Whether it’s raining or snowing, finding fun indoor classroom games for unexpected changes in the weather can be difficult. That’s why we’ve found the best indoor classroom games you and your students can try out with little preparation.
In this article, we’ve compiled a list of 11 of the best indoor classroom games for you to try with your students today.
Charades
Charades is a fun party game for all ages, and naturally, it fits perfectly in a classroom environment.
If you’ve never played charades, you must act out a phrase, and other team members must guess what you’re describing. Teachers can let kids run loose or relate it to one of their subjects.
You don’t need much to play it either, so long as you have players, a stopwatch, a notepad and pencil, and several blank slips of paper.
Musical Chairs/ Statues
No matter how old your students get, musical chairs are always a fun experience for them. As you already have chairs on hand in your classroom, it’s an easy game to plan for.
All you need to do is arrange the chairs in a back-to-back double line and get your students to walk around them in a clockwise circle. Then, keep removing a chair each round until only one student remains.
If you want to change to a more dynamic game, you could also play musical statues instead. Musical statues are less prone to devolving into a rough game and are better suited for anyone who wants to make more space and offer a more animated version of the game.
The Hot/Cold Game
The Hot/Cold game is a simple hiding game in that you only need words and a specific item. If you have a toy in your classroom, you can get one of the kids to look for it.
They just need to step outside for a minute, and you and your remaining students must find a place to hide it.
You and the kids have to say hotter or colder when the seeker comes in, depending on where you’ve hidden the item. As they go further away, you get quieter, and as they near it, your class will get louder until the toy is found.
You can keep playing this game until everyone has had a turn to find a toy, or you can split your students into groups to ensure everyone gets a chance. If you don’t have a toy, choose any object that will be easy to find.
Four Corners
Four Corners is an easy game to play and great to play in your classroom. All you need are your students, a pencil, and a few sheets of paper.
You need to put a sign up with each number or anything else that you think will fit the theme. Choose one student to be “It,” they will stand in the middle of your classroom and count down with their eyes closed.
When they’ve finished counting, they choose one of the corners, and whichever corner is chosen has to sit down.
As the game continues, you can make the game more intense. All you need to do is ensure plenty of space for your students to move. Four corners is a fun game for your students, especially as it’s hard to tell who will be out next.
The Floor Is Lava
You don’t need a lot to play the floor is lava, and it can be a game that focuses on your students using their quick thinking.
The floor is lava is a simple game that you can adjust to fit your students’ age range. For general rules, you yell when the floor is lava, and each player has five seconds to get both feet off the ground.
If anyone’s feet touch the ground, they are out of the game. With each turn, you can make this as simple or complex as you like.
As more of your students are eliminated, you can remove more objects they would use to get their feet off the ground. Best of all, you can play this outside too, so if you want a group activity for your students, this is a great game.
Heads Up, Seven Up
A popular game you can play is Heads Up, Seven Up, or Heads Down, Thumbs Up, depending on where you play it.
You need to select seven players to come to the front of the room and tell the other players to put their heads down.
The seven chosen children will then secretly press down one thumb and return to the front of the class within one minute. Then the students, with their thumbs pressed down, need to stand and guess who picked them.
If your students guess incorrectly, they need to sit down; if they guess correctly, they get to take the place of those who chose them. The game then continues like this until it’s over.
Paper Plane Race
For a somewhat quiet competition, you could always arrange for your class to do a paper plane race. This can also be a fun way for students to design their planes in a way that works for them.
However, you may want to demonstrate how to fold one first. Let your students design their planes, and make a space for them to throw their planes.
When your students throw their planes, measure them to see who can travel the farthest. Paper plane races are a great way for your students to figure out how to engineer their planes to fly the farthest.
Bingo
One of the more relaxing games you can play in the classroom is Bingo. All you need to do is print out your paper in advance, so if you know it’s going to rain or snow, you can be prepared.
Give each student a sheet, which you can fill with words or numbers. Depending on how you want to play the game, you can be as relatable to your lessons as you like.
You don’t even need to have paper, but let your students choose numbers you already have on a board. Have your students circle each item as it’s called, and once they have one row complete, they can shout out Bingo!
The best part about Bingo is you can play it with any items you want, so you can still encourage your students to learn as they play.
Zip Zap Zoom
Zip Zap Zoom is a great game when you don’t have a ball or item. You need to get your students to sit in a circle around one another, and they need to stand at least six feet apart.
Choose a player to start. The first player starts with zip, and they can choose their direction. If the next player goes zap, they change direction.
When a player goes zoom, they point to anyone in the circle and say the player’s name, and they can decide whether to go zip, zap, or zoom.
You can make Zip Zap Zoom more intense by speeding up around the circle. If a student makes a wrong command, you can give them a penalty. If your class is still new to one another, this can be a fun game to energize and get to know one another.
Human Knot
For a fun problem-solving game, you can always play Human Knot. Human Knot can be played in several different groups.
You could use this opportunity to have your students race one another. Each student takes the hands of two different students, and as they grab another student’s hands, their arms become intertwined. Each student then needs to untie the knot without breaking it.
Human knot is an interesting game and a great way to build trust between your students. It also encourages problem-solving and teamwork, as they need to communicate to beat the other team and speed up breaking their human knot.
Do you want to find a game that is fun for all ages? Then we recommend Kahoot! This is a fun way to create quizzes and have your students compete for prizes. You can make it about your lessons or fun quizzes that utilize some of their favorite topics.
Kahoot! can be played individually or in teams. Depending on how you want to play, you can randomize a quiz based on your student’s interests.
If you combine learning with it, you can either test them on what they know in a fun way or allow them a chance to refresh their memory. This makes it a perfect game for unwinding at the end of a hard lesson.
Final Thoughts
We hope these indoor classroom games are fun for you and your students. Whether you want a fun game to play during recess or a way to unwind at the end of a lesson, these classroom games are some of the best games to try.
Hi, my name is Helena Waters and I was a teacher for 40 years before retiring last year.
During my time as a teacher I dedicated the majority of it to making classrooms as fun as possible, with educational parties, fun activities, and low cost entertainment that made the children excited about learning.
I taught children of all ages, from preschoolers to high school students. Now, with the pandemic having uprooted everything that children once knew about school and learning, I think that the need for my ideas is bigger than ever.
That is why I created School Sparks, a place in which I can write down and share all of my ideas on how to get students excited about going to school again. I hope that you’ll find some useful within a school setting, even at home too!
