15 ESL games for Zoom that kids actually ask to repeat
Aylara A.
Kids' teacher · founder of AylaraTalks
The games that work on Zoom share three traits: everyone acts at once, the camera is the game board, and a round fits in ninety seconds. Every game below passes all three tests — steal the list as it stands.
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, Russian, Spanish or Arabic, 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.
Teachers also ask
What's the biggest mistake with Zoom games for kids?
Turn-taking. One child playing while nine wait is nine children leaving the lesson. Choose games where every square of the gallery acts simultaneously.
Do these games need any apps or accounts?
No — a camera and the teacher's shared screen cover everything here, and the linked game worlds run in the browser without sign-ups.
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
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.
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