Football Figurative Language Sorting Game

This fun and engaging football figurative language game helps students identify the different types of figurative language while talking about a topic that already has their attention--football!

When students come to me in middle school, I expect them to have a basic understanding of the different types of figurative language, but I am often surprised at how much they have forgotten since their elementary teachers covered the subject with them, years before. I have found that a few fun, engaging games at the beginning of the school year can serve as a helpful review so my students are able to move forward in the school year with a better understanding of the types of figurative language they should be looking for in the literature we read.

This game includes 16 football-themed figurative language cards and 8 figurative language labels so students can race against the clock--and each other--to correctly sort their cards into the correct categories. The game reviews the following types of figurative language:

• Simile
• Metaphor
• Personification
• Hyperbole
• Allusion
• Idiom
• Onomatopoeia
• None (I have found it helpful to have a "none" category for a couple of the cards so students have to think critically about whether their cards have figurative language or not.)

I hope your students have a blast with this football-themed game!