Article- The best kids’ games ever 4- Variations on Target Practice

Variations on Target Practice- How to improve your students’ hand eye coordination as well as their English 

The ‘classic’ version: The students throw something (e.g. a sticky ball) at various targets (e.g. letters written on the board) depending on what the teacher says. Accurate throwing and correct oral production means points. Possible targets include letters, words, pictures, phonemic symbols, classroom objects, realia or flashcards- on the whiteboard, at the front of the room, on desk(s) or scattered around the room. Projectiles include sticky balls (sucker balls), beach balls, soft plastic fruit and animals, toy cars (rolling, not throwing!),flicking rubber bands, various types of toy gun from the 100 yen shop, and puppets.

Variation A: Throw, catch, bounce etc.
Giving one team/ student the ball and telling them what to hit lacks a bit of excitement and interaction (unless you like darts). A bit more action and tension is added by getting them to throw the ball around the class as they recite the target sentence, e.g. S1 ‘hit’, S2 ‘something’. The next student completes the sentence with something nice and difficult to hit, e.g. ‘small and pink’ and passes the ball to someone they think needs the target practice. That person then gains or loses points depending on their throwing ability. To add some mayhem, the first person to run and fetch the ball after it hits the target is allowed to start the next round.

Variation B: No peeking!
Of course, the other thing that can make darts more interesting is not being able to look where you throw the darts. Not being able to kill with the sticky ball takes away some of the thrill, but making students throw over their shoulder or wear a blindfold is a guaranteed laugh. It’s also a way of evening things up in a one-to-one class.

Variation C: Goalkeeper
If your students ever get bored of throwing things, or even (God forbid) throwing and catching, you need to add defending. For example, in Variation A above when the last student says ‘small and pink’ the other students (e.g. those on the other team) try to block them from hitting object(s)/ flashcard(s) they want to. Alternatively, one student stays in front of the board trying to stop the other(s) hitting the correct target. Rules on whether students have to stay sitting or not can make the difference between a little added fun and a complete riot!

Variation D: Dialogue memory delete
In this variation, rather than just a collection of vocab words on the board you have a whole (short) dialogue. The board is first divided into boxes and then the teacher writes the dialogue in these. If the sticky ball lands in any of these boxes, that word is deleted and the other student/ team must say all the missing words on the board or (better) the whole dialogue including all the missing words. If they are right they can throw the ball next. As this is a test of both memory and reading, it is better as practice rather than presentation- but is even students without good reading skills might be able to win if they concentrate.

Variation E: Interesting tables
This is basically the same as Variation D, but instead of a dialogue the students aim at words in some kind of (grammar etc.) table. You would be amazed at the interest they suddenly take in the Irregular Simple Past. Even works with adults. You can also play games based on noughts and crosses/ Blockbusters etc. the same way.

Variation F: Another chance
If students miss the target but can say where the ball has landed (e.g. under the table), they are allowed one more chance. This is obviously great practice for prepositions, and can be turned into the whole point of the target practice game- e.g. students trying to throw something into a box on the table. A nice one to combine with No Peeking (see above).