Flashcards are an ESL teacher’s bread and butter, and there are hundreds of flashcard games, but these twenty are the ones that I use in my class on a weekly, if not daily basis. They’re tried and true, so I know your students will love them too.

If you’re using these flashcard games in a kindergarten classroom, then I highly recommend reading my VYL Routine – Reusable Kindergarten Lesson first. But the gist of that post is that a class should be made up of stirrers and settlers. You want to play a game that gets the students excited (like Flyswatters or TPR), followed by a calming game (a settler) that helps them focus again.

Here are the top 10 stirrers (or active flashcard games) that I use in my classroom.

I haven’t included slapping the flashcards with flyswatters or using total physical response (TPR) actions in the following games because I think everyone knows about those activities, but I do use them daily.

1. Quiet to Loud (5 minutes)

This game is simple and can be whipped out at any point during the lesson when students are starting to look a bit sleepy. Grab a flashcard, squat down, and whisper the flashcard word. Then stand a little taller and say the word louder. Repeat this, saying the word louder and louder. Finally jump up and shout the word. Encourage students to mimic you. Repeat with all the flashcards in your set.

2. Chant and Action (5 minutes)

Choose a random action, such as jumping, kicking, waving, nodding, wiggling, patting your head, etc. Then pick up a flashcard, show it to the students and do the action while saying the word. For example, maybe the flashcard word is “Elephant” and you’ve chosen patting your head. Simply say elephant 3-4 times, patting your head each time, and encourage students to mimic you. Change the action for each flashcard. Don’t worry about the action matching the flashcard. This game is meant to be silly and give students practice saying the word.

3. Spin the bottle (5-10 minutes)

Put flashcards in a circle on the floor. Put a bottle in the middle. Ask a student to spin the bottle and he says the word it points to. If you want to make this a team game, put students into teams and see which team can say their word the loudest and clearest.

4. Board Game (10 minutes)

Lay the flashcards out on the floor in a winding snaking pattern. Take a big dice and two stuffed animals to class. Put students into two teams, show them which stuffed animal is their teams’, and decide who will go first. That student rolls the dice, and moves his stuffed animal along the flashcards. He says the flashcard it lands on and gives the dice to the other team. Repeat. This game works best during a review week when you have a lot of flashcards to review.

5. Ostrich Game (10 minutes)

Two students come to the front. Make sure they have enough space to run around. Give each student a flashcard, but don’t let the other student see. The student puts his flashcard onto his back with the picture facing out. The student holds the flashcard in place. Now the students must try to see the other person’s flashcard while protecting their own flashcard. This is a wild noisy game that students love. The game is over when one student calls out the other person’s flashcard.

6. Cross the Line (5 minutes)

Designate a line on the floor with tape or by drawing a line on the board and telling students to imagine that the line continues. Hold a flashcard on either side of the line. Now shout a flashcard. Students must jump over the line towards that card. Repeat, letting students jump back and forth. This is another silly, simple active game which lots of students can play at once provided you have enough space.

A variation of this game is putting three or four flashcards on the board with tape lines between each one. Shout a flashcard and students must jump towards the correct flashcard. This version works best with only a few students at a time.

7. Find it Competition (10 minutes)

Tell students to close their eyes. Go hide flashcards around the room. Tell students to open their eyes. Call two students up. Tell each student a different flashcard (Don’t tell them the same flashcard unless you want ripped cards.). Then students go find their flashcards. Make sure they each start looking at the same time. The first student to find the correct flashcard and bring it back to you wins.

If you want to make the game more chaotic, put students into teams and allow students to help each other by shouting where the flashcards are.

8. Mr. Wolf (10-20 minutes)

There are lots of variations of this game, and I’ve already described my version of the game here, but this is definitely an active flashcard game that your students will beg to play again and again.

9. Hot Potato (5 minutes)

Hot potato is another ESL classic and for good reason! It works for everyone from kindergarten all the way up to full-blown adults. Play music, have students pass some flashcards, and ask them what they’re holding when the music stops. You can also have students pass around a ball instead and the teacher holds the flashcard.

10. 4 Corners (10-20 minutes)

Another super easy but addictive game is 4 corners, which I’ve already described a few times on Oscar Lessons, including a detailed description here.

Here are the top 10 settlers (or calming flashcard games) that I use in my classroom.

1. Slow reveal (5 minutes)

Hide a flashcard behind something (a chair, your hand, a paper, another flashcard) and slowly pull the flashcard out. When students realize what the flashcard is, they shout it out. This game is an easy way to get students to focus as they all try to figure out the flashcard.

2. Chant and Remove (5-10 minutes)

Put flashcards in a row on the board or on the floor where students can see. Point to each flashcard in turn and say the flashcard word. Encourage students to chant with you. After you’ve said each flashcard a few times, remove one, and continue pointing and chanting, including saying the flashcard that’s been removed when you point to the blank space. Remove another flashcard and keep the chant going. Can your students remember all the words even when there are no more flashcards?

3. Memorize the Order (5 minutes)

Put three flashcards on the board. Give students a second to memorize them. Then take them down. Students tell you what order they were in. Now put four flashcards on the board and repeat. Try with 5, 6, etc.

4. What Can You See Through the Keyhole? (5 minutes)

Use construction paper and cut a small keyhole in the middle. Laminate and save it for later. Then when you get to class, put the construction paper over a flashcard and slowly move it around. See if students can guess what flashcard is hiding behind the keyhole. Repeat for other cards.

5. What’s missing? (5 minutes)

Lay all the flashcards out on the floor. Tell students to close their eyes. Remove one. Ask students what’s missing.

6. Apple, Banana, Pear (5 minutes)

This game doesn’t work for all flashcards, but when it does, it goes down a treat. You need 3 flashcards. One flashcard word must have 2 syllables, another 3 syllables, and the last 1 syllable. Put them in a line on the floor or the board and chant the flashcards like this.

“Apple, banana, pear. Apple, banana, pear. Apple, banana, apple, banana, apple, banana, pear.”

I don’t know why this works so well, but it does. Students immediately calm down, pay attention, and I’ve even seen students chanting vocabulary words to themselves as they leave the room. Some other examples could be…

“Soccer, volleyball, golf. Soccer, volleyball, golf. Soccer, volleyball, soccer, volleyball, soccer, volleyball, golf.”

“Science, geography, art. Science, geography, art. Science, geography, science, geography, science, geography, art.”

7. Telephone (5-10 minutes)

Choose a flashcard and keep it hidden from your students. Students sit in a circle. Go whisper the word to a student, who whispers it to the next, and so on. See if the last student knows what flashcard you’ve hidden.

To make this harder for older students, say a sentence, not just a word.

8. “What is Yellow?” Song (5 minutes)

Anytime you instantly need students to calm down and focus, put all the flashcards out so students can see them, and sing this song.

To the tune of Frère Jacques:

• What is yellow? What is yellow?
• Can you see? Can you see?
• I can see a balloon. I can see a balloon.
• Point with me. Point with me.

Add hand motions and change the color and vocabulary word based on what flashcards are in front of you. Repeat the song a few different times, saying different colors, and pointing to different flashcards.

9. Is it a…? (15-20 minutes)

I’ve already talked about this game in more detail on Oscar Lessons before, but basically you take a card and hide the picture against your chest. Let students ask you what the flashcard is using the question, “Is it a lion/egg/tree/etc.?” If a student guesses correctly, they can come up to the front and hide a flashcard against their chest, letting other students guess. Repeat for several flashcards.

10. Where’s the…? (15-20 minutes)

I’ve also already described this game in detail over here, but basically turn the flashcards so they’re all face down on the floor. Ask a student, “Where is the banana/fish/nurse/etc.?” Let that student go choose one flashcard. If they’re correct, they keep the flashcard. If not, they flip the card back over and go sit down. Let another student try. At the end, see who has the most flashcards.

While there are plenty of flashcard games out there, these are the ones I use the most regularly, so I hope they will be useful for you too.

If you want some more fun games, check out 7 Spelling Games – That Actually Help Students Learn to Spell.