Present Continuous Routines Activities

  This resource is included here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Routine-Verbs-for-Elementary-ELL-3088833

 This complete set is designed to help students understand and practice routine verbs through a variety of hands-on activities, visual supports, and games. Perfect for centers, small groups, or whole-class activities, this resource promotes active participation and supports different learning styles in a playful and effective way.

These flashcards introduce key daily routine verbs and support students in forming sentences in the present continuous.

 Look at the flashcards and answer the question. Ask: What is he doing? or What is she doing? Then answer using the present continuous: He is chatting.

 Ask yes/no questions. Is he doing laundry? Then answer: Yes, he is.

Listen and point. The teacher folds the verb word of each flashcard and places them on the board. Then, say: “He is sleeping.”
Students point to the correct flashcard.

 

What is he/she doing today? The teacher places the selected flashcards on the board and has a student says the sequence of actions of that day.
Students answer: “He is waking up.” “He is cleaning the window.” “He is eating corn.” “He is swinging on the swing.”

 

 Mime and Guess. The teacher shows the flashcard to one student to act → others say: “You are listening to music!”

 Find Someone Who…. Place the flashcards in a grid on the board. Say: “He is a boy” He has a scooter.

Students: A1! He is riding a scooter.

Give students a routine flashcard and ask them to create as many correct phrases as possible using the verb. Encourage them to add details such as place, time, and people.

Use the board to model complete sentences with routine verbs in the present continuous. Show students how to expand a simple verb into a full sentence by adding details such as objects and places.

Write the Sentence. Show flashcard → students write: “She is washing the dishes in the kitchen.”

 

These small cards provide flexible practice for building sentences, playing games, and reinforcing routine verbs in the present continuous.

 Listen and Show. Students hold up the correct flashcard when they hear the sentence.

Pair Practice. Student A shows a card → Student B says the sentence.

 
Mini Sentences Cards. Students match written sentences STRIPS available in the resource, to small cards.

Writing with the small cards. Look at the small card and observe the picture carefully. Write sentences about what you see using the present continuous. The teacher should guide students to improve their observation skills and help them translate the picture into written sentences.

 These worksheets provide structured practice to reinforce routine verbs and help students build confidence using the present continuous.

This worksheet helps students connect pictures with actions, reinforcing vocabulary and present continuous forms.

The word search helps students improve word recognition.

 

It reinforces the structure I am + verb -ing while encouraging students to describe actions happening now using familiar routine verbs.

 
This worksheet helps students practice forming questions in the present continuous.

students practice forming verbs in the present continuous by focusing on spelling patterns with -ing. Learners sort the verbs into three groups: adding -ing, doubling the final consonant + -ing, and verbs that end in -e and change to -ing.

Students develop vocabulary, improve spelling, and reinforce the structure of the present continuous in a meaningful and visual way.

 

Students look at each picture and complete the sentences using the correct verb in the present continuous form.

 

 

This worksheet helps students understand how verbs combine with other words to form common phrases (collocations). Instead of learning verbs in isolation, students practice meaningful combinations like make the bed, do homework, or ride a bike.

This questionnaire encourages students to practice speaking and asking questions about daily routines in a meaningful way

 

These games make learning interactive and fun while helping students practice routine verbs and the present continuous in a meaningful way.

Sorting Verbs into -ING Categories

In this hands-on activity, students sort the verbs small cards or sentence strips according to their spelling rules. Prepare the activity by assembling the pockets: you can glue or tape the pocket templates onto a folder, envelope, or a piece of cardboard to make them sturdy and easy to use in class. Each pocket represents a rule. This interactive activity helps students recognize spelling patterns.

 

Spin and Cover – Routine Verbs

To prepare, print and cut out the spinner. Attach it to a sturdy surface such as a folder, envelope, or cardboard. Then, place a brass fastener with a clip (for example, a paperclip) in the center of the spinner to make it spin.

Students take turns spinning the wheel. When the spinner stops, they say the verb that comes up and cover the matching verb on their worksheet or list.

 

Sentence Association Activity

In this activity, students will match sentence strips to the correct pictures in the scene.

Provide each student or pair of students with the main picture and a set of sentence strips. Students read each sentence carefully and look for the matching action in the image. Then, they place the sentence strip in the correct location on the picture.

Encourage students to say the sentences aloud as they match.

 

Board Game: Routines and Present Continuous

Students take turns rolling the dice. Each time a student lands on a number, they pick the corresponding numbered card and read the sentence aloud.

After reading, the student finds the matching image marker and places it on the correct number space on the board.

The game continues until a player reaches the finish. The student with the most correct matches or the one who reaches the end first wins.

Make the markers by cutting and gluing the ends only and folding the middle part to make the marker stand.

 

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Can & Can’t Spring Verbs Activities for ESL | EFL Elementary

 This resource is part of Can as an Ability for Elementary ESL at this link: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Can-as-an-Ability-Unit-for-Elementary-ESL-4299251

Make learning “can” and “can’t” fun and hands-on with this engaging resource for young learners! Students practice abilities through puzzles, games, and interactive worksheets that support vocabulary and sentence building. Perfect for centers or small groups, it helps build confidence in a playful way.

These flashcards are a great way to introduce and practice “can” and “can’t” with your students.

The teacher picks up any verb card, in this case, is the verb “fly”. She holds the card. Students will participate by pretending to fly kites. To make the activity more interactive and hands-on, several kite cutouts are provided. Continue with more cards.

The teacher asks the question: “Can you climb a tree?” to individual students, giving each child the opportunity to answer using “Yes, I can” or “No, I can’t.”

In this interactive dialogue-building activity, one student holds the flashcard and asks the question: “Can you swing?” while showing the image for support. The other student listens and responds using a complete sentence, such as “Yes, I can” or “No, I can’t.” Then, students switch roles so both have the opportunity to ask and answer.

These flashcards may include some new vocabulary for your students. Use them to introduce new words in context or to review familiar ones, helping learners connect meaning with clear visuals in a simple and engaging way.

These small cards are perfect for hands-on practice with “can” and “can’t.”

This is a speaking game, where students sit in a circle with the small verb cards placed on the floor. One student tosses a bean bag onto a card and then makes a sentence using the structure: “I can…” or “I can’t…”

Students use the small cards as visual support to write sentences with “can” and “can’t.” They choose a card and write sentences such as “I can water flowers” or “I can’t build a house.” This activity helps students practice sentence structure.

A student places the small cards in order on the desk. This activity helps develop sequencing skills.

The worksheets support comprehension, fine motor skills, and meaningful language use.

Students complete each word by writing the missing vowel. Then, trace the lines to match each picture with the correct verb. This activity helps reinforce vocabulary recognition.

Students look at each picture and complete the sentences using the correct verb. They write the missing word in the blank and match it with the correct image.

This “Can – Word Search” worksheet. This activity helps reinforce vocabulary, improve spelling.

Students first trace the lines to match each question expressing their abilities. Then, they write simple sentences to recap all the personal can and cant’. Perfect for developing reading and writing.

Students first color the pictures to become familiar with the actions. Then, they cut out the images and glue them in the correct boxes to match each word. This hands-on activity helps reinforce vocabulary and sentence comprehension in a fun and meaningful way.

After completing the worksheet, students can use the pictures to make simple sentences orally or in writing (e.g., “I can climb a tree.”).

 “I Have, Who Has?” Game.

Give each student one card. If you have more cards than students, some students can have two cards. Choose the student with the start card. This student reads their card aloud. The student who has the correct answer listens carefully and responds by reading their card. The game continues in a chain until all cards have been read. The last card should finish the loop.

Puzzle Activity

Students complete the puzzle by matching each sentence with the correct picture.

Memory Game with Puzzle Pieces

These puzzle pieces can also be used to play a fun memory game!
Place all the pieces face down on the table. Students take turns turning over two pieces and try to find a matching pair (sentence + picture). If the pieces match, the student keeps the pair. If not, they turn them back over and the next student takes a turn.

Another fun use for the puzzle pieces! Students can sort the pieces into can and can’t using the labeled bags, helping them practice sentence meaning in an interactive way. The can and can’t labels are included in the complete resource for easy setup and use. The link is the beginning of this post.

Students can play with the board game as they move around the board, they will describe the actions using sentences.

Students roll the dice and move their token. When they land on a picture, they must make a sentence using can (e.g., “I can fly a kite.”). For an extra challenge, classmates can decide if the sentence is correct or silly!

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