Prepositions of Time ESL Games, Activities and Worksheets

In this free prepositions of time speaking activity, students complete questions with time prepositions and then ask and answer the questions with a partner. Working alone, students complete questions on their worksheet with the prepositions of time: in, on, at. In pairs, students then take it in turns to ask their partner the questions and make notes on their answers. Finally, students give feedback to the class on what they found out about their partner.

In these two fun prepositions of time activities, students do a worksheet where they complete sentences with time prepositions and play a game where they match time expressions with the prepositions: in, on, at. Students begin by completing sentences on the worksheet with the prepositions of time: in, on, at. After reviewing the answers, give each student a set of time preposition cards and have everyone stand up. Call out time expressions at random. Each time the students hear a time expression, they hold up a matching time preposition card. If students hold up the wrong time preposition or are too slow, they are out of the game and must sit down. The last student left standing wins the game.

In this prepositions of time game, students play dominoes to practice the time prepositions: in, on, at. The first player puts down one of their dominoes on either side of the domino on the table, making sure that the preposition of time matches with the time expression or vice versa. If the player matches the preposition of time successfully, they score a point. For an extra point, the player then uses the prepositional time phrase in a sentence. The other players then take it in turns to match their dominoes in the same way by putting them down at either end of the domino chain and making a suitable sentence when a prepositional time phrase is formed. When a player has gotten rid of all their dominoes, the game ends. The player with the most points wins the game.

Here is a time prepositions quiz for reviewing the prepositions of time: in, on, at. In the quiz, students complete multiple-choice general knowledge statements with appropriate time prepositions. In pairs, students complete each general knowledge statement on the worksheet by choosing the appropriate time preposition (in, on, at) and multiple-choice answer. When the students have finished, review the answers with the class by having a different pair of students read out each answer. Pairs score two points for the correct time preposition and answer, or one point for the correct time preposition with a wrong answer or vice versa. The pair with the highest score wins.

In this prepositions of time game, students play dominoes by matching the prepositions of time in, on and at with time expressions and making invitations using prepositional time phrases. The first player puts down one of their dominoes on either side of the domino on the table, making sure that the preposition of time matches with the time expression or vice versa. The other players then take it in turns to match their dominoes in the same way. If a player cannot put down one of their dominoes, they have two options. The player can use an invite card (if they have one) to invite another player to go out using a prepositional time phrase from the dominoes on the table, e.g. 'Would you like to go to the cinema on Saturday?'. The other option is for the player to take a domino from the top of the pile and put it down if they can. The first player to get rid of all their dominoes wins the game.

In this amusing prepositions of time game, students play snap by matching time prepositions (in, on, at, every, during, by, until) with time phrases and making true sentences with matching pairs. In pairs, one student has a set of time preposition cards and the other has a set of time phrase cards. Both students turn over a card from their pile at the same time. If the time preposition matches with the time phrase, the first student to say 'Snap' scores a point. For an extra point, the student then tries to make a true sentence using the time preposition and phrase. Students then pick up their own cards, shuffle the pack and play again. If the time preposition and time phrase don't match, students continue turning over cards until a matching pair comes up and someone says 'Snap'. If a student says 'Snap' when the cards don't match, the other student scores a point and the game continues. The first student to get 20 points wins the game.

In these two free and engaging time preposition activities, students complete exercises on a worksheet to learn and practice prepositions of time and take part in a Find Someone Who activity. First, students put each time expression on the worksheet into its correct column: in, on, at or no preposition. Next, students complete rules for using the time prepositions. After that, in pairs, students test their partner on the time prepositions by reading a time expression to their partner who tries to guess the correct preposition. Next, students complete gaps in a Find Someone Who activity with in, on, at, or no preposition. After that, students prepare the yes/no questions they need to ask in the activity. Students then go around the class, asking each other the questions, e.g. 'Do you like to get up late on Sunday?' When someone answers 'yes' to a question, the student writes down their name and asks a follow-up question to gain more information, noting down the answer. Afterwards, students tell the class about three people they interviewed in the activity.

In this time prepositions board game, students race against each other to land on time expression squares that match with a preposition of time on their card. The game board contains time expressions that go with the three time prepositions (in, on, at). However, there are also decoy time expressions included on the board that have no preposition. The aim of the game is to be the first player to complete their time preposition card with eight matching time expressions. Players take it in turns to roll the dice and move their counter along the board in any direction. When a player lands on a time expression square that they think matches with their time preposition, they tell the other players that they want to write the time expression on their card. The other players then confirm whether the time preposition and time expression match. If they agree, the player writes the time expression on their card. If the preposition and time expression don't match, the player misses a turn. The first player to complete their card with eight matching time expressions wins the game.