Daily Routines ESL Games, Activities & Worksheets
Daily Routines Chain Game
ESL Daily Routines Game - Vocabulary and Grammar: Matching, Controlled Practice - Group Work
In this engaging daily routines game, students practice the names of 12 common daily routines by matching pictures in an 'I..., Do you...?' chain. In groups, one student starts by placing one of their cards...
Daily Routines: Flashcards & Worksheet
ESL Daily Routines Flashcards and Worksheet - Flashcards: Eliciting, Drilling - Vocabulary and Grammar Exercises: Matching, Gap-fill
In this useful daily routines resource, students learn the names of 12 common daily routines and practice them with flashcards and a worksheet. To begin...
Daily Routine Riddles
ESL Daily Routines Game - Listening, Speaking and Vocabulary: Describing, Guessing - Pair Work
In this daily routines game, students review the names of 12 common daily routines by listening to clues and guessing the answers. In pairs, students take turns picking up a card and reading the first clue to their...
Daily Routines Board Game
ESL Daily Routines Board Game - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Impromptu Speech, Freer Practice - Group Work
In this free daily routines board game, students practice vocabulary related to daily routines and talk in response to topic-related prompts. Players take turns rolling the dice and moving their counters...
Daily Routine Dash
ESL Daily Routines Games - Vocabulary and Reading: Matching, Pelmanism, Gap-fill, Ordering - Pair Work
In these fun daily routines games, students complete sentences with vocabulary related to daily activities and then race to put the sentences in order to create a text about someone's daily routine...
Daily Routines Survey
ESL Daily Routines Activity - Speaking: Forming, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled Practice - Group Work
In this insightful daily routines activity, students conduct a survey where they ask and answer 'Do you...?' questions about daily routines. First, each student creates the daily routine 'Do you...?' question...
Daily Routine Vocabulary
ESL Daily Routines Worksheet - Vocabulary and Writing Exercises: Binary Choice, Matching, Error Correction, Gap-fill, Writing a Paragraph
Here is a useful daily routines worksheet to help students practice vocabulary related to daily routines. Students begin by discussing three questions about daily...
Find Someone Who Usually...
ESL Daily Routines Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Gap-fill, Asking and Answering Questions, Controlled and Freer Practice
In this engaging daily routines speaking activity, students ask and answer questions about their daily routines and habits. First, students complete 'Find someone who...' prompts with daily routine...
Daily Life Discussion
ESL Daily Routines Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Discussion, Freer Practice - Group Work
Here is a daily routines discussion activity that helps students practice vocabulary related to daily routines and discuss their habits and routines. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and asking the...
Which Routine is Better?
ESL Daily Routines Activity - Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Discussion, Freer Practice - Group Work
In this daily routines discussion activity, students use comparative structures to express and justify preferences about daily routines. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and asking...
Eco-Friendly Daily Routines
ESL Daily Routines Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Binary Choice, Gap-fill - Speaking Activity: Asking and Answering Questions, Freer Practice - Pair Work
Here is an informative daily routines worksheet to help students learn and practice verbs related to eco-friendly daily routines. Students begin by...
Routine Reset
ESL Daily Routines Activity - Listening and Speaking: Planning and Delivering a Short Talk, Peer Review, Freer Practice - Pair Work
In this daily routines speaking activity, students give short talks about a routine change they have made, contrast the present perfect simple and continuous, and use sequencing and result language...
Using Daily Routines Vocabulary
Daily routines vocabulary covers the verbs and phrases used to describe habitual actions that people perform each day, from waking up and getting ready in the morning to eating meals, commuting, and winding down at night. Students who rely on a narrow set of verbs, using 'do' or 'make' for every action, produce descriptions that sound flat and repetitive, while those with a wider range can describe their day with the kind of natural specificity native speakers use without thinking.
This page covers daily routines vocabulary across A1, A1-A2, A2, B1, and B2 levels, with 12 activities ranging from flashcard drills and chain games to surveys, discussion tasks, and a speaking activity with peer review, including one free download.
The table below shows the key daily routines vocabulary, including the verb phrase to use, when each routine typically happens, and an example sentence for each.
| Daily Routine | Verb Phrase | Time of Day | Example Sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| waking up | wake up / get up | morning | 'I usually wake up at 6:30 a.m. and get up straight away.' |
| washing | have a shower / have a bath | morning / evening | 'She has a shower every morning before breakfast.' |
| getting dressed | get dressed | morning | 'He gets dressed quickly and eats breakfast at the same time.' |
| eating meals | have breakfast / have lunch / have dinner | morning / midday / evening | 'We usually have dinner together at 7:00 p.m.' |
| going to work or school | go to work / go to school | morning | 'I go to work by train and arrive at 9:00 a.m.' |
| doing exercise | go to the gym / go for a run | morning / evening | 'She goes for a run three mornings a week.' |
| relaxing | watch TV / read a book | evening | 'He watches TV for an hour before going to bed.' |
| going to bed | go to bed / fall asleep | night | 'I usually go to bed at 11:00 p.m. and fall asleep quickly.' |
When to Use Daily Routines Vocabulary
Making Small Talk With New People: When students meet someone new in a social or professional setting and conversation stalls, daily routines vocabulary gives them a reliable topic to draw on, as in 'Do you usually work from home, or do you go into the office?'
Describing Work Habits in Writing: When students write a cover letter or professional bio that asks them to describe their working style, daily routines vocabulary lets them go beyond vague claims and be specific, as in 'I typically start my day by reviewing my emails and setting three priorities before I begin any project work.'
Comparing Routines Across Cultures: When students discuss lifestyle differences with international peers or in a cross-cultural writing task, daily routines vocabulary provides the verbs and time expressions needed to describe what is normal in their own culture and contrast it with another, as in 'In many Spanish-speaking countries, people tend to eat their main meal at midday rather than in the evening.'
3-Step Framework for Teaching Daily Routines Vocabulary
1. Introduce Vocabulary With Sentence Frames: Before students can talk about their own routines, they need the core verbs and a structure to hang them on. Use flashcards to elicit and drill the target vocabulary, then anchor the language immediately by writing two frames on the board: 'What do you do in the morning/evening?' and 'What time do you...?' These frames give students a ready-made scaffold so the vocabulary moves from recognition into production from the very first lesson.
2. Get Students Using the Vocabulary in a Real Survey: Once the vocabulary is in place, push students to use it communicatively with a survey task. Each student forms a 'Do you...?' question from a prompt card, such as 'Do you usually wake up before 7:00 a.m.?', then goes around the group asking and collecting answers. The reporting stage at the end, where students stand up and tell the class what they found out, such as 'Four people usually wake up before 7:00 a.m.', locks in both the vocabulary and the question structure at the same time.
3. Push Into Opinion and Discussion With Comparatives: Close the sequence by asking students to evaluate rather than just describe. A card-based discussion format prompts groups to debate preferences using a 'Which is better, ... or ...? Why?' structure, such as 'Which is better, exercising in the morning or exercising in the evening? Why?' Students who pick up a blank card with 'or' on it can invent their own comparison question, which pushes the most confident students further while keeping everyone engaged.
Common Mistakes with Daily Routines Vocabulary
Misplacing frequency adverbs: Students often place frequency adverbs like 'usually', 'always', and 'never' after the main verb rather than before it, which sounds unnatural and can make the sentence harder to follow. Wrong: 'I wake up usually at 7 a.m. and eat always breakfast at home.' Correct: 'I usually wake up at 7 a.m. and always eat breakfast at home.'
Using 'do' instead of 'have' with shower and bath: Students often use 'do' with 'shower' and 'bath' through direct transfer from their first language, when English consistently pairs these nouns with 'have.' Wrong: 'I do a shower every morning before I go to work.' Correct: 'I have a shower every morning before I go to work.'
Common Questions About Teaching Daily Routines Vocabulary
What is a fun daily routines board game for ESL students?
The free board game Daily Routines Board Game has two types of squares. On a regular square, the player must name the correct daily routine from a gapped sentence or move back two squares. On a 'Talk about' square, the player has 20 seconds to respond to a prompt or lose their place on the board.
What is a useful worksheet for teaching daily routines vocabulary?
The worksheet Daily Routine Vocabulary takes students from recognition to production in one sequence. They underline the correct verb in routine sentences, match verbs to the words and phrases they collocate with, correct errors in routine sentences, complete a gap-fill text, then write and present a paragraph about their own daily routine.
What is a good daily routines speaking activity?
The activity Find Someone Who Usually... gets the whole class on their feet asking daily routine questions. When a classmate answers 'yes', the student writes their name and asks a follow-up question to find out more, so every exchange moves from a yes/no answer into a short real conversation.
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