15 ESL games for Zoom that kids actually ask to repeat
Aylara A.
Kids' teacher · founder of AylaraTalks
The best Zoom games use what the platform already gives you: a grid of faces, a chat box and a shared screen. You don't need seventeen tabs and a subscription — you need a small repertoire that starts in seconds. Here are fifteen, sorted by what they use.
Camera-only games
- Freeze! — kids move like the word you say ('swim!', 'fly!'), freeze when you clap. Whoever wobbles names the next word.
- Show me something… — 'Show me something red / round / soft.' First one back with an object names it in English.
- Mirror me — you do slow actions, kids mirror and chant the verb. Speed up until it collapses into giggles.
- Guess the face — one child makes a feeling face; the class calls the word: happy, angry, surprised.
- Disappearing teacher — duck below your camera holding a flashcard; pop up for one second. They shout what they saw.
Chat box games
- Fast fingers — show a picture, kids type the word. First correct spelling wins the round; typos get a friendly second try.
- One letter each — build a word letter by letter: each student may only send one letter, in turn.
- Yes/No rush — you make statements ('A cat can fly'), kids type YES or NO as fast as they can.
- Secret word — whisper a word to one student in a private message; they describe it in chat, others guess aloud.
- Emoji dictation — send 🐱🏠🌧️; kids say (or type) the sentence: 'The cat is in the house. It is raining.'
Screen-share games
This is where ready-made games shine: share the tab, and the whole class sees the same board. Ours run in one click, in English and Russian, and were built to look good on a projector or a shared screen.
- Spin the wheel with your students' names — the fairest way to pick who answers next.
- Memory Match on screen — kids take turns calling positions: 'Open the panda… and the frog!'
- Bingo — share the caller view; kids mark printed cards at home for a lovely online-offline mix.
- Word Scramble — the class shouts letters in order while one student 'drives' your shared screen.
⭐ Take this with you
Pick five games — two camera, two chat, one screen-share — and keep them on a sticky note by your monitor. A tiny repertoire you know cold beats a huge list you have to look up mid-lesson.
🎈 Put it into play
Everything here pairs with our free classroom games — no prep, no accounts.
About the author
Aylara A.
Kids' teacher · founder of AylaraTalks
Aylara is a kids' teacher who spent years hand-making every classroom game — cutting cards and drawing boards on paper sheets. She created AylaraTalks so no teacher has to start from a blank page again.