Have you tried our Word Bank lesson on Fruit? In this lesson, your new or young learners will review and practice the English words for some of the most common types of fruit. Our flashcard set of Fruit features many more words and pictures. Do you teach young learners who love and need to run around? Try reviewing these words with an active vocabulary game that is often played in preschool classrooms. This game works best outside or in a gymnasium.

How to Play "Fruit Salad"

1. Tell students to sit in a circle. This is the fruit bowl.
2. Choose one person to sit in the middle and close their eyes. This is the spoon!
3. Ask students to call out three fruits that they know. Choose the first three you hear (e.g., apples, bananas, strawberries).
4. Walk around the circle and assign each student one of these three fruits. Tap your students' shoulders as you assign each one a fruit.
5. Now, tell the person in the middle (the spoon) to open their eyes. The spoon will shout one of the fruits (apple, banana, or strawberry) and stand up.*
6. Anyone who was assigned the fruit that was called out must also stand up. Now all of the standing students must run clockwise around the circle and try to find an empty spot in the fruit bowl. (The spoon will run to the outside of the circle and also try to find a vacant spot.) The last person standing goes in the middle and becomes the spoon.
7. Begin again with three different fruits (or repeat the same ones if your students need more practice).

*When your students are ready, add a spin-off rule. The teacher (or spoon) can sometimes shout out "Fruit Salad!" Then everyone in the bowl has to get up and switch places, and the spoon has to find a spot too. Remind students that everyone must move clockwise in order to avoid collisions! If you're worried about kids running into each other, make a different action, such as everyone stands up and does three jumping jacks when "fruit salad" is called.

How to Adapt This Game

You can adapt this game for many different word sets. If you're reviewing types of birds, play "Treetops." If you're reviewing types of zoo animals, play "Zoo." If you're reviewing types of toys, play "Toy Box."

Related

• Word Bank – Fruit
• Flashcards – Fruit
• Super Simple Questions – What Color Is It?
• Word Bank – Birds
• Word Bank – Zoo Animals
• Word Bank – Toys