Happy Friday everyone! As summer arrives and the end of school approaches, you might be thinking about how to keep your kids entertained for the weekend and the rest of the summer. What better way than to have fun and get you and your family learning together all at the same time!
From a sunny day to a rainy one, we’ll cover a range of activities that will be fun for you and the rest of the family. We’ll start off with some indoor activities. Let’s face it! In most parts of the world, we can’t trust the weather to be all sunshine and rainbows for the weekend.
It’s time to get out the art supplies and find a big space to work! Making a family tree is a great way to bond with your family, and it’s even better if you complete it with your partner so your kids can see both sides of the family. Make it as inventive as you like by getting posters, glitter, and coloured markers. You can also go to your nearest printer and print out some photos of the members of your family to make it visual.
So, how to make this into an English learning activity? You can start by naming each family title of what your kids would call them. For example, your parents should be called Grandmother and Grandfather. This will avoid a little confusion that might pop up, especially if they’re young.
If you have older children, with a bit of this vocabulary from school already. You can start a conversation with the family about each family member. You can let them know about the characteristics of late relatives who they might not know much about, or you can encourage them to talk about fun memories with their cousins or aunts, or uncles. They’ll be able to practice past participles of verbs and time stamp vocabulary, as well as lots of fun, positive adjectives!
Some questions to get the ball rolling are:
Just like charades, 21 questions is a lovely family to play and normally the go-to game when the electricity goes! The rules are simple; Only yes or no questions, only one family member knows the answer, and everyone gets a turn to ask questions.
You start the game by picking a question master. They must choose a famous person that they are sure everyone knows in the room. Remember not to tell anyone! You go around the room, while everyone asks a question to try and guess the answer. There is a maximum of 21 questions and guesses allowed before the game is over. If someone guesses correctly, they win and get to go next. IF nobody guesses before the 21 questions are up, then the question master gets to go again.
This is a really fun game and can get quite competitive! Try it out in English with the family, and if someone doesn’t understand a question, you can explain it to them. This way they’ll pick lots of different vocabulary along the way, while also learning an often forgotten skill of asking questions correctly. They will learn how to use the word “to be” in the question format.
Here are some questions that are popular choices:
Simon Says is a hilarious choice to learn English and is actually much harder in a second language. This is also one where you can play outside and have as many people involved as possible. If you live in an estate with lots of families, why not get the whole neighbourhood involved!
This game is first played by choosing a “Simon”. Once that’s been established, “Simon” will start shouting out commands to the other players. They must only do it if Simon has said “Simon says”. If they give a command without saying this and a player listens, then this player is out. The game is repeated until there’s one winner. The winner can then be “Simon” or choose someone else to be “Simon”.
This game becomes so fun when you choose to play it in English. Not only is there mistakes by completing a task without “Simon Says” being said, but you’ll also run the risk of someone doing the wrong thing if they’re not sure what was said. Trust us when we say that this kid will never forget the phrase again!
Here are some fun ideas for Simon Says:
That’s right! Even at the beach, you can sneakily teach your kids some English phrases. And, this one has simple rules; have an English-speaking day. It’s that easy. Most children around the world will be learning English in school. They will learn their ABCs, their verbs, and the basics of English vocabulary. But there is no real practice than practicing in the real world.
To be safe, first, make up some rules like if they need to go to the bathroom and have something important to say then it’s ok to speak in your mother tongue. Next, go over some common phrases they might use during the beach day to refresh their memories. Finally, start having fun!
If you live in a city where it’s a tourist attraction, this could be a great advantage to you as your children can interact and play with other children and the work is done for you! Here are some common phrases that are a great place to start:
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