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🎾
Word Tennis
Partners volley vocabulary words back and forth — no repeats allowed.
⏱ 5-10 min⚡ Low energy👥 Pairs
📚 Vocabulary
• any vocabulary category
• animals
• food
• colours
• numbers
• classroom objects
🛠 Materials
• No materials needed
• Timer optional
📋 How to Play
- Children work in pairs sitting facing each other.
- Teacher announces a category — "Animals!"
- Child A says one animal — "Lion!"
- Child B immediately responds with a different animal — "Tiger!"
- Child A responds — "Elephant!"
- Continue rallying back and forth — no repeating words.
- The child who cannot think of a word or repeats one loses the rally.
- Play best of 5 rallies then swap partners.
💡 Teacher Tips
✓This is the fastest vocabulary practice game available — use it regularly.
✓Set a 3 second time limit per response to keep the pace fast.
✓Pairs can manage themselves — teacher circulates and listens.
✓Use lesson vocabulary categories for maximum learning value.
🔄 Variations
→Whole class tennis — two teams volley instead of pairs.
→Alphabet tennis — each word must start with the next letter of the alphabet.
→Sentence tennis — each player says a full sentence using the category word.
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