Sports Small Cards for ESL | Vocabulary and Grammar Activities

 This resource ( Sports Small Cards for Elementary ESL – Vocabulary & Grammar Activity Pack) is included here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sports-for-ESL-Vocabulary-and-Grammar-Activities-14663481

The printable sports vocabulary small cards for elementary ESL support grammar practice. They are ideal for teaching I like + sports, He is playing + sport, and He plays + sport in a fun, meaningful way. These are ready-to-use visuals that work for whole-class lessons, centers, pair work, or individual practice.

Activity 1 for centres or pairs, . Find Someone Who: Use small cards to ask and answer questions like Do you like volleyball?

Activity 2 to challenge students to write  or say sentences. Match the Sport and Equipment: Students match the sport flashcard with its equipment card and say a sentence: She has skates for skating.

Activity 3  . Sorting Game: Sort sports by ball category.

team sports / individual sports or indoor sports categories.

Sort with the outdoor sports. Have students make up more categories to sort.

Activity 4. Use small sports cards to create sentences: He is playing football.

Activity 5 for the integration of vocabulary & grammar . Writing Sports Sentences (Past Tense Activity).
Students choose a small sports card and write a sentence using the simple past tense to describe the action. For example: She played baseball yesterday. This activity helps learners practice writing complete sentences, review past tense verbs for sports, and connect visuals with grammar in a meaningful way.

Activity 6. Students pick any small sports card and write a sentence to describe it using different grammar structures.

Activity 7 to adapt for stronger/weaker learners . Sports and Facilities Matching Activity
Students match each sport to the place where it is played. After matching, they can say or write simple sentences like You play baseball at a baseball stadium. This activity helps learners connect vocabulary for sports and facilities, practice prepositions of place, and use complete sentences in context.

Here are the most common prepositions of place related to sports and their facilities that your students can practice:

• on – for open flat surfaces
• 🏈 You play soccer on a field.
• 🎾 You play tennis on a court.
• 🏒 You play hockey on the ice.
• in – for enclosed or indoor spaces
• 🏊 You swim in a pool.
• 🏀 You play basketball in a gym.
• 🏋️ You exercise in a gym.
• at – for general places or specific venues
• ⚾ You play baseball at the stadium.
• ⛳ You play golf at the golf course.

 

Activity 8.  Famous Sports Facilities Match.
Students investigate the names of famous sports facilities around the world, such as Wimbledon for tennis or Yankee Stadium for baseball. They write the name of each facility on a small piece of paper and match it to the correct sports flashcard or picture. This activity helps students connect real-world examples to the vocabulary while practicing writing and reading skills.

There are  Ready-to-print worksheets to go along this resource. Here is the blog post: 

https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/11/sports-worksheets-for-esl-vocabulary.html

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Sports Flashcards for ESL | Vocabulary and Grammar Activities

 This resource ( Sports Vocabulary Flashcards for Elementary ESL Learners) is included here:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Sports-for-ESL-Vocabulary-and-Grammar-Activities-14663481

Students will learn the names of common sports and related verbs and equipment in context. Talking about sports helps learners make connections between English and their daily interests and experiences.

Sports Flashcard Activities for ESL Classrooms

Flashcard Drill Game where the teacher holds up a flashcard and says the sport: basketball!  students repeat. Then, show a new card silently, and students shout the sport. This is an easy way to learn vocabulary related to sports.

Fast Grab: Place several sports vocabulary flashcards on the floor. Call out a sport, and two students race to touch the correct card.

Charades as Extension Activities. A student picks a flashcard secretly and acts out the sport without speaking. The class guesses: You’re playing golf!

Sort the sports by:  team vs. individual sports

• indoor vs. outdoor sports

Class Graph or Survey. Each student picks their favorite sport flashcard.

• Make a class chart: How many like soccer? How many like basketball?
• Practice speaking: I like bowling. / I don’t like karate.

Simple past statements. Yesterday I Played…Show a flashcard (e.g., football). Students make a sentence:  Yesterday, I played football. Extend with different time expressions: Last weekend, two days ago, etc.

Then, ask questions with What and Who?

Ask Yes/ No questions in the past as you show the flashcard and the students stand up if the answer is yes!

What Are They Doing? Show a flashcard. Ask: What is he doing? Students answer:
He is playing volleyball.

Who’s Speaking? Place several flashcards and say: I am diving. Students point to which card matches your sentence. Then, students take turns being “the speaker.”

Like It or Not Sorting Game. Place Two baskets or areas labeled “I like” and “don’t like,”. Students pick a flashcard and decide where it belongs.  They must say the full sentence:
“I like table tennis.” or “I don’t like sailing.”

Do the same with can and can’t as a review of that grammar structure. Student: I can play basketball, but I can’t play soccer.

Label the clothes each player is wearing and the sports equipment.

Matching sports, their equipment, and equipment flashcards helps students connect vocabulary.

There are printable games for this resource, check it here:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/11/sports-games-for-esl-vocabulary-and.html

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I used Creative Fabrica for my covers. Here is my affliate link:   https://www.creativefabrica.com/product/sports-collection-digital-paper/ref/2670802/?sharedfrom=pdp

Adjectives Craft Stick Puppets Sorting

Adjectives Craft-Stick Puppets Sorting – ESL/ELL Printable Adjectives Activity Pack is also included in the complete resource, here:    https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Adjectives-for-Elementary-ELL-2150071

This Adjectives Craft-Stick Puppets Sorting Pack gives students a creative way to learn describing words: they cut, glue, sort, and use their own puppet characters to practise vocabulary, speaking, and writing. Perfect for centers, class games, or vocabulary review.

Picture and adjective word cards for puppet creation. When kids cut, glue, label, and move their puppets, they’re actively connecting the word to the concept. I cut the toilet paper tubes in half and tapes a classification word.  I cut all the pictures and glued each one on a craft stick and also glued the word. But, you can glue only the picture and have the students find the word.

Sorting puppets by adjectives helps learners organize new vocabulary into categories (e.g., feelings, condition, weather, age, size, etc.). This boosts comprehension and prepares them for sentence building later.

Students can use their puppets to describe: “Coffee is hot., The ice cream is cold.”

These puppets are reusable and great for memory games by matching the word to the cutout.

Speaking Prompts. Students pick a puppet and describe it out loud using full sentences: “This is Sarah. She has gray hair She is old.”

Writing Activity. Students choose a puppet and write a short description using adjectives.

“This is Max. He is rich. He has short black hair and black eyes.”

Use the puppets for small group adjective practice to write a short story: There are two boxes, one is full, one is empty. There is an empty brown box and full white box. I like the full box, I don’t like the empty box.

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post: 

https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2025/06/printable-adjectives-games-for-esl.html

Please visit my other blog: https://eflpreschoolteachers.blogspot.com/

Find fun and interactive activities, Printable Resources, and lesson plans ready to use in your classroom.

Face unit and the Numbers 1 to 20

 This resource (Face Unit + Numbers 1–20 — Flashcards, Activities & Lesson Ideas for Elementary ELL) is also included here:   https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Numbers-120-and-Describing-Hair-ESL-Flashcards-Games-and-Worksheets-for-ELLs-13578003

Young Learners better retain language when words are used in context rather than isolation. Repetition is key for ELLs, and integrating numbers with the face unit allows for natural repetition of both sets of vocabulary through games and activities making your lessons more engaging.

The children with a number flashcards integrate Multiple Vocabulary Areas.  Students learn and review both numbers (1–20) and descriptive face vocabulary (e.g., curly, short, brown hair).

Face Speaking Practice with the flashcards.  It can promote sentence building: “The boy with 10 has short, curly, black hair.”

Sorting by hair color.  Describing people on the cards encourages oral production. Have the students sort the flashcards by hair color. Ready for starter / Beginner – kindergarten to grade 2.

Teacher: Who has blond hair?

Students: Number 8 and 15 have blond hair. 

Another sorting activity is according to the hair length: long or short.

Children see diverse appearances represented, which builds self-esteem and social-emotional learning. This time students can sort the hair into curly and straight, perfect for large class.

Students: Number 5 has straight hair. Number 13 has curly hair.

The small cards are the perfect size for hands-on activities, individual use, or small group games and mixed levels.  After printing, cut cards and store in labeled envelopes or zip bags.

The same sorting activities can be done in on their tables. They can write their own sorting criteria. Great for working on Classification, Counting, Data skills.

Just like this:

If you have the small cards from the resource, use them to sort by hair color.

Sentence Building Activities can be done as they sort the cards.

Students: Number 17 has long hair. Number 14 has short hair.

take a look as it can be used for number recognition !

The small cards are used as an easy to repeat practice with more sorting, such as curly and straight.

open the video!

Writing task. Practicing same vocabulary using different adjectives at the same time: Number 18 has short, straight and brown hair.

a video!

Worksheets help reinforce the numbers vocabulary, it can be matching the numeral to the word or just write the teen number words. 

The worksheets provide structured repetition, which is essential for language retention. This is a read and color practice. Focus: Listening or reading comprehension

ELLs gain confidence when they can complete tasks on their own, even simple ones. This is the face labeling review.

Worksheets engage students in reading and writing sentences.

Teachers can use worksheets to check understanding of vocabulary and concepts taught.

Students cut out the picture and glue them on the correct section of the sorting worksheets. There is also long and short.

Board games create a low-pressure environment for practicing English. Students use target vocabulary and sentence structures repeatedly while having fun: “This is number 15. She has long, straight blond hair.”

Play Guess Who? Using the mats.

Player 1 picks a number from the mat.  

Player 2 has to guess which card it is: Is it a girl?

Player 1: Yes, it is.

Player 2: Does she have long or short hair?

Player 1: Long hair.

Player 2: Is the hair brown and long?

Player 1: yes, it is.

Player 2: Is it Number 19?

Player 1: yes, it is.

This resource has more to check, go to this blog post:   https://eflelementaryresources.blogspot.com/2023/08/face-unit-flashcards-for-elementary-efl.html 

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