Games for Any Content Area
You and your students have been working so hard! You're using district-approved resources, fighting with the copy machines, practicing vocabulary, logging notes, reviewing math facts, policing cell phones, integrating DEI, encouraging SEL, and trying to submit your attendance on time. Among all these noble pursuits, are you having any fun? Here are some low or no-prep FUN activities you can use with any grade level or content area.
Baseball
Divide class into two teams.
Team 1 goes "up to bat" and chooses a 1, 2, or 3 base question.
You or someone from Team 2 "pitches" the question. (Questions range in difficulty by bases).
If the "at bat" team answers correctly, they move to the base. If they answer incorrectly, Team 2 can try to respond to get Team 1 OUT.
After 3 outs, switch sides.
Play until a team hits 5 or 10 runs- you choose!
Taboo
Divide students into pairs.
1 person gets a vocab term or a picture card. They come up with three clues about the term that do NOT include the word. (Ex: If the card is "photosynthesis," clues might be: It happens to plants, it's how plants change colors, it does not happen to people.)
If the partner guesses correctly, they get a new card and switch roles.
Hot Potato
Arrange chairs in a circle, pass one student a "potato".
Choose a student at random, and ask them a question about a topic in class.
While the student is thinking, the rest of the students pass the "potato." If the student answers correctly before the "potato" gets to them, they get to choose the next answer-er.
Adjust difficulty by having students sit closer/further apart.
The Sorting Race
Chose two categories and topics that fall under each. (Ex: Parts of a Paragraph: main idea, details, conclusion and Parts of a Sentence: capital letter, punctuation, subject, predicate.) Print enough so each group has a complete set. Cut apart topics and categories and place in brown bags.
Arrange students into groups. Distribute bags.
Students race to correctly sort the topics and categories.