English games for 3–4 year olds: move, find, sing

What works at 3–4

• Teddy says — Simon says with a toy giving the orders and nobody ever out. 'Teddy says jump!' Everyone jumps, including the child who got it wrong a second ago.
• The mystery bag — three real objects in a cloth bag. Feel, guess, pull out, name. The suspense does the teaching; the word arrives at the exact moment they want it.
• Point to it — two big pictures, one question: 'Where's the cat?' Pointing is a full answer at three. Speaking comes later, and it comes faster when nobody forces it.
• Slow reveal — a flashcard pulled out of an envelope a centimetre at a time. 'Is it… a banana?' Wrong guesses are welcome: each one is another English word said aloud.
• Action chants — the same four lines with the same gestures every lesson. By the third week the gestures come first and the words follow them out.
• Tidy-up race against the song — the toys go into the box before the music ends, and each one is named on the way in. The end of the lesson becomes the review.

What doesn't work yet

• Waiting for a turn — thirty seconds is a long time at three. If the game has turns, give everyone something to do while they wait: clap, echo, hold the teddy.
• Winners and losers — points and 'you're out' end in tears at this age. Play together against the clock, the puppet or the teacher.
• Written words — letters on a card are decoration at three. Keep the words in the air: said, sung, acted.
• Long instructions — three or four words with a gesture, never a paragraph. Show the game once; that is the instruction.

A 20-minute lesson built from games

Plan in blocks of three to six minutes — the real attention span at this age — and swap calm and active: the hello song, the mystery bag with three new words, Teddy says, slow reveal, the chant, the tidy-up race. One big game per lesson is enough. Three or four new words is a full lesson; each needs five to ten meetings across different days before it belongs to the child, so next week's bag holds the same three things and one new one.