Tag: addition

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A1 Adult colors colours Games Infant numbers Primary Secondary Speaking Uncategorised Vocabulary

Jenga game adapted for the ESL classroom

Here’s a classic game that you can adapt and use to teach colours and numbers in the ESL/ESOL classroom. It’s fun too!

What is it?… Jenga!

I bought a colour jenga set that came with a colour dice, though you can just paint the blocks of a normal jenga. I then wrote numbers on both ends, so that they would be visible when stacked.

As normal dice will be used, it’s important that you only use combinations of numbers that use 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. It’s also a good idea to have more of the single numbers, as these come up more often… as will become apparent.

There are 60 blocks in total in my set. Here’s a full list of the numbers that it works best to use:

1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 11, 11, 12, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66.

If you have fewer blocks, then take out the doubles and triples.

How do you play it?

  • You will need 2 normal (1 to 6) dice.
  • Students throw both dice.
  • They can then remove a block from the tower, in the usual way that you play jenga, and place it on the top of the tower.
  • The difference is, they can only remove blocks that contain a combination of the numbers, or by adding or subtracting the numbers. For example, if they rolled a 4 and a 3, they could remove 4, 3, 43, 34, 4+3=7 or 4-3=1
  • As in the normal rules of Jenga, you cannot take a block from the top 3 rows at any point in the game and you can only use one hand (you can relax this rule if it’s smaller children playing).

If you get the students to say all the numbers they can use before they take a block, it works as a great way to practice double unit numbers in English. With smaller kids, it’s also a good way to practice simple maths.

That’s it! There are no downloads, but if you need a Jenga, you can get them off Amazon, Aliexpress, or pretty much any toy website. Here’s a 60-block one I found.

https://www.amazon.com/Mattys-Mix-Up-Colorful-Stacking-Storage/dp/B01MU0CYB7/

Here is a link to my TikTok video explaining how to play:

https://www.tiktok.com/@islaidiomas/video/7289537151707008289

Categories
A1 A2 Games Infant Primary Review Speaking Vocabulary

Sum Swamp

Sum Swamp

Sum Swamp is an exciting and educational game designed by Learning Resources to help children learn basic addition and subtraction. This game can be used in the EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classroom to engage students and help them improve their language skills relating to numbers and maths vocabulary.

Game objective

The game is played with two to four players and requires players to navigate their way through a swamp filled by throwing 3 dice; 2 with numbers and one with ‘+’ and ‘-‘ signs on them. The first player to reach the other side of the swam wins.

How to play

To play Sum Swamp, each player starts on one side of the swamp and takes turns rolling a dice. The player then either adds or subtracts the dice together and moves their game piece the number of spaces in the resolution. If the player lands on a number square, they rethrow the +/- dice and either move forward, or backward that number of spaces. There are also ‘odds’ and ‘evens’ squares, which require them to throw a number dice again and they can move if they get a corresponding number.

The game is suitable for children aged 5 and up, making it an excellent choice for younger students learning English as a second language as it provides them with a fun and interactive way to learn.

Sum Swamp is a fantastic game that can be used as a fun and interactive way to reinforce vocabulary related to maths and numbers with younger students and if you would like to buy a copy, please use my affiliate link below if you can, as it helps fund this website.

Buy Sum Swamp on Amazon : https://amzn.to/3Dxgh9k

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