10 fun ESL games for kids centered around the "Café" topic.

Here are 10 fun ESL games for kids centered around the "Café" topic. These games focus on vocabulary, speaking, listening, and roleplay to make learning English both engaging and educational.

 
1. Café Roleplay
Skills: Speaking, Listening
How to Play:
Set up a pretend café using toy food, menus, and play money. Assign roles: waiter/waitress, customer, cashier. Kids take turns ordering, serving, and paying for food using café vocabulary.

 
2. Menu Match-Up
Skills: Vocabulary
How to Play:
Create a menu with pictures and separate word cards (e.g., "burger," "juice"). Kids match the word to the correct picture. For older kids, add prices for practicing numbers and currency.

 
3. What’s on the Menu? Bingo
Skills: Listening, Vocabulary
How to Play:
Create bingo cards with café items. Call out food/drinks (e.g., “lemonade,” “spaghetti”). Kids mark them off. Add fun like "Today's special is…" or sound effects.

 
4. Waiter Says (Simon Says)
Skills: Listening, Vocabulary
How to Play:
A twist on "Simon Says." Example: “Waiter says, ‘Hold a tray!’” or “Waiter says, ‘Serve a pizza!’” If the leader doesn’t say “Waiter says,” and a kid still acts, they’re out!

 
5. Café Mystery Basket
Skills: Speaking, Imagination
How to Play:
Give a group of kids a “mystery basket” (real or pictured) of 3 café items. They create a short skit or dialogue about serving those items in a café, using full sentences.

 
6. Build a Menu
Skills: Writing, Reading
How to Play:
Each student makes their own café menu by cutting out pictures from magazines or drawing food items. They label each item and price it, then present their menu to the class.

 
7. Order Relay Race
Skills: Listening, Speaking
How to Play:
Place picture cards of food around the room. One student is the “customer” and says an order (e.g., “I want a sandwich and lemonade”). The other runs to find and bring the correct items.

 
8. Pass the Plate
Skills: Vocabulary Recall
How to Play:
Students sit in a circle. Pass a toy plate around while music plays. When the music stops, the student holding the plate must name a café food/drink or say a café-related sentence.

 
9. Café Song & Chant
Skills: Pronunciation, Rhythm
How to Play:
Create a simple chant or song like:
🎵 “Welcome to our café, what would you like to eat today?
Pizza, salad, juice or pie,
Tell the waiter, don’t be shy!”
Kids sing and do actions for each item.

 
10. Guess the Order
Skills: Listening, Memory
How to Play:
Prepare sound clips or read out “orders” like “I’d like a hot chocolate and a muffin.” Students listen and draw or choose the correct items from a set of pictures.

 
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