. While the student is out, everyone left in the room has to agree on which apple will be poisoned.
The student comes back to the room, and the class should ask, chanting in unison:
“¿Cuál es la manzana envenenada?”
The student should ask the class while collecting each apple:
“¿La manzana __________?”
This student takes as many turns as necessary before selecting the poisoned apple.
When the student selects the poisoned apple, the class yells:
“¡estás envenenado/a!”
Then the student is out of the game. Count the apples that the student collected before finding the poisoned apple. Write his or her name on the board and the number of apples collected. Do the same for every student that takes a turn. Invite another volunteer and start the game again.
You can give turns to as many students as you like.
At the end you can compare and see who collected the most or the least apples.
I am always looking for ways to bring some culture to my Spanish class. One way to do it is through the use of traditional games. Below I am sharing links of some games that can be easily used in foreign language Spanish classes. Just click on the links to learn more about each game.
This is a simple idea to keep track of all the games and songs you teach during the school year. I use different containers and baskets for each grade level. I use clothespins and glue happy faces on the top to make them cute and give them some character. I use permanent markers to write the names of the songs and games we’ve learned during the school year. You could do this during the school year and gradually add the clothespins to the basket.
I use this idea at the beginning of the class as a warm up, for game day, or simply to end a unit. Before using this activity I collect all the props necessary for each game or song: bingo, memory games, balls, or any material needed to make this happen.
Playing the game
I do this in two different ways. Sometimes I just call a volunteer to pick a random clothespin. I also have the class sit in a circle and then pass a ball in the circle while playing music. I close my eyes while stopping the music, and whoever has the ball at that time will choose the activity from the basket.
To keep track of the games and songs we’ve done, I just place the clothespin on the top of the container just as you see it in the picture below.
Give it a try, and you will be amazed to see how much you have done with your classes.
Are we supposed to return those 3-D glasses after we watch a movie? I’m not sure about that, but I am sure that your students will have so much fun with them! I have a couple of pairs that I’ve kept and use with my students to play a simple and silly game they all love.
I’ve created small flash cards that I stick to the glasses using velcro. I ask for a volunteer to wear the glasses and guess the name of the flash card that I’ve placed on top. There are different cards related to the units we’re exploring. This game never gets old!
Once the volunteer is wearing the glasses, the class asks the questions in unison. The student with the glasses gets three turns to guess. Depending on their level, I might ask them to make sentences using each specific word.
I also use this game as an opportunity to explain the differences between ¿qué es? and ¿qué son? vs ¿quién es? and ¿quienes son? My students are very young, so I choose not to have discussions specifically about grammar in my classes, but they understand it through songs and games like this one. Naturally 🙂
There is a freebie here for you! Just click HERE to download the cards.
This game will get everyone involved in class and will allow participation at different levels.For this game we read the e-book “¡Papá Noel! ¿Quién Tiene Tu Gorro?“. In this short story “Papá Noel” is missing his hat. He is worried and needs to find it before Christmas. He will ask Rudolph, the Christmas star, the candy cane, and others for the hat. To his surprise, he finds that the Christmas present had his hat. Once he has the hat on his head Papá Noel shouts happily “Ho, Ho, Ho, ¡Feliz Navidad!“
In preparation for this game, you will need to print the “Papá Noel” without the hat and a few copies of the hat. Just scroll down to find the link to download them for free . Laminate them and place Velcro or adhesive tape on the back of each hat.
You will need to teach students each of the phrases in the game. A good way to do this is to chant them along with children. I encourage my students to chant as a whole group and help each other out this way.
Next, choose a student to volunteer to be Papá Noel. Ask this student to leave the room.
Quietly distribute the hats between the children and ask them to hide the hats.
Invite your class to call the child who left the room by saying “¡Papá Noel ven aquí!“
Then, the class will ask: “¡Papá Noel! ¿Quién Tiene Tu Gorro?“
The student who is Papá Noel will ask in the class “¿Tu tienes mi gorro?“
The student and the class will answer: “Sí, si tengo tu gorro.” or “No, no tengo tu gorro“.
You can choose the number of turns you allow. If the student who is Papá Noel finds the hat, he can place it on the picture and say “Ho, Ho, Ho ¡Feliz Navidad!“.
This is how it goes:
Class: Papá Noel ven aquí ¡Papá Noel! ¿Quién tiene tu gorro? Student (Papá Noel): ¿Tu tienes mi gorro? Class: No, no tengo tu gorro.
This is a fun and short game to keep your class moving. I like using tape to divide the area and also pictures to clearly mark “tierra” (land) and “mar” (sea). Have the class line up on one side and have them jump to where you say. If the child goes to the place you didn’t name, then he/she is out of the game. If the game gets long, I use a dice to end the game (with simple numbers instead of dots). Simply role the dice and have the children jump the number of times shown on the dice. If they land on “mar,” they are all out, and if they land on “tierra,” we keep rolling the dice until they land on “mar” which will mean the game has ended.
Have fun playing in Spanish!
Carolina
WELCOME
¡Hola! I'm Carolina, a Colombian Spanish teacher with over 20 years of experience. I'm here to support you on your journey as a language educator!
