Here is a likes and dislikes lesson plan for young children learning English. I prepared this for a teacher who wanted help teaching a cute rhyme. The teacher sent me this rhyme, and I am not claiming authorship, only the lesson plan to teach it with games!
Start with the main nouns
Start this likes and dislikes lesson by introducing the main nouns: mice, ears, feet, teeth, cheese, rice. Some of these may be revision, especially if you have already taught body parts.
Jump the line
Introduce mice and ears and start to play Jump the Line. (Full explanation in my preschool games book.) Jump the Line is where kids jump from side to side according to which side of the line, or board, the vocabulary is. You try and catch them out by going faster and faster. After a minute, add ears, jump a couple more times, add in feet and teeth. Play with these four words until you see the kids know them. Next, add cheese and rice and play with all six. (Six new terms will be too much in one go for 3-year-old beginners, so stop at four). That whole process should take about five minutes.
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Change to a different listening game, still sticking with the six new words. First, show a mime for mice, like holding up two little paws and munching like a rabbit with teeth bared. Then, demonstrate two more mimes for eating rice and eating cheese.
Miming games
Miming is ideal for a ‘likes and dislikes lesson.’ Bring up three kids to the front. Show each of them a picture that they mime when you say “go.” Each of the three kids at the front is miming something different. For the body parts, they just touch that body part. For teeth, they could do a Cheshire cat grin.
Ask the pupils, “Who is miming mice?” They call out the name of the pupil being a mouse. If they don’t answer, ask, “Is it Juan?” which might prompt them. Help them as much as you need to. Next, try, “Who is touching her feet?”
Swap over the three at the front and repeat with different words.
General teaching tip
Keep going for as long as you have interest, but never flog a game to death. You can always use it again in a subsequent lesson.
Please check out my preschool games book and my stories with lesson plans if you need a method to teach with games. If you prefer a paperback, you may get it on this link.
Simon Says
Play Simon Says with the six new words. For example, Simon Says, “Touch your feet be a mouse, eat some rice, eat some cheese.” Complete instructions and variants are in my preschool games book. Next, add “Simon says be little!” and the kids have to crouch down small. Sometimes preschoolers cannot grasp Simon Says, and they don’t like the idea of being out! It’s best to use Simon Says as a commands game if you have 3-year-olds. However, 5-year-olds should be able to play the full version.
Games to teach like and dislike
For like and dislike, sit the kids in a circle and show them some food pictures, ask the pupils, “Do you like this? Do you hate it?” Encourage all the kids to answer you at once with their different replies, either ‘I like it, or I hate it.’ They pull a face if they hate it and do thumbs up if they like it.
Pull a face competition
Have a competition on who can do the best acting for ‘I hate it.’ Let the kids practise in pairs for thirty seconds. Then, each one takes a turn to say, “I hate it,” while pulling a face and acting. Next, let the kids pick a winner, and the winner gets to do it again! Now, play again and choose a different winner. You can have joint winners and groups of winners. Just don’t have any losers! (Normally, I avoid competition with 5s to 6s, but with a silly game like this one, I think it’s OK).
Introduce the cute rhyme
First, go through the rhyme as if you were telling a story, miming the actions as you go, and showing pictures of the vocabulary to help kids understand.
Tell the story again, but this time have the kids doing the actions with you as you go along.
Use a melody
If you want to put the rhyme to a tune, now is the time to sing it. At first, the kids are still just listening and doing the actions. They will need a few goes through the song to get the mimes in place, but this gives them a chance to hear the melody.
The first part of the rhyme to teach like and dislike
Now we come to the cute rhyme for this likes and dislikes lesson. Start by teaching the rhyme line by line – you say it, then pupils say it and copy the actions. Learn this block first:
Mice, mice, mice
Mice, mice, mice,
I like their little ears.
Mice, mice, mice,
I like their little feet.
Mice, mice, mice,
I like their little teeth.
Yes, little mice are really nice.
Do that at least four times from top to bottom, which might be enough for one lesson. Then, move on to a different activity, revise verse one in the next lesson, and add verse two below.
The second part of the rhyme
Now do the second block four times over – always with actions:
My mum hates mice,
my dad hates mice,
but I think mice are really nice.
I give them cheese,
I give them rice.
Yes, little mice are really nice!
Finally, go once through the whole thing. Then, to review likes and dislikes, revise this rhyme for five minutes in future lessons until the kids know it well.
Perform a skit
Finally, consider creating a cute skit. Performing the rhyme with actions (and even mice masks made by the kids) could be part of a show to parents at the end of the term.
Three pupils play the mum, the dad, or the “I” person (narrator), and the other kids are mice.
For the opening, the mice present themselves.
Then mum and dad chase the mice here on “my mum hates mice, my dad hates mice.”
And the mice run to the narrator, who pets and feeds them.
Do let me know how it goes! Comments are most welcome in the box below.
Kind regards
Shelley Ann Vernon
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1 thought on “Likes and dislikes lesson plan for children”
Adorable and practical lesson plan! Thank you so much. And, happy new year to all! Best wishes