Outdoor activities always lighten up language classes. Students get more energized and motivated and in addition to it through physical activities, the learning process is incredibly fostered. Although outdoor activities are difficult and timely to organize they are rewarding when you see the learners’ bright eyes.

Winter is the time of the year full of wonders and it is quite possible to organize a set of outdoor activities which are great for ESL classes. Here are some suggestions.

1. Snowman Show

Students are divided into two groups and they build two snowmen, decorate them (the whole process is managed in English) and vote for the best one. The grading rubric is presented by the teacher. Here is a link to a worksheet which provides the useful language for building a snowman. Learners can build a snowman by reading/reciting poems like the following one:

Build a snowman,
Build a snowman,
Build a snowman,
Big and round.
Shape three snowballs, different sizes
Stack them tall, then add a face.
Dress the snowman,
Dress the snowman,
Dress the snowman,
Big and round.
Dress him in last winter’s clothes,
Tie his scarf and add a cap.

Look for more poems here.

As a next step learners are divided into two new groups to discuss the adventures of the snowman who loved summer. In their storyline, they must cover all the possible mishaps and lovely moments the snowman would have. Then they share their story with another group and try to find similarities and differences.

Have not enough snow for full-sized” snowmen? Why not make a mini-snowman family?

Alternatively, make snow monsters. Let your students build different creatures and then make presentations about them (how many eyes they have, what they eat, where they live etc.) If you have a lesson in the evening, pick up a bunch of glow sticks. Poke two holes for the monster’s eyes and place a lit-up glow stick in each hole. Cover the hole lightly with snow, so you can still see its glowing eyes.

2. Make a holiday wish-list for a fellow student

Take students to the nearby garden, provide each student with the name of one of their fellow students and ask them to write what they think that individual would want for holiday presents. Then they write the addressee’s name on an envelope, put the wish-list there and hide the envelope somewhere in the garden. They have to look for their name to see if the list corresponds to their real wishes and share with the writer how much he has guessed. The activity is carried out outdoors because it is good for students to get refreshed and apart from all, in the garden, there are more places to hide the envelope than in the classroom.

In the same way, the students can play Scavenger hunt and look for some Christmas objects or any winter-related object (gloves, boots, etc) hidden in the garden.

3. Capturing the Best Scene

The teacher takes the students to a lovely park and asks to walk around and take one photo of the scene which has appealed to them. Then they work in pairs or groups, show their photos and explain why they have chosen that place to capture. This is a nice activity which develops not only students’ fluency and reasoning skills but also their creativity.

4. Feeding Birds

You could actually take the learners outside and make this an authentic learning activity. Why not find a spot where they can observe the birds. They could count them, describe them and put some real food out for them to eat. They could tie food to trees or find a safe place to leave some bread or other foods.

5. Evergreen identification

Winter is a great time to learn about evergreen trees and how to identify them. Kids can learn to identify conifers by their shape and by their needles. While you may think that all evergreens look alike, each of these trees looks very different. You can find printables of the different shapes and needles to help you identify the trees in your area. Go to a park and try to collect as many different varieties as you can.

6. Snow paint

Get creative with your outdoor nature crafts this winter by making some snow paint. Combine food colouring or watercolour paints with some water and place in a spray bottle. Send your students out to colour the snow in any creative way they’d like! Your kids can paint freestyle, create tic-tac-toe or hopscotch boards, decorate their snow fort, or colour snowballs for an epic battle. You’ll be surprised what incredible clever creations they come up with! Alternatively, you can give instructions on what students should draw.

7. Practice Writing Vocab Words

Let students find a stick and tell them that they can come back in the classroom once they correctly spell in the snow ten of their last lesson vocabulary words.

8. Team building games

If you have a new group of students, have the very first lesson outside playing team building games.

All these activities have been tried in my classes and in all cases, students were very motivated and energized despite the cold weather and the possible obstacles the winter weather will bring.

Which of the activities will you try? How will it work among your students?

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