Ideal Classroom Games

Here are some great games you could try with your students, whether you want to fill your classroom with energy on a gloomy day, reward your students for their hard work with golden time or even as you’re winding down for the Christmas period.

Let’s go!

Charades

We think students will love playing this classic game! To begin with, think of a topic, such as animals, and ask students to each think of an animal and write it down on a piece of paper and fold it in half. Then, all students place their idea into a bowl, and each student then chooses a piece of paper and acts out what’s on it – it’s super fun and encourages students to be imaginative!

Four Corners

To play this game, number the corners of the classroom from one to four. Then, select one student to stand in the middle of the room and ask them to close their eyes while the rest of the students go to one of the four corners in the classroom.

When all the students are settled in a corner, the student in the middle then calls out a number. All the students who chose the corner with that number are out of the game and must sit down. The student continues to call out a number until there’s four students or fewer left. Each must choose a different corner. If the student calls out a corner where nobody is standing, they must choose again. The game continues until only one student is left and is the winner.

Seven Up, Stand Up

Similar to the game Heads Down, Thumbs Up, choose seven students to stand at the front of the classroom.

The other students put their heads on their desks so they can’t see. The seven students wander around the room and taps one of the seated students gently on the head. As a student is tapped, they then raise their hand.

When all seven students return to the front of the room, they say together “seven up, stand up!”. Each student who was tapped has an opportunity to guess which student tapped them. If a student guesses correctly, they replace the person who tapped them. The game begins again when all have had a chance to guess.

Hot or Cold?

This game is simple! Select one of the students in the room to be the ‘searcher’. Ask them to leave the room or turn around and close their eyes, while the rest of the class selects a random item in the room to be the ‘treasure’.  The searcher then tries to locate the ‘treasure’ while students tell them if they are ‘cold’, ‘getting warmer’ or ‘hot’, depending on how close they are to the object.

Once the student has found the item, then choose someone else to be the ‘searcher’.

Can’t decide what game to play first? Why not create an ‘Ideas Jar’ and put all of your students’ game ideas in there and pick one out?

Do you have any game ideas? Tell us more at @EducationCity – it would be great to hear your thoughts! 

EducationCity also provides EdTech solutions that your pupils can play online. Take a look at our science games.