Engaging Classroom Games for All

Grades

By: Rosshalde Pak

Who
doesnt like to play classroom games?
Not only are games fun, interactive,
and social, but they're also great tools
for learning.
With so many demands placed on
educators to always be standards-
focused, game can seem like more of
a distraction than an instructional tool
(especially to principals passing by). I
know many teachers who shy away
from games completely because they
dont want their principal to walk in and
say, Umm, Mrs. Pak, why are your
students playing around instead of
learning?
On the other hand, classroom
games add flair and student
engagement to more tedious, yet
necessary tasks like teaching math
facts, grammar rules and vocabulary,
reviewing for tests or even completing
lab experiments. Adding an element of
competition motivates and energizes
students.
Here are my nine student-favorite K-
12 classroom games.

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Top five classroom management time fillers to try
when you are in a pinch.

All of these games can be played, with

varying degree of difficulty, with
younger kinders to older high school
students. Its the subject matter and
the materials that are used that make
the difference to the students who are
playing the games.

Educational Bingo
There are literally countless ways to
use bingo. I created an award-winning
bingo game based upon the people of
American History. The boards have
peoples faces on them and the clues
are all standards-based facts.
What about math bingo the boards
have numbers and the clues are
problems that the students have to do
mentally (or with scratch paper). Bingo
can be used for phonics, vocabulary,
spelling, sounds of letters.
The other great part about bingo is that
you can make a game specifically
designed for what your students are
learning, go to any store and buy a
bingo game, or make it an end of unit
activity to create a bingo game in small
groups and then play that game in
class. To make it free and easy, print
out blank bingo cards and have
students randomly fill in answers from
the word/number bank before you start.

Around the World

This might be my favorite time filler,

quick game. Around the World works
best with a set of flashcards can be
math, vocab, sight words, or spelling.
You have all your students stand up,
the first student stands next to the
student behind them. You show a
flashcard and whoever is the fastest to
say the correct answer moves on. The
idea is to be the best in the whole
class.
For a bonus, if a student makes it all
the way around the room then they get
to go against me. They LOVE this.
What, beat Mrs. Pak?!!? Since Im
the teacher and I know the answers
faster, I give them 3 tries to beat me. If
they beat me, then the next time we
play around the world they get to be the
teacher.

Memory
Memory can really be looked at as a
simplified version of bingo. This works
great with phonics, simple math
expressions, for ESL students (think
images and words), spelling, and states
with capitals.
I dont think there are as many
educational memory games out there
as are bingo games, so it might take
some time on your part to do the
construction. But once you make it and
laminate BAM, you have it forever.

Hangman

Hello spelling and vocabulary. I think

that aside from flashcards, Hangman
might just be the easiest game to play.
And its a fantastic time filler.
I love to use Hangman when
introducing new topics that we are
going to study in class, or clues as to
what the assembly is going to be
about. I also like Hangman as a way to
get to know students, or to tell
everyone book titles of upcoming
stories. So easy and so fast.
Plus, you can just as easily have your
students come up to the board and
have them pick the word. I havent met
a student yet who didnt want to do that.

Get Out of Here

Get Out of Here is a fun game I like to
play right before the end of the day,
right before recess, or lunch. I stand in
the doorway with either a set of Trivial
Pursuit questions or flashcards.
In order to get out of my classroom you
need to answer 3 questions correctly.
If not, you head to the back of the line
and start over.
For students who answer those
questions correctly, they can get out of
my room earlier than others. And who
doesnt love that?

Jeopardy
This is such a fun game. There are
already lots of middle and high school
teachers who utilize Jeopardy type
games. And why not? Its great to use
as a studying tool before a big test. It
also works so well for when preparing
for the end of a unit, midterms, or
finals.
There are plenty of free Jeopardy
templates for teachers available online.
This helps make prep time for this
game more manageable.
If you play Jeopardy enough times, you
could actually make it a project for
small groups of students to create their
own component of Jeopardy, under a
certain heading, and have the whole
class play together. This game is
perfect for studying social studies, the
arts, science, history, novelsthe list
goes on and on.

Fast Facts

This game consists primarily of giving

students 100 simple math problems
and a limited amount of time to use
them. I use this daily with my
elementary students and tutoring
students.
The whole idea is to get your students
to understand these math problems so
well that it becomes rote. For 100
problems for a 3rd grader, give them 5
minutes; a 4th grader gets four minutes;
a 5th grader gets three minutes; and a
6th grader gets one minute.
This same idea can be applied to
pronunciation of words. With two
students, give one a timer and the other
has 100 words that they have to say
correctly. The same time structure
applies too. Its quick, its easy, and its
a great way to work on a skill.

Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts are a lot of fun, but

they definitely take some planning to
get set up. The great thing is, they can
be used for nearly every subject.
I like to set up a scavenger hunt for
when starting new social studies,
science, or reading units. I go through
the material beforehand and I create
questions, fill-in-the-blank, pictures,
dates, people anything that I want my
students to really know before we get
into the unit. And then I put them into
small groups and they have to search
the textbooks, encyclopedias, online,
and around the classroom for the
clues.
If Im really on my game (meaning Ive
had enough coffee) I try to get other
classrooms involved and have students
go to visit there for clues. Its so much
fun. Ive tried doing scavenger hunts
when doing nature units but that does
present the logistics on keeping an eye
on all students, so plan accordingly if
you decide to go that route.

Student-made Games

Who doesnt like to showcase their

skills, knowledge, or talents? Everyone
does. Which is why it is so much fun to
see your students get to shine when
they create the games that are used in
class.
This is something I normally dont start
to do until after the winter break; mainly
because I want the chance to utilize a
variety of games in my class long
enough that my students really
understand how to implement their own
versions.
But, literally every game listed here
could become a student made game.
And, if you are worried about time or
having it not being educational enough
make having your students make the
game count as a formal assessment.
Find more classic games that can be
adapted for the classroom.
What's the Question?
Level: Any Level

Type of Activity: listening and speaking

Purpose: review question forms previously studied in class

Procedure:
Form two teams (three will work, but two seems to add just the right amount of
competitive tension).

Explain the game, with a few examples of answers in search of questions. Ask,
'What's the question?', and get students to correctly say the corresponding questions
for your answer.

Have two players--one from each team--come to the front. Style it like a game show if
you like, with the students standing side-by-side. If you have access to bells or
buzzers, it's even more fun.

Next, read an answer to a question and say, 'What's the question?' The fastest player to
respond wins a point for her/his team. New contestants come to the front for a new
round.

Rationale: This game forces the students to think backwards a little, so they must
provide a grammatically perfect question. All too often, they are used to answering
rather than asking questions, so this is challenging and useful as review.

Chain Spelling (Shiri-tori)

Level: Easy to Medium

The teacher gives a word and asks a student to spell it, and then a second student
should say a word beginning with the last letter of the word given. The game
continues until someone makes a mistake, that is, to pronounce the word incorrectly,
misspell it or come up with a word that has been said already, then he/she is out. The
last one remaining in the game is the winner.

This game can be made difficult by limiting the words to a certain category, e.g.. food,
tools, or nouns, verbs, etc.
Bang Bang
Level: Easy

Divide the group into two teams. Explain that they are cowboys and they are involved
in a duel. One student from each team comes to the front. Get them to pretend to draw
their pistols. Say "how do you say..." and a word in their mother tongue. The first
child to give the answer and then "bang bang", pretending to shoot his opponent is the
winner. He remains standing and the other one sits down. I give 1 point for the right
answer and 5 extra points if they manage to "kill" 4 opponents in a row.

Editor's Note: Instead of saying the word in the students' mother tongue, it would be
possible to use a picture or to say a definition ("What do you call the large gray
animal with a long nose?"

Describing Appearances & Characteristics of People

Level: Easy to Medium (Low to low intermediate)

Each student is then give one sheet of paper. One student sits at the front of a room.
He/she describes a person and the rest of the class draws the person being described.

It is more interesting if the person being described is known by everyone. Once the
student has finished describing that person then he/she reveals who it is and each
student shows his/her drawing. The laughter from this is hilarious as the impressions
tend to make the character in question look funny.

It is a good idea to encourage students to ask the interviewee student questions about
who they are describing

Sentence Race
Level: Any Level

A good game for large classes and for reviewing vocabulary lessons.

1. Prepare a list of review vocabulary words.

2. Write each word on two small pieces of paper. That means writing the word
twice, once on each paper.
3. Organize the pieces like bundles, 2 bundles, 2 sets of identical words.
4. Divide the class into 2 teams. get them to make creative team names.
5. Distribute each list of words to both teams. every student on each team
should have a paper. Both teams have the same words.
 6. When you call a word, 2 students should stand up, one from each team. The
students must then run to the blackboard and race to write a sentence using
their word.

The winner is the one with a correct and clearly written sentence.

This is always a hit with kids. For more advanced students, use tougher words.

Crazy Story
Level: Any Level

This is an activity that will make your students speak in class and be creative.

Ask students to write a word on a piece of paper and tell them not to show
anyone. This word should be a verb (or whatever you'd like to rewiew).
The teacher starts telling a story, then stops and chooses a student.
That student will continue the story and must use his/her word. This student
then chooses the next student to continue the story.
The last student must end the story.
After the story is over, the students then try to guess what words each
student has written on his/her paper. The student who guesses the most
words wins the game.

Classroom Rules: Must and Mustn't

Level: Easy to Medium

Prepare small pieces of paper each with either one thing students must do or
one thing students must not do.
Tell the students that they are supposed to form sentences that explain
classroom rules.
Divide the class into groups (of 4 if possible, so that everyone gets a chance to
speak).
Give each group the pieces of paper.

The winning group, the group that finishes first, reads their sentences aloud. (Each
student of the group reads one or two sentences depends on size of group.)

It's an easy game and the preparation does not take too much time. You can make as
many rules as you wish