Adjective Games to Play in the Classroom

Adjective Flash Cards

• Play a flash card game to teach students new adjectives. Create picture flash cards by attaching photographs, simple drawings and pictures cut from magazines onto plain index cards. Ask each student to pick a partner. Encourage one student in each pair to hold up the flash cards while the other student writes down as many adjectives as he can think of for that picture in 30 seconds, then switch. At the end of the activity, ask students to share the adjectives they came up with.

Find the Adjective

• Help students identify adjectives in a sentence with a group activity. Read sentences or a short story to the class. Ask students to listen for adjectives and to perform a specific movement when they hear one. For example, you might ask students to stand up or raise their hands when they hear an adjective.

Fill-In-The-Blank

• Teach students about adjectives with a group activity. Bring in a small, soft ball to class. Write a noun on the board and then ask students to call out an adjective that describes that noun when the ball is tossed to them. For example, for the word "tree," students might call out "tall," "green" or "rough." If a student cannot think of a new adjective, the game doesn't have to end. Instead, encourage the student to think of a new noun so that the game can continue. As students call out words, write them on the board.

Adjective Pictures

• Help students learn about adjectives with a creative art activity. Write nouns for simple-to-draw objects on index cards. Examples might include tree, car, house or dog. Place all the noun cards in a basket. Next, write adjectives on index cards so that you have twice as many adjectives as nouns. Example adjectives might describe color, size or shape. Place the adjective cards in another basket, and label the baskets accordingly. Give each student paper and markers. Ask each student to take one noun card and two adjective cards, and encourage them to draw a picture using the cards as a guide. When the pictures are completed, ask students to present their pictures to the class, and let the students guess the nouns and adjectives each student was given.