Classroom games are a fantastic way to split up lesson plans and provide a fun and exciting change of pace for the students, however, the truth is that they can sometimes take far longer than expected to organize, and can even eat into preparation time for the lesson itself, which is never good considering they should only be a supplement to the teaching.
Luckily, there are plenty of classroom games spanning several different subjects which can be enjoyed over a few minutes, making them the perfect way to end the day or as a quick test before break time.
Here are some of the very best quick classroom games that you should definitely consider trying out with your class today which will provide an engaging task for your students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without taking up too much time.
3 Quick Literacy Classroom Games
Missing Person
This quick and easy game is a great way to get students thinking about characters in literature and their personality traits, and it can be used for all age groups.
At the end of the day or just before the bell rings for break, tell a quick story out loud to the class which features 3 or 4 different characters.
When the short story is finished, either pick someone to leave the room, or allow a student to volunteer.
When they re-enter, they will be acting as one of the characters from the story, impersonating the way they speak and their behavior, while the other students must figure out which character they have chosen.
Build A Word
Build a word is a game tailored towards students in lower grades who may be in the middle of learning how to spell and write certain words and phrases, with it being a very quick and efficient way to test the students on their writing skills and what they have learned so far.
The teacher provides laminated letters to each student who must then use the letters to try and create as many words as they can in 1 or 2 minutes.
This game is very customizable and can be modified in several different ways depending on the grade you are teaching, and how much time you have to spare in a lesson, so feel free to experiment with this fun educational game.
Salad Bowl
Salad bowl is such an easy way to finish off a lesson that you can even return to it every day and add in more words as you go.
All you have to do is fill up a bowl full of random words that are a mixture of nouns, verbs, and adjectives, and each student must say what type of word it is depending on which they pull out.
If you and the class are currently reading through a book, you can also make a salad bowl of descriptive words and characteristics which the students must relate to a specific character in the story.
3 Quick Math Classroom Games
Back 2 Back
What makes back 2 back such a great game is not only that you need barely any equipment to play it, but also that it can be used for any age group since the game all depends on one thing, finding out the number of your partner.
Two students must stand back to back and write a number of their choice on the board. So that the game doesn’t take too long, it’s usually best to only allow numbers between 1 and 10.
Then, the teacher will give each student a turn to try and figure out what the other student’s number is, but they can only do so using equations, rather than guessing the number on face value.
Those playing will need to keep in mind the numbers that have already been rejected to narrow down what the real answer is in this thrilling classroom game.
100s
100s is a very easy and creative way to test students on everything they have learned up until this point in their math lessons while also encouraging them to use additions, multiplication, and division within a more realistic setting so that they can prepare to use it when summing up money for example.
The aim of the game is to get as close to 100 as possible without overtaking it.
Each student must therefore take turns either adding or multiplying certain numbers to add up to 100, but the person who goes over the number is out, and the game resets until only one person remains.
It is usually best to only allow numbers under 20 or 10 since this means students can’t get to 100 too fast and will need to think carefully about the combination they want to use so that they don’t end up going over the number and losing the game.
Dice Wars
Dice wars is such an easy game to play that you could simply incorporate it to the end of every math lesson plan as a final test of knowledge and skill, and while it may be easy to play, there are so many ways you can customize the rules depending on the age group you are teaching.
The way it works is students are split up into small groups and are given four dice each.
When they roll the dice, the group must try to solve as many equations as possible using only the numbers on the dice, but they will only be able to use 2 numbers at a time.
The number of answers you can get from the four dice is virtually endless, whether it’s subtracting numbers, dividing them, or multiplying them, the aim is to have as many answers by the end of the session as possible with the winners being the team with the most equations solved.
3 Quick Science Classroom Games
Guess The Sound
Kids are fascinated by the wacky and weird sounds that can emanate from planets, particles, and vibrations, so there’s no better way to provide a fun and exciting test of their knowledge than to play a simple game of guess the sound at the end of a science lesson.
This game also works especially well for science because it brings physics, chemistry, and biology together into one fun game rather than splitting them up which can save a tremendous amount of time.
Either through your laptop speakers or on the projector with the screen covered, play a scientific sound that the class has learned about either in that lesson, or in previous ones, and the group or individual to identify what it relates to first will gain a point.
Build A Spaceship
Many students, whether they are younger or a teenager, have a fascination with spaceships, and since these astronomical shuttles relate to so many different topics in physics such as velocity, gravitational pull, and navigation of the solar system, it makes sense to use it as a way to encourage students to think about these concepts in greater detail and how they are used in the wider world of space travel.
Supply each student with either a few tubs of playdough, play foam, or even building blocks, and ask them to create a spaceship that they believe would be suitable to transport astronauts in outer space.
After a few minutes, choose a few students to demonstrate their shuttle and try to encourage them to think about why they have placed certain features in particular places so that the whole class can begin thinking about how all these terms and concepts within physics influence space travel.
Pin The Bone
While this game works best with a diagram of a skeleton, you can just as easily use it with certain organs in the human body instead, either way, it’s a great way to teach biology to a class and to test how well they can identify certain biological parts without having to look it up in their textbook.
Once you have drawn a skeleton on the board, split the class up into very small groups of either 3 or 4 people and give them a card with the name of a bone on it such as the pelvis, ribs, and skull for example.
Give each group 2 minutes to discuss between themselves where the bone is, and when the 2 minutes are up, ask each group to send one person to attach the name to the correct bone.
When each group has made their choice, take a look to see if there are any mistakes, and have a very brief discussion on the roles of each of the bones in the body.
Summary
Between organizing lesson plans and creating presentations and assessments, it can be hard to incorporate classroom games that require a lot of time and preparation.
With that being said, there are still plenty of classroom games that are suitable for any age group which are much quicker and will require barely any equipment or preparation time at all.
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!
