Clothing games for ESL--English as a second language--instruction gives students a chance to boost their practical vocabulary. The topic lends itself educational games that also keep students engaged. Teachers can adjust the games by selecting different articles of clothing, and add a challenge by having students write out the names of items rather than just saying them.

Clothesline Game
This game uses a mock clothesline in the classroom stretched between two sturdy items, such as the handles of locking file cabinets. Articles of clothing and a bucket of clothespins in a laundry basket serve as the game's playing pieces. The students must search through the basket of clothes to find a specific piece of clothing named by the teacher and hang it on the clothesline. The game also works well as a competition between two different teams, each with a separate laundry basket of items.

Dressing Bear
A cutout of a teddy bear gives kids the chance to practice clothing vocabulary repeatedly. Enlarged clip art or a freehand image will work, with clothing cut from construction paper and labeled with the item's name for reinforcement. Create clothing for different types of weather and different situations--swimming suits, winter coats, dresses, tuxedos and T-shirts--and laminate them for multi-year use.

As you describe what the bear is going to do that day, the kids choose the correct clothing and place on the bear cutout. For example, if you said the bear was going to the beach, a child might put a swimming suit, sunglasses and flip-flops on her bear.

Laundry Bag Pass
This ESL game takes inspiration for the classic Hot Potato game. The kids sit in a circle and pass around a laundry bag of different articles of clothing. When the music stops, the student holding the bag reaches in and pulls out one of the items. He says the item's name and puts it on for the rest of the game. The music starts again and the bag continues around the circle. The bag should contain enough clothing that each child can have two or three items, depending on the size of the class. Once the bag is empty, each child stands and names the pieces of clothing she is wearing.