5 Super Fun Activities To Teach Clothes Vocabulary In English

Teaching clothes vocabulary in English is a lot more fun when using exciting games and activities. Check out our top five games for teaching clothes vocabulary to kids and beginner ESL students.

Related: Clothes Lesson Plan / List Of Clothes

5 Fun And Free Games To Teach Clothes Vocabulary

1: Clothing Guessing Game

This clothing guessing game is a great way to introduce or review clothes vocabulary with kids. In this game, students will see an outline of an item of clothing. They then have 5 seconds to guess what piece of clothing it is. This activity can be used as a review activity once students have learned some clothing vocabulary. Alternatively, it can be used as an introduction activity to introduce the topic of clothes and to activate students’ existing knowledge of clothes vocabulary.

2: Put On Your Hat, Please (Simon Says Game)

This variation of the classic classroom game ‘Simon Says’ is a great listening activity to practice clothing words. Before starting this game, first, teach the students how to mime putting on different items of clothing. For example, ‘Put on your hat.’, ‘Take off your hat.’, ‘Put on your jacket.’, ‘Take off your jacket.’, etc. Once students have practiced enough, it’s time to start the game.

In this game, if the teacher says ‘please‘ at the end of the sentence, then students should do the action. If the teacher doesn’t say ‘please’, then students should not do the action. For example, if the teacher says ‘Put on your hat, please.’, then all students should mime putting on a hat. If the teacher just says ‘Put on your hat.’, then students should not do anything.

If a student mimes putting on the item of clothing when the teacher didn’t say please, then that student is out and must sit down. Continue playing the game until only a few students are left standing. This game is a lot of fun and kids really like it. More Games Like Simon Says.

3: Clothing Line Bingo

This fun ESL card game is a variation of bingo and can be played with any target language. To play this clothes bingo game, you need some small clothes flashcards for students to use. Download and print these clothes student cards and give one set to each student or pair of students. Next, ask students to place the clothes mini-flashcards in a horizontal line in any order that they want. Now the game can begin.

To begin, the teacher will choose one of the clothes flashcards and say the target expressions out loud. For example, ‘I want to buy a blue T-shirt.’ Then students should look at their clothes cards and if the blue T-shirt card is on the left end or the right end of the line of cards, then they can turn that card over. If the T-shirt card is in the middle of the line of cards, then the student cannot turn it over.

Then, the teacher should choose another card and say the sentence out loud (e.g., ‘I want to buy some shoes.’). And again, students should check if they can turn this card over. The first student to turn over all of his/her clothes flashcards has bingo and is the winner. This line bingo card game can be played with any target language if you have some small flashcards for students. You can download many student cards for FREE from our Flashcards Page.

4: Clothes Drawing Game

This activity to teach clothes vocabulary is a lot of fun, and your students will likely want to play this game several times once they see the funny result. To play, all you need is some pieces of A4 paper (or card), some scissors, and some coloring pens/pencils.

First, give each student a piece of paper. Assign a different piece of clothing for each of the students to draw. For example, one student will draw a hat, one student will draw a shirt, one student will draw trousers, etc. Tell students not to show their drawings to their friends. Once students have drawn their item of clothing, ask students to color it in and cut it out.

Once students have finished, draw a simple drawing of a man/woman on the board. Invite students one by one to come to the front and ‘dress’ the man/woman by placing their drawing in the right place on the board. Once all the drawings of the items of clothing are attached to the board, students will love the silly image they have created together.

TIP: After creating this drawing of a man/woman with different pieces of clothing, you can use it to drill the target language with the students. For example, ask students ‘What is he/she wearing?’, ‘He/She is wearing a blue hat, a yellow shirt, and red shoes.’, etc.

5: Clothes Vocabulary Board Games

Board games are a great way to get students talking using clothes vocabulary. Download and print this clothes board game and give one to each pair of students. Each pair of students also needs one pencil and one paper clip.

In this game, students will take turns in flicking the paper clip to make it spin (place the paper clip in the middle and place the pencil in the middle of a paper clip and then flick). Then, students should make a dialogue based on the item of clothing that the clip lands on. For example, if the clip lands on the blue T-shirt, one student can ask, ‘What are you wearing?’, and the other student can answer, ‘I am wearing a blue T-shirt.’. For more board games and other printables to teach clothes vocabulary, click here.

Thanks for reading. I hope you found some good game ideas to teach clothes vocabulary and expressions. Before you go, don’t forget to check out our FREE ESL lesson materials, including flashcards, board games, lesson plans, and PowerPoint Games.