Games for Teachers
We don't have to tell you that fun classroom games are worth their weight in gold! Encouraging critical thinking, building social skills, and helping engage students with the curriculum? Yes, please. Get ready to bring game-based learning to your classroom with helpful printables, escape rooms, and more educational fun for elementary school students.
With a long list of benefits of learning games on hand, the teachers at Teach Starter have spent hours creating classroom card games, board games, scavenger hunts, and more that can help students build core competencies while having a whole lot of fun!
Game-based learning has gotten a lot of interest in recent years, but what exactly, is it? We know you've got a lot to do in your classroom and not a whole lot of time to do it, so our teacher team has put together a quick guide to gamification in education.
(Know all you need to know? Feel free to jump ahead to our printable and digital learning games!)
What Is Game-Based Learning?
In essence, game-based learning allows you to borrow from the gaming world to allow your students to engage with their lesson material in more dynamic ways. They can help improve student motivation and help students achieve learning objectives.
We like to think of it a bit like the parents who hide the broccoli inside the tasty hamburger. A little bit of gameplay helps the medicine — or core curriculum — go down!
Games aren't just fun, after all. They have failure baked into them, along with repetition, and the chance to accomplish goals along the way. Playing games in a classroom fosters many of those social and emotional learning skills, even when the topic at hand comes from the science curriculum or is focused on an ELA standard.
Why Are Classroom Games Good for Kids?
We hinted at some of the benefits earlier, but let's dig deep into the benefits of playing educational games in your classroom!
- They motivate students.
- Students develop critical thinking skills.
- They're student-centered.
- They build teamwork and leadership skills.
- Games encourage creativity and thinking outside of the box.
- They encourage students to challenge themselves.
- They improve student concentration.
Learning Games Ideas
Good teachers can make just about any lesson fun, but maybe you're looking for learning game ideas to mix things up. We thought you'd never ask!
Check out a few of our teacher team's favorite (and fun) ways to inject gameplay into your students' education:
- Digital escape rooms
- Card games
- Dominoes
- Active games
- Scavenger hunts
- Would you rather? games
- Bingo
- Board games
How to Use Games in the Classroom
Looking for a few fun ways to use games in the classroom? Our teacher team has a few quick ideas for you to try on for size!
- Play active games to help students get their wiggles out.
- Add a board game to your reading center or math center activities.
- Use flashcard-type or trivia games for material review.
- Explore new concepts in fun ways with games like 20 questions.
- Help students get to know one another at the beginning of a school year with teamwork games.
- Explore difficult concepts with skills-based games.
- Free Plan
Back To School - Listening Skill Refresh Activity
Refresh student listening skills with a Back to School Listening Skill Refresh Slides and script.
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Never Have I Ever Questions for Kids ... Getting to Know You Game
See fun "Never Have I Ever" questions for kids to break the ice in your classroom and help students get to know one another.
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Rounding Games for 4th Graders — Race Up the Rounding Ladder!
Challenge your students with one of our many rounding games for 4th graders — Race Up the Rounding Ladder!
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Subtract From 10 Board Game
Have a “blast” with this space-themed “Subtract From 10” board game that gives your students the practice they need with tens subtraction facts.
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Skip Counting by 10s Dominoes
A set of dominoes to use in the classroom when learning to skip count by 10.
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Back to School - Getting to Know You Dice Roll
Play a back-to-school dice game for students to get to know their classmates.
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Famous Artists Card Game for Kids
A set of 54 famous artist cards to be used for a variety of card games.
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Drama Game Task Cards
A set of 17 activity cards with instructions for drama games.
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Kindergarten Counting 1-20 Matching Game
Use this matching game in your primary classroom to teach students to count quantities and match them to numbers (1-20).
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Rhyming Word Cards
Reinforce students' knowledge of rhyming words with this set of 30 picture cards.
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Properties of Matter Game - Bean Bag Toss
Play an exciting Properties of Matter game by downloading this printable Matter Bean Bag Toss Game!
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Array Match-Up Activity for 3rd Grade
Challenge your students to create sets of arrays, multiplication facts and products with this matching game for 3rd grade.
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Addition and Subtraction Word Problems - Match Game
Practice reading, modeling, and solving addition and subtraction word problems with a matching activity.
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The Lost Library Card – Whole Class Escape Game
Use inference and problem-solving skills to decipher the puzzles and uncover the hidden code.
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Last One Standing Active Game
An active game that allows students to build their vocabulary knowledge.
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Oral Language Activity - I Spy Game
Strengthen oral language skills with this I Spy Oral Language Activity.
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Contractions Bingo Game
Build vocabulary and have fun with contraction word games!
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Subordinating Conjunctions Board Game
Use this set of 24 task cards to help students practice identifying and constructing sentences using subordinating conjunctions.
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Roll to Create a Creature - Drawing Game
Use a die and a chart to create a creature to include in a narrative text or a comic strip.
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Mystery Prize Picker - Interactive Behavior Rewards
Reward your students with special surprises by using our interactive behavior reward picker!
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Lab Equipment Activity – Vocabulary Match Up
Use this lab equipment activity to identify different types of science tools by matching vocabulary terms, pictures, and definitions.
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Rolling for Cash — Printable Counting Coins Game
Print a customizable money game for kids that requires addition and skip counting skills to count coins.
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Dressing Up A Sentence - Interactive or Printable Activity
Encourage students to add more descriptive language into their sentence writing with this activity.
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Fishing to Know You
Get to know your new class at the beginning of the year with this Fishing to Know You activity.
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Present and Past Tense Irregular Verbs Matchup Cards
Practice matching present tense and past tense of irregular verbs with this matching activity.
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Verb Grammar Card Game - Flip It!
A fun game for students to play in small groups to reinforce their understanding of verbs.
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Preposition Bingo
Engage students with preposition bingo, a fun game where they listen, identify prepositions in sentences, and cover them on their board.
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Successful Sentences – Sentence Construction Cards
Word cards for constructing complex sentences.
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Factors and Multiples Game — "Cave of the Tides" Escape Room
“Escape” the ordinary with this factors and multiples game that will engage your students in math review as they search for a secret tunnel.
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Verb Tense Puzzle Pop Activity
Grow your students' knowledge of the tense of verbs with this puzzle pop matching activity.
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Present and Past Tense Regular Verbs Matchup Cards
Learn about simple present tense and simple past tense of regular verbs with this match up activity.
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One Has to Go! Game of Elimination Icebreaker
Play ‘One Has to Go!” and engage your students in a friendly classroom debate with this Google Slides icebreaker game.