Free Turkish Resources for Schools and Teachers
This page is for teachers at Turkish weekend schools, people who run children's activities at Turkish associations, home-language teachers, and librarians who keep a list of cultural resources. It puts our free printables, games, stories and short videos in one place, with an idea for using each one in class.
- Free, with no sign-up. Nothing on this list needs an account, a name or an email address, for you or for your students.
- Mostly English with Turkish words. We made these for children growing up outside Türkiye. Three games switch between English and Turkish, and one is played only in Turkish.
- Ages. We give an age only where the resource itself states one. For the rest, you know your class best.
- Where these live. These pages sit on our shop's website, so you will see the shop menu, and most of them also show our products lower down. Everything listed here is free to use as it is.
Print · Play · Listen and watch · Read and say together · Ten-minute plans · Sharing
Short on time? Start with these three
- Turkish alphabet chart: one page to print and pin up.
- Turkish Alphabet Game: go through the letters together on a shared screen.
- Turkish tongue twisters: ten rhymes, nothing to prepare.
All of these are on our free downloads page. Open the PDF and print at 100 percent.
Turkish alphabet chart (Türk Alfabesi)
All 29 letters on one page, each with a picture, a Turkish word and its English meaning, from arı (bee) to zeytin (olive). The eight letters that look or sound different from English are in pink.
1 page · US Letter and A4 · No sign-up
In class: Pin it up and pick one letter each lesson. Ask who has that letter in their name, then find its word on the chart.
Turkish word cards
Sixteen everyday words with pictures and English meanings, such as elma (apple), kedi (cat) and güneş (sun), plus two blank cards to fill in. The last page is a short guide to the letters ç, ş, c, ı and ğ.
5 pages · US Letter, also prints on A4 · No sign-up
In class: Hold up a card, say the word and let the class say it back. Then let the children draw a word of their own on a blank card.
Three Sweets, Three Words (Üç Şeker, Üç Kelime)
A one-page word game inspired by bayram, when hosts offer sweets to every guest. Each of the first three Turkish words a child uses earns a paper sweet for the tray. It includes a word bank of ten words and phrases with simple pronunciation hints.
1 page · US Letter and A4 · No sign-up
In class: Cut the sweets before the lesson. Each time a child uses a Turkish word, write it on a sweet. At the end, the children offer their trays and say Buyurun! (here you are).
Open Three Sweets, Three Words →
Paper Boats and Turkish Letters (Kâğıt Gemiler ve Türkçe Harfler)
A four-page activity pack for ages 5 to 9: six Turkish letters to trace (Ç, Ğ, I, Ö, Ş and Ü), a word search with ten Turkish words and a paper boat to fold in six steps. The answers are on the last page.
4 pages · US Letter and A4 · No sign-up
In class: Give out one page a day. On the last day, each child writes a Turkish word on the side of the boat, and the boats sail across a table from one child to the next. If you have ten minutes, read Ela and the Paper Boats aloud first.
Open Paper Boats and Turkish Letters →
The Blue Bead printables
From our audio story The Blue Bead: a 10-page picture book with the full story text, a sheet of four bookmarks and a coloring page.
Picture book: ages 4 to 9 · A4 · No sign-up
In class: Color the bedtime scene, draw the bead's eye and write a wish for somebody, then give the page to a friend.
Open The Blue Bead printables →
Play
These run in a web browser on laptops and tablets, with nothing to install and no student accounts. Try a round on your classroom device before the lesson.
Turkish Alphabet Game
See a Turkish letter, then tap the picture whose word starts with it. Choose a quick round of 10 letters, all 29, or only the 8 special letters. There is no timer and no sound, so you or a child can read the letters and sound hints aloud.
Ages 4–8 · No sign-up
In class: Play the 8 special letters on a shared screen, with a new child tapping each round.
The Simit Cart Story
Put six mixed-up pictures from a story in order, then meet one Turkish word for each part. There is no timer, and the game switches between English and Turkish.
Ages 4–8 · No sign-up
In class: One child says what is happening in a picture and another finds the next one. Then tell the story again with the six words: hadi, kedi, simitçi, çıtır, poğaça and görüşürüz.
The Picnic of Little Words
Match each picnic picture with its name in Turkish and in English, over ten rounds: simit, armut, su, peçete and kaşık. There is no timer, and the game switches between English and Turkish.
Ages 5–8 · No sign-up
In class: In pairs, one child reads the word and the other finds the picture. If you can, bring a pear, a spoon and a napkin, and name them together.
Play The Picnic of Little Words →
Word Garden
Ten Turkish word questions a round, and every right answer grows a flower. There is no countdown. A button says the word aloud with your device's built-in voice, so check how it sounds before class.
Ages 4 and up · Children who are not reading yet may need a grown-up's help · No sign-up
In class: Play a practice round together, and have the class say each word before anyone taps.
Character Memory
Sixteen cards hide eight pairs of Roots & Talks characters. It is a calm matching game with names such as Ela, Defne and Dino, not a vocabulary game.
Roughly ages 4 to 10 · No sign-up
In class: Use it as a five-minute warm-up or for early finishers. Say each name out loud as the card turns over.
Turkish Word Match
Twelve questions, three hearts and a clock, using 48 everyday words. The page lists words from the game with simple pronunciation hints, such as kah-VEH for kahve. Younger children may need help reading the English answers.
No sign-up
In class: Read the word list aloud together first, then split into two teams and play one round each.
Türkçe Kelime
A five-letter word guessing game with six tries, played in Turkish. The letters ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş and ü count as separate letters, and there is an on-screen keyboard. The page lists the words the game uses.
No sign-up
In class: For children who can spell. Play on a shared screen and let teams agree on each guess.
Turkish Emoji Proverbs
Guess the Turkish saying from a row of emojis. The page also lists all 61 sayings in the game, each with its word-for-word English and its meaning.
No sign-up
In class: Draw one emoji clue on the board and let the class guess the saying before you show the meaning.
Tea Tray Dash
A running game on a Turkish tea street: jump over the simit and catch the tea glasses.
No sign-up
In class: A treat for the last few minutes. While one child plays, the class counts the tea glasses in Turkish: bir, iki, üç.
Our games page lists all 16 games.
Listen and watch
The Blue Bead (audio story)
Defne and Ahmet find a small blue bead in their grandmother's suitcase, and it takes them to a ferry on the Bosphorus, a tea hill, a baklava kitchen, a sky full of balloons and a school yard. Eight chapters of about a minute each, about nine minutes in all, with the words on the page. It is in English with Turkish words and narrated by a synthetic voice. The bead is a nazar boncuğu, which comes from a folk belief.
Ages 4 to 9 · No sign-up
In class: Play one chapter while the children draw, then ask which part they liked best.
Short videos
Seven videos of about 30 seconds each, with our characters, English narration and captions, and Turkish words along the way. Each page also has the narration written out. Five of them end with one spoken line pointing to our shop, so you may want to stop a few seconds early.
- The Turkish alphabet (29 seconds, no sign-up). The letters that look or sound different from English. In class: Watch it, then find the pink letters on the chart.
- What is a nazar bead? (27 seconds, no sign-up). The blue bead as a folk belief, and the phrase nazar değmesin. In class: Watch it, then draw the bead in its rings of dark blue, white, light blue and black.
- Anneanne, babaanne, dede (28 seconds, no sign-up). Why a child's two grandmothers have two different names. In class: Draw a family photo wall and label it. Some families say nene or nine, so ask which word each child uses at home.
- What is simit? (28 seconds, no sign-up). The sesame ring and the simitçi who sells it. In class: Cut paper rings, add sesame dots and say simit, susam and simitçi as you work.
- Çay bahane, muhabbet şahane (33 seconds, no sign-up). The tulip-shaped glass, the double teapot and a saying about tea and good company. In class: Say the saying together, slowly and then faster.
- Turkish New Year countdown (32 seconds, no sign-up). How many families spend yılbaşı, with tombala and a countdown. In class: In the last lesson of December, count down from on to bir together.
- Five of our games (29 seconds, no sign-up). A quick look at five browser games. In class: Show it at a parents' meeting, so families know what they can play at home.
Read and say together
These articles were written for families. You can read from them in class. Most of them mention our products, usually near the end.
The Turkish alphabet for kids
Every letter with a word, an English meaning and a sound hint, a short guide to the letters English does not have, and five alphabet games.
No sign-up
In class: Write each child's name on the board and circle the Turkish letters.
Turkish lullabies (ninni)
What ninni means and five traditional songs, with their opening lines and plain English meanings. The page has words only, with no recordings.
No sign-up
In class: Hum together, then add the first line of Dandini dandini dastana. Ask families to send in the way they sing it.
Turkish tongue twisters (tekerleme)
Ten classics from easy to hard, with English meanings and the sound that makes each one tricky.
No sign-up
In class: Say Şu köşe yaz köşesi while pointing at one corner of the room, then another, then the middle, a little faster each round.
Turkish fairy tales (masal)
How Turkish tales begin and end, who Keloğlan and Nasreddin Hoca are, and three short Hoca stories told in our own words.
No sign-up
In class: Tell one Hoca story, stop at the twist and ask a child to retell it to a partner.
Read the fairy tales article →
Turkish names with meanings
Twenty girl names and twenty boy names with their dictionary meanings, mostly from the Turkish Language Association (TDK), and tips for saying them.
No sign-up
In class: Read out a meaning, such as sea or rain, and let the class guess the name. Then ask the children to find out where their own names came from.
Turkish proverbs (atasözleri)
Twelve everyday proverbs, each in Turkish with a word-for-word translation and a short note on the meaning.
No sign-up
In class: Write one on the board, read the word-for-word English and ask what it might mean. Bir elin nesi var, iki elin sesi var goes well with clapping.
What is a nazar boncuğu?
A plain explanation of the blue eye bead, the folk belief behind it and the phrases people say, with safety notes for real glass beads. Families treat it in different ways, and some do not use it at all.
No sign-up
In class: Ask what the children have seen at home or on a visit. There is no right answer.
The Sugar Feast (Şeker Bayramı) for kids
What the festival is in simple words, the customs families keep, and common greetings with their meanings and replies. It also gives the 2027 dates from Türkiye's official calendar.
No sign-up
In class: Practice in pairs: one says İyi bayramlar! and the other answers Sana da! Then write a card with a greeting from the list.
Read the Sugar Feast article →
Bayram for kids growing up abroad
Eight bayram words, traditions that travel well and a simple plan for the morning.
No sign-up
In class: Pick two words, such as bayramlık and harçlık, act them out and let the class guess.
Turkish culture activities: a month of 10-minute ideas
Twenty-eight short activities, from sounds and words to the kitchen, places and manners.
No sign-up
In class: Pick one a week. Day 26, a welcome card that says hoş geldin, suits a class with a new child.
15 Turkish words for children
Warm everyday words and phrases with simple pronunciations and a note on when to use each one, such as kolay gelsin, afiyet olsun and eline sağlık.
No sign-up
In class: Give one phrase a job for the week. Say kolay gelsin to whoever is wiping the board.
Five ten-minute plans
Each plan uses only the free resources above. Swap or skip whatever does not fit your class.
A letter a lesson
- Watch the alphabet video together.
- Pick one pink letter on the chart. Say its word together and look for the letter in the children's names.
- Play the 8 special letters round of the alphabet game, with children taking turns to tap.
Say it faster
- Write Dal sarkar kartal kalkar, kartal kalkar dal sarkar on the board and give the meaning: the branch droops, the eagle takes off.
- Say it word by word and clap the beat, then say it at normal speed.
- Go round the room, one try each. Stumble and pass it on. More lines are in the tongue twister article.
Six pictures, one story
- Watch the simit video.
- Play The Simit Cart Story on a shared screen.
- Tell the story again with the six Turkish words from the game.
Once there was, once there wasn't
- Say the opening together: Bir varmış, bir yokmuş.
- Tell "Eat, my coat, eat" from the fairy tales article, and let a child retell it.
- Close with Gökten üç elma düşmüş, three apples from the sky. One is for the storyteller and one is for the listener. The class decides who gets the third.
A word for every guest
- Practice Hoş geldin and Hoş bulduk at the classroom door.
- Choose three words from the word bank on the Three Sweets, Three Words page and write one on each paper sweet.
- Each child offers the tray to a partner and says Buyurun!
Sharing
You are welcome to link to this page from a newsletter, a parent group or a resource list. The printables are for use at home, in classrooms and in libraries. Please share the link instead of the files, and please do not sell the files or the prints.
If you keep a resource list, you can copy this: Free Turkish resources for schools and teachers from Roots & Talks: a printable alphabet chart, word cards, browser games, short videos and stories, with no sign-up.
Roots & Talks is a Turkish language school for children growing up abroad, with live online lessons and an online shop where this page lives. Please write to us if something does not work in your classroom.