16 fun ways to practice English with kids at home
Reviewed by Chinh Q. Hoang, PhD, founder, English for Fun · 2026-10-30
Short answer: Short games, riddles, tongue twisters, jokes, songs and everyday phrases are all good ways to practice English as a family, in 5 to 15 minutes each.
Short answer: young children learn English best through short, playful activities repeated every day. Play an English game for ten minutes, say a tongue twister, guess a riddle, tell a joke, or use a few English phrases at home. Here are 16 ways, all free, each with audio or instructions.
At a glance
| Activity | Skill | Time | Start here |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Find-the-object game | Listening, vocabulary | 5–10 min | Find It! |
| 2. Card-matching game | Vocabulary, memory | 5–10 min | Memory Match |
| 3. Listen-and-remember game | Listening | 5 min | Audio Memory |
| 4. First reading words | Reading, speaking | 5–10 min | Read It! |
| 5. First island of an island game | Words, sentences, numbers, letters | 10–15 min | All games |
| 6. Tongue twisters | Pronunciation | 3–5 min | Tongue twisters |
| 7. "What am I?" riddles | Listening, vocabulary | 5 min | English riddles |
| 8. Knock-knock jokes | Speaking, wordplay | 5 min | English jokes |
| 9. Screen-free listening games | Listening | 5–10 min | 10 English games at home |
| 10. One topic a week | Vocabulary | 10 min a day | Learn by topic |
| 11. Print flashcards and play | Vocabulary, reading | 10 min | Printables |
| 12. English in daily routines | Speaking | Through the day | 20 first English sentences |
| 13. Picture books with questions | Listening, speaking | 10 min | Listening practice at home |
| 14. Build sentences | Grammar, reading | 5 min | Sentence Builder |
| 15. Tricky sound pairs | Pronunciation, listening | 5 min | Minimal pairs |
| 16. "I can…" action game | Listening, verbs | 5 min | I can: action words |
Free English learning games (ways 1–5)
Four small games are completely free, with no account and no ads: Find It! (listen and find the object), Memory Match (find the pairs), Audio Memory (listen and remember) and Read It! (read short words grouped by sound).
The seven island games (words, sentences, letters, numbers, math, shapes, colors) each have a free first island. Ten to fifteen minutes a session is plenty.
Tongue twisters, riddles and jokes (ways 6–8)
Tongue twisters practice tricky sounds such as TH, SH and end sounds. Each one has a normal and a slow recording.
“What am I?” riddles ask the child to listen to a short description and guess the word: vocabulary review that does not feel like review.
Knock-knock jokes come with a one-line explanation of the wordplay, so you can tell them again.
Screen-free (ways 9–13 and 16)
- I spy, Simon says and other listening games: see 10 English games at home.
- One topic a week, such as animals or colors. Each topic page has a printable chart, flashcards and a worksheet.
- Name things and use short phrases during the day: "Wash your hands", "Time for bed". See 20 first English sentences.
- Read a picture book together and ask "What is this?", "What color is it?".
- Action commands: "I can jump", "I can clap". The child listens, moves and says it.
Keep it fun
- Short and regular: ten minutes a day beats one long session at the weekend.
- Stop while it is still fun, so your child wants to come back. See keeping English fun.
- Screens: the WHO recommends no more than one hour a day for children aged 2 to 4, and less is better. Mix games with the screen-free ideas above.
- Praise effort, not perfection. A wrong sound said out loud is better than silence.