14 Must-Have Toys for ESL Teachers (and some you don’t need)
The following toys and games are all ones that I have used repeatedly in my own ESL classes, and I consider them winners for the amount of times I’ve been able to use them. Any purchase that can save you prep time while entertaining your students, is a no-brainer for me. I’ve included the links to these games/toys on Amazon, but of course you can buy them wherever is convenient for you.
Note that the following post contains affiliate links, which means I earn commissions through any purchases made via links on this post.
1. Fly Swatters
I can practically hear some of you rolling your eyes already. Fly swatters are the oldest ESL teacher trick in the book. Put out some flashcards, shout a vocabulary word, and let students slap the flashcard with the flyswatter. But fly swatters are a TEFL teacher staple for a reason. It works. I use my fly swatters with my VYL students every day.
Every day.
That is a huge amount of return on such a small investment.
I like these cute hand-shaped ones from Amazon, but any old fly swatter will do.
While I have bought and used squeaky hammers in the past, I don’t like them as much as fly swatters because they’re more expensive but not nearly as durable. However, I will say that my students do find them fun (for as long as they last).
2. Board Game Pieces
Have you ever made your own board game or printed out a board game for class? If you’re like me, you’ve probably had students play those board games with any random thing you can find, like letting students play with little paper pieces and flipping a coin instead of rolling a dice.
But real board game pieces and dice work so much better! Ever since I invested in little board game pieces and a bunch of dice, my students have been hyped to play my homemade board games. Any boring grammar topic can suddenly be turned fun if colorful dice and pieces are involved.
Of all the games and toys on this list, these little pieces are the most used in my classes by far (aside from the fly swatters, of course).
3. Pop Up Pirate
Don’t knock it till you try it! I’ve seen kindergarten students all the way up through fourth grade get excited for this ridiculous pirate. And it’s so easy to use in any class too. Just ask a question, the student who answers can come up and put a sword in the barrel. Wait and see who makes the pirate pop up!
This Pop Up Pirate game is perfect for review or a quick warmer.
4. Big Dice
Big dice are where it’s at. There are so many games that you can play with one of these.
For example, put six flashcards on the board, a student rolls a dice, and has to say the vocabulary word or say a sentence with the word. Or play a giant board game on the board together as a class, rolling the dice to move magnet pieces. Or put six challenges on the board and a student rolls the dice and has to complete one of the challenges (spell a word, say the definition, say a synonym, etc.) These dice can also be turned into a ball in a pinch. Use it for Hot Potato or throw it to a student to get them to answer a question. The list goes on and on.
Each of my classrooms has one of these dice sitting on my desk at the back of the room for a quick warmer, brain break, or review game.
5. Sticky Ball
The eye-rollers are back, and while I understand why some people are over the good, old sticky ball, I’m here to say it’s still got some life in it. Even if some teachers have used these things to death, there’s still something very fun about hucking a ball at the board during class, and no one can tell me it’s not.
Draw a shape with points on the board, ask questions, and let students throw the ball for points. Alternatively, write some vocabulary or grammar words on the board. Let students throw the ball and make a sentence.
It’s a simple toy, but it’s a classic.
Once again, do note that sticky balls tend to be pretty cheaply made and will fall apart pretty quickly. However, I’ve found a hack for getting them to last longer. Hot glue guns! Simply save the suction cups that fall off in class, and hot glue them back on later. I’ve found that if they’ve been hot glued once, they don’t tend to fall off again.
6. Jenga
Stack a Jenga tower at the front of the room. Ask the students a question. Choose a student to answer and if he or she is correct, she can come up and pull a Jenga piece. See who knocks the tower over!
My students go crazy for Jenga. If you have more than one set, then you can have more than one group playing at a time. Just be sure to assign each group a “little teacher” who has to ask their group questions and designate who pulls a Jenga piece next.
7. Toilet and Plunger Game
Along the same lines as the Pop Up Pirate and the Chomping Alligator is this Toilet and Plunger Game. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Is it a little gross? Definitely yes. Will students pay attention when you bring this thing to class? 100% yes.
Trust me, all eyes will be on you for your next review lesson.
8. Flying Disc Launcher
This is another game where you ask students a question and have them come up to play a game. This time you can have two students play at once, just make sure they both answer a question first. Then push the button, the discs will fly up, and students can try to catch them in the nets. This Flying Disc Launcher is definitely for grade one and younger, but when I tell you my kindergarten students love this game, you better believe it. I’ve seen them play this for thirty minutes straight before, which is almost unheard of in VYL.
The only thing to watch out for is that the teacher really needs to be the one to push the button because little kids stomping on the launcher will definitely break it.
9. Mini-Whiteboards
Remember when I said that board game pieces are the toy my students get the most use out of? That might have been a lie. We use mini-whiteboards in class so much that I almost feel like they’re a part of my teaching at this point. I actually don’t know how I would teach without them.
If you want to check out some examples of games that I play with mini-white boards you can read about 7 Sentence Structure Games – Make Writing Fun.
10. Chomping Alligator
Along the same lines as Pop Up Pirate, let students answer a question, and the person who answers correctly can come up and press one of the alligator’s teeth. See who gets bitten!
The only downside to this little guy is that he’s really not made to last. I tend to get a few months use out of one of these toys before the spring mechanism inside breaks. For me, it’s still a worthy purchase because it’s such an easy and fun game for my classes, but don’t expect it to last forever!
11. Velcro Darts
This is another “answer a question, then come up, and play” type of game, but I find that it’s good to have a ton of these in your repertoire. Teachers are always asking questions and it’s good to have some kind of small “reward” for kids who answer correctly. This Velcro Darts game can be played in teams, so be sure to keep track of student points on the board based on where their dart lands on the dartboard.
12. Mini-Basketball Hoop
This one is pretty self-explanatory. And while I have played “basketball” with crumpled papers in trash cans or a stuffed animal in a basket, having “the real deal” can really make a difference in student engagement. A lot of these toys are about getting eyes on the teacher, and who doesn’t love shooting some hoops?
Note, once again this is probably not going to be the most durable toy, but as long as you don’t mind your hoop eventually being held together by sticky tape and string, it’s still worthwhile to have one of these around.
13. Stuffed Animals
Remember how I just said that a lot of these toys are about getting students to keep their eyes on you? Well, for that exact reason I always have a small collection of stuffed animals stashed somewhere in the classroom. They’re great for younger kids just to hold onto as they talk, they’re great to use as balls, they’re great eyecatchers as introductions for stories or new units, and they’re fun to toss around as a brain break.
These ones from Amazon are perfect for being squishy, fluffy, ball-shaped, but also still offering enough variety. This is exactly the type of stuffed animal I prefer to use in class.
14. Children’s Books
I love reading to my students, even my older ones.
For older ESL students, I find short stories, like Sideways Stories from Wayside School are a good choice.
And for younger students, anything with pictures. These are the three children’s books that I’ve gotten the most use out of. My students have begged for me to read these stories multiple times.
Now, in addition to toys and things that I think every teacher should have, there are a few that I really don’t recommend. Those include the following.
1. Rubber dice
I really don’t like big rubber dice. They bounce way too much. Children always throw them at one another, at their desks, or at a light. They’re just too big, heavy, and bouncy to really be used safely in the classroom, in my opinion.
2. Whiteboard dice
If you don’t know what I mean, a whiteboard dice is the type of dice with whiteboard paper on all sides so the teacher can use a marker and write whatever he or she wants on each side. Great idea, right? In theory, yes, but in practice, every time anyone picks up the dice, the marker gets all smeared and no one can read what was written or drawn. Save your money and buy something else instead.
3. Magnet Spinner
I don’t have anything against magnet spinners, but I prefer to use a digital spinner like Wordwall, and if I don’t have access to the internet, a plastic bottle will do just fine. Just put the vocabulary or sentences around the bottle and have a student spin the bottle and see where it lands.
4. Puppets
I used to have a lot of puppets for my VYL classes, but I always found myself gravitating towards stuffed animals instead. For one, students were always trying to use the puppets themselves, and if you’ve ever seen someone with poor motor skills trying to put a puppet on their hand, you’ll know my pain, especially when there’s a line of students waiting to try next. For another, puppets can only be used as puppets. As I mentioned above, stuffed animals can be used as balls, “pieces” on a large board game, something comforting for a nervous student, eye-catchers, etc.
5. Story dice
This is a funny one because I do actually use story dice occasionally in my classrooms. I use these story cubes that I got as a gift one Christmas. However, why I’m not as keen to recommend them is that I’ve had them probably about five years, and I only use them twice a year at most.
My friend bought these ones on Amazon, and I know she runs into the same trouble because she’s always trying to get other teachers to use them in their classes so she can get her money’s worth out of them.
So, while I do like my story cubes, they’re definitely not a must-have.
