ESLActivities.com Review: Free Customizable ESL Games and Tools

ESLActivities.com is a free site run by a single creator that's been online since 2003. The site's tagline is "Free, Easy, Adaptable ESL Activities" and it delivers on that promise: a small but focused set of customizable generators that turn any word list into a printable classroom activity.

The main tools are:

• Text BINGO — enter a word list, get printable BINGO cards plus a randomized call card
• Picture BINGO — same idea, but with images instead of words (great for young learners and visual review)
• Baseball Review Game — computer-based review game played on a projector; no internet needed during play
• Crossword Puzzle Maker — create paper and online versions; accepts non-English characters (Korean, Arabic, etc.)
• Spelling Challenge — custom word lists with computer-playable spelling games
• Word Scramble — unscramble exercises, playable on screen or on paper
• Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level Tool — paste any text, get a US grade-level readability score
• Timer — simple classroom timer
• POSE Test — Perception of Spoken English diagnostic

The site is supported by PayPal donations and a free newsletter with teaching tips and book recommendations. There's also a free teacher-account option to save custom lists across sessions.

The design looks dated (it is — the site hasn't had a full redesign in years), but the generators work and the output is clean. Several tools are flagged "currently available in the old version only — updates coming soon", which signals an in-progress migration that hasn't fully landed.

ESLActivities.com works best for these specific things:

• Vocabulary review games: generate a BINGO card set from the current unit's word list in under 5 minutes. The randomized call card means no two classes play the same sequence.
• Picture-based review for young learners: Picture BINGO is rare among free tools. Most generators only handle text.
• Custom crosswords for any language: the crossword maker accepts Unicode characters, so it's usable for ESL teachers with Korean, Arabic, Japanese, or Chinese vocabulary.
• Reading-level checks: paste a reading passage into the Flesch-Kincaid tool, get a US grade-level estimate. Useful for matching handouts to class level.
• Substitute teacher plans: BINGO + a word list = 30 minutes of independent review with zero teacher prep.

Yes — for the specific use case it's built for. ESLActivities.com is not a lesson-plan library, not a video resource, not a community. It's a toolbox, and the tools are well-designed for what they do.

The biggest limitation is the "old version / new version" gap. Several tools are temporarily only available in the legacy interface, and the migration to the new site is slow. If you bookmarked a tool last year and it doesn't load, try clearing cache or switching to the old interface.

For teachers who run BINGO and crossword review regularly, this site pays for itself in saved prep time — and it's free. Pair it with one of the alternatives below for lesson-plan content (ESL Brains, Teach-This) since ESLActivities.com doesn't host any.

Honest recommendation: bookmark the BINGO and Crossword generators. Skip the Baseball Review Game unless you teach in a classroom with a projector (it doesn't work on student devices). Use the Flesch-Kincaid tool as a quick readability sanity check before printing handouts.