Lesson plan

Playground
Topic
Playground equipment and activities

Aims
To develop and practise:
 vocabulary: playground equipment and activities
 structure: like +ing, ‘There is…’ / ‘There are…’, prepositions
 integrated skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing

Age
Primary (7–11 years)

Time
90 minutes approximately

Materials
1. Flashcards
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/flashcards/playground-flashcards
2. Word game: ‘Playground’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/word-games/playground
3. Song, activity sheet, answers and lyrics: ‘Playing in the playground’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/songs/playing-the-playground
4. Story, activity sheet, answers and transcript: ‘No dogs!’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories/no-dogs
5. Your turn: ‘Free-time activities’
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/your-turn/free-time-activities
6. One set of cards with the sentences and prepositions from exercise 3 of the story activity sheet per pair
of learners (stage 4)

For a complete list of all ‘Playground’ content on LearnEnglish Kids, click here:
https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/category/topics/playground

Introduction
In this lesson, learners will learn some vocabulary for playground equipment and practise talking about
doing activities in the playground. They will then listen to a song or watch a story about playing in the
playground. They can produce a story about a dog’s adventure, carry out a class survey about what
learners like doing in the playground, then design their own playground.

www.teachingenglish.org.uk
© The British Council, 2017 The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 Lesson plan
Procedure
1. Introduce the  Show learners the picture of a playground from the flashcards set. Ask learners if
topic (5 mins) they know what it is. Do they go to a playground often? What do they like doing
there? Is there a playground near their house?
 Talk about the playground items in the picture. Ask them if their local playground or
school playground has each of the items. Have a quick vote for the learners’
favourite.

2. Vocabulary  Show learners the playground flashcards one by one. Drill the items. To make this
(10 mins) more fun, ask the learners to repeat the word in a high voice if you hold the card up
high, in a low voice if you hold the card low, in a quiet voice if you hold the card close
to your body, and in a loud voice if you hold the card out towards them.
 Play a game with the flashcards. For example, you could hold a piece of card in front
of the flashcard and slowly reveal it. Learners must guess what it is as it is revealed.
 Alternatively, play a memory game. Stick the cards on the board. One by one, turn
them over and learners say the word. Once all the cards have been turned over, can
they remember which card is where?
 Now play the ‘Playground’ word game to review the words.

3. Song for  Tell learners they are going to listen to a song about playing in a playground. Ask
younger them to watch and see which playground equipment is in the song.
children (20  Play the song again and ask them to complete exercise 1 of the activity sheet:
mins) matching pictures of the playground activities with the word.
 As you check answers, ask them to think of actions to mime for each of the activities.
 Now play the song again. Ask them to do the actions and sing along. You might want
to practise the chorus with them first.
 Ask them to complete exercise 2 of the activity sheet: draw a picture and write what
they like doing in the playground.

4. Story for older  Ask learners some general questions about their recent trips to the playground.
children (20–30 When was the last time they went to the playground? Did they go after school or at
mins) the weekend? Who did they go with? Did they have fun? What did they play on? Did
they see any animals in the playground? Are they allowed to play on the swings or
the climbing frame?
 Tell learners they are going to watch a story about a visit to the playground. After
they watch, give them exercise 2 of the activity sheet. See if they can put the
sentences in order to tell the story. Play the story again so they can check their
answers. Tell the story using the sentences together as a class.
 Now ask learners to complete exercise 3 of the activity sheet. Check answers as a
class. Write the sentences from the exercise on the board, but leave out the
prepositions. Prepare in advance the sentences on paper with the prepositions
missing, and the prepositions on separate pieces of paper. Give each pair of
learners a set of the sentences and prepositions, and ask them to work together to
complete the sentences. Check answers and write the prepositions back in the
sentences on the board.
 Ask learners what else they can bounce on (e.g. a bed) or climb up (e.g. a tree), and
write their ideas on the board.

www.teachingenglish.org.uk
© The British Council, 2017 The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.
 Lesson plan
 Finally, ask learners to imagine that Jessie goes out the next night too and has
another adventure. Where does he go and what does he do? Brainstorm some ideas
first. Tell them Jessie should visit three different places and give them some time to
plan their story in their notebooks. Depending on the level of the learners, they can
either draw pictures and write simple sentences to say where Jessie is and what he’s
doing there, or they can write a longer story. Monitor and help as necessary.

5. Class survey  Tell learners they are going to survey their classmates about what they like doing at
(20 mins) the playground. Ask them to think of five questions to ask. Give them the question
stem ‘Do you like …?’ Brainstorm some ideas first.
 Learners then write five questions in their notebooks, leaving space for ticks and
crosses for the answers. Then they survey their classmates, putting a tick or a cross
next to each question depending on the answer. Monitor and help as necessary.
 After the survey, show learners how to make a bar chart to represent the answers. If
you have some grid paper, they can use this. Do an example on the board.
Demonstrate counting the ticks for each activity, then colouring the corresponding
number of squares. Which playground activities were the most or least popular?

6. Design a  Do a playground picture dictation. Ask learners to draw a large 3 by 3 grid in their
playground notebooks, and number the squares 1-9. Elicit the question ‘What's in square 1?’
project (20–30 from the learners. Say ‘There’s a climbing frame.’ Learners now draw a climbing
mins) frame in square 1. Continue in the same way with the other squares.
 Learners could then try this activity in pairs, dictating to each other. Monitor and help
as necessary, helping them to use ‘There is …’ and ‘There are …’
 Now ask learners to imagine their perfect playground. What activities and equipment
are there? Does it have a theme, for example a pirate theme or a jungle theme?
Brainstorm lots of ideas as a class.
 Ask learners to draw their perfect playground. Encourage them to be creative.
Depending on their level, they can then either simply label their playground or write
about it using ‘There is …’ and ‘There are …’, or using prepositions of place, e.g.
‘The slide is behind the roundabout.’ Monitor and help as necessary.
 Display the playgrounds around the room. Allow learners time to look at each other’s
playgrounds and decide which they would like to visit and why. Get class feedback.

7. Round off  Learners can sing the song again, or play a game of Pelmanism with the flashcards
activity (5 mins) in pairs or groups to review the playground words.

8. Setting  Learners can watch the story and sing the song again at home, or play the game. If
homework (5 your learners are members of LearnEnglish Kids, they can read the comments on
mins) the ‘Free-time activities’ Your turn and leave their own comment on the page.
 You could also ask them to make a display. The next time they go to the playground,
they take some photos of themselves on the equipment. Then on the computer they
can make a display of the photos and write what they are doing under each one.

Contributed by
Rachael Ro

www.teachingenglish.org.uk
© The British Council, 2017 The United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.