December 28th, 2009

Fun Games For Classrooms

We all know that the children can have a lot of fun at school together with their teachers, especially when they are in primary school. There are so many fun games for classrooms, and we are going to present some of them in this article.

Let’s begin with the game called “Action race”. Divide the students into two teams, and place them in line, in one side of the classroom. Place a chair on the other end of the classroom, a chair for each team. Then you (the teacher) should call an action. You can use different actions, such as jump, hop, run, clap and so on. Think of many actions before you start the game, so there will be a different one for each student in the line. If you have a lot of students, you can repeat the actions, but try to randomize them, so the kids won’t get bored. So let’s say you called “jump”. The first student in line should jump to the other end of the classroom (where the chair is) and back. The first student would get a point for his team. Then you can call another action, and the next students will do that action. The team with most of the points is the winner.

Another fun game that you can play with the students is the “apple pass”. Place all the students in a circle and give them a fake apple. They must throw the apple from one to another, and when they are throwing it they must say an English word. You can let them say any word they want, or you can limit them to one category (for example animals, food, sports etc). If a child drops the apple, or throws it without saying any word, then he is out. The only student that will remain in the game is the winner.

A good game for higher level kids is the “Backs to the board game”. Make two teams of students, and choose one of each them. Place the two of them in front of the black board facing away from it. Then write a word on the board (or draw a picture). The two students in the front must not see the word, and they must look only in the classroom, at their team. The students in the classroom will have to give clues to him, without saying the actual word. For example if the word is “snow”, they can give clues like “it is cold, it is white, you find it during the winter etc”. If the student in the front guesses the word, he will win a point for his team.

Another fun game for the kids is the “Banana race”. It is mostly a quiz game in which you will ask questions to the kids. You can use questions such as “what fruit is round and red?” “what animal likes to eat honey and climb in trees?” and so on. Or you can simply draw items on the blackboard and they have to guess them. If you have too many students in the class then make some teams, but if you have fewer students, play individually with them. Ask a question to each student / team and if they give the correct answer, they will advance on the race track. Make a race track on the blackboard, and each student is represented by a banana. On each correct answer the banana of that student will advance one step forward. The first student to get to the finish line is the winner. You can make the questions more difficult as they advance in the game, so the final battle will be among the smartest of them.

You can even play a basketball game in the classroom. Make small balls out of paper, and get a box, or a trashcan. Make a starting point from where the kids must throw the balls. Call each student to that point, and then ask him a question. If he / she gives the correct answer, then he / she has the chance to throw the paper ball at the trashcan (or box). If he hits the basket he gets 2 points, and if he only touches it he gets 1 point. You can play this for an hour or so, and the student with most of the points is the winner. The game will be really fun for them because they get to play some basketball in the classroom, but they can also learn new things by answering the questions. Be sure to gather all the paper balls after the game, because the kids will play with them and throw them at each other and make a lot of mess in the classroom.

Another fun game, that can be played in pairs or teams is the “Blindfold race”. Make an obstacle course in the classroom (by rearranging the chairs and desks), and then put a blindfold on a student. He will have to complete the course without seeing anything, so he will have to rely only on the clues given by his team mates. The clues given by the kids can be like this: walk 2 steps forward, turn right, take just a little step and so on. Be sure that the kids won’t give wrong clues to their teammates, because the kids can get hurt between the chairs and desks from the course.

You can also try the game called “category spin”. First choose a category (for example food, animals etc). Then place the students into a circle and spin a bottle in the middle of them. The student that the bottle will choose must say a word from the chosen category. Then spin the bottle again, and the next kid must say the previous word and add another one after him. The next kid must say the first 2 words and another one, and so on. For example, the first will say “bread”, the next one “bread fish”, the third “bread fish cheese” etc. This game will really stimulate the memory of the kids, and will get more and more difficult as they have many words to say. When a student doesn’t give the correct answer, he will be eliminated, and you can play it until there is only one winner.

Let’s discuss one more fun game for classrooms. For example the “Give me game”. You can use real objects, plastic objects or image cards. Let’s say you are using some plastic fruits. Get as many of them together and then throw them all around the classroom. You can also throw them into the air, and all the kids will scrabble to pick them up. Once they have collected all the fruits, ask for one of them. For example you can say “give me a cherry”. The kid having that object will have to get to the teacher and give it to him. The student must also say “Here you are”, and this way the will learn to be polite. The child with most of the fruits (or other objects gathered) is the winner.

So whether if you are a kid and you are looking for fun games to play in the classroom, or you are a teacher and you want to impress your students with some cool and fun games, you should definitely try some of these. These were just a few, and you will find so many more fun games for classroom on the internet, or in books. Have fun!