4 FREE Puzzles and Activities for your ELA or ESL Class

While I use a variety of types of activities and lessons with my students, there is a special place in my heart for games and puzzles, and activities that really get students thinking. That’s why I feature a lot of these types of resources on my blog and in my store. I have put together a sampler of some of my favorite activities, most of which are not found anywhere else, but they are available for free to my blog subscribers.

As a subscriber, you will be the first to know about the best sales, contests, and other promotions that you won’t want to miss! Also, you will be notified when I post a new resource, which will be available at a 50% discount for the first 48 hours. I don’t like spam, and I’m sure you don’t either, so I’ll only be sending you the good stuff! And when you subscribe, you will get a confirmation email that has a link for you to download this fun collection of activities as a welcome gift:

1. Would You Rather Question Sampler
This list of questions will get students thinking and discussing. Some questions are funny/silly; others are imaginative, and others are a little more serious and require more thought. It’s a perfect way to get students thinking about pros and cons, and explain their choice. They could also be used as writing prompts, get-to-know-you or icebreaker activities, or fun conversation topics to liven things up. These topics are perfect for upper elementary and above, or even Adult ESL. Grab the full version HERE.

2. Rhyming Puzzles (Hink Pinks and Hinky Pinkies)
With these puzzles, the answer to each clue is a two-word rhyming phrase. Some of them can be a little tricky and will require some creative thinking to solve them. They are a great way to illustrate how many words can rhyme even if they don’t look anything alike. Upper elementary students and above will enjoy these puzzles, and Adult ESL students will likely get a better understanding of pronunciation by seeing the rhyming pairs. Find more Rhyming Puzzles HERE.

3. Word Ladder Puzzles
Students LOVE these puzzles! Each word is on a ladder rung, and is the same as the word above it and below it, except for one letter. Students use the clues to determine the words to complete the ladder. Find more Word Ladder Puzzles HERE and HERE.

4. Picture Word Search Puzzle
Students love word search puzzles, but these have a fun and more challenging twist! There is no word list to work from; instead, they build the list from the picture clues. The theme of this puzzle is words with double consonants, and each picture represents a word that is spelled with double consonants. This is a great activity to build vocabulary and spelling skills. Find more Picture Word Search Puzzles HERE and HERE.

I hope you and your students enjoy this sampler of puzzles and activities. If you did, also check out some other resources that I’m sure you will love also:

This fun fill-in-the-blank game will get your students talking and laughing while they practice using gerunds in crazy sentences! Students are dealt 10 cards with a variety of funny activities (gerunds or gerund phrases) and then compete to choose the most clever or funny one to complete a sentence or phrase.

If you love games and puzzles as much as I do, this is for you! I bundled all my games and puzzles and made them available for 50% off. Plus, any activities that are added to the bundle will be available to you for free; just check back for updates and download again!

It’s tough to start anything new in December, but it’s a perfect time for a fun Christmas grammar review to practice concepts students have previously learned! Students will get a thorough review of language concepts with lots of fun writing practice in the days leading up to the holiday/winter break with these 12 Days of Christmas themed activities!