Students love games! Teachers love low prep and inexpensive game ideas that can be used on multiple occasions and topics. These are great ideas to add to your “Spanish teacher’s toolbox,” have copies of on hand or use when you are need something low prep to do in your Spanish or immersion class. Some of them also work great as games or activities to use when you have a substitute in your Spanish class.
1. Devuélveo
This is a game where you need some popsicle sticks (I prefer the wide ones) and a cup to put them in. On each stick I write a vocabulary word (or you could do math equations) and on about 10-20% of the sticks write the word ‘Devuélvelo’.
To play: Students take turns pulling one stick out of the cup at a time. You could have them do a variety of tasks. 1. They could read the work. 2. More advanced Spanish students could use the word in a sentence or use it in an example. They keep their stick if they read/think of an example. If the student pulls out the stick with the word ‘Devuélvelo’ they have to put all of their sticks back in the cup.
2. Boom or Kaboom
This game or activity is essentially the same as ‘Devuelvelo’ but with paper cards instead of sticks.
To play: Write the words, questions, verbs, etc. on the cards. Some of the cards need the word ‘boom’ or ‘kaboom’ on the cards. If the student gets a ‘boom’ card they have to put all of their cards back in the center.
3. Bingo (or Loteria)
Lotería is a great game to play for vocabulary review, on a Friday or when you have a substitute in Spanish class. I always have copies of blank Lotería boards in my classroom ready to use.
To play: Instruct kids what words to write on the boards, this could be used for vocab review, verbs, or even math problems.
4. Memory (Memoría)
Traditional memory game make cards, turn them upside down , try to find a pair. This can be down with English/Spanish, word/picture, sentence with a blank/answer, etc.
5. Matamoscas (Fly swatter game)
Put vocabulary words or pictures on (index) cards. Lay them on the floor and say the vocabulary word in Spanish or English or read a sentence a verb would fit into. You will need two flyswatters. Two students or teams play at a time. They swat the correct word with the flyswatter. This is a fun game for Fridays or as a review.
6. Jenga or Tumbling Tower Games
You can buy colored tower block games on Amazon, you can also sometimes find mini tower games at the Dollar Store. You can do several things with these; you can write numbers on the blocks and then have a related activity on a sheet of paper for students to follow. You can write high-frequency words or math problems on each block for immersion students and have them read the word or solve the problem on their turn.
7. 4 Esquinas (Four corners)
Each corner or wall is assigned a vocabulary word or phrase. Caller calls out one of the four words and everyone that is in that corner is out. Game continues until one person is left. This is a fun game to get people up and moving in the classroom. It’s a fun class opener, closer or to do when you have a few extra minutes.
8. Pictionary
Spilt your class into teams, have one member from each team draw something on the white board while everyone else guesses what their teammate is drawing. The first to guess correctly gets a point.
9. Cards (cartas o naipes)
Having a few spare decks of cards around can lead to an easy “game” set up. You can either assign an action or task to each cards. It could be based on the cards numbers or suit (hearts, diamonds, etc.).
10. Dice (dados)
Similar to playing with cards, assign what you want students to with each roll of the dice. For example: If you roll a 1 you will name the characters of the story; if you roll a two you will… .
11. Tic tac Toe
Vocabulary words, verbs or sentences could be on the game board and then student play just as they would with a traditional tic-tac-toe board.
Which of these do you plan to use in your Spanish class? Do you have any other low prep games that you use in Spanish class? Leave a comment and let us know.
