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
Taking From 10 - Number Facts Board Game
Practice the "Taking from 10" subtraction strategy with this board game.
- Plus Plan
Making 10 - Number Facts Board Game
A fun, hands-on game students can play to practice the Making 10 addition strategy.
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Numbers 1–30: Standard, Word, and Ten Frame Matchup Cards
A set of matchup cards to practice representing the numbers 1–30.
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Build a Sentence Card Game
A fun and engaging card game that focuses on building simple sentences that include a subject, verb, and object.
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Blank Bingo Cards (No Free Space)
Blank bingo cards that can be customized to any activity.
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Number Match-Up Activity (1-20)
Use this match-up activity to consolidate your students' knowledge of numbers up to 20.
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Vowel and Consonant Digraph Spin Game
Practice consonant and vowel digraphs in the classroom with a fun phonics game for students!
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1 to 20 Parking Lot Number Match
A parking lot themed number matching activity to use in the classroom when identifying the numbers from 1 to 20 in word and standard form.
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I Have, Who Has? Fact and Opinion Game
A whole class game to help students understand the difference between a fact and an opinion.
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Musical Instruments and Their Families Cards
A set of 48 cards for students to match musical instruments with the family of the orchestra to which they belong.
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Comprehension Strategies – Interactive PowerPoint
An engaging 44 slide interactive PowerPoint to use in the classroom when introducing comprehension strategies.
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Let's Cooperate Code Cracker - Intermediate
A whole class game including a collection of 6 activities that students need to solve to reveal numbers for a lock combination.
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Pizza Fraction Bingo - 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5
32 different bingo cards using halves, thirds, fourths, and fifths.
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I Have, Who Has? – Complementary and Supplementary Angles Game
Play a whole-class game to review complementary and supplementary angles.
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Before, During and After Reading Fiction Questions - Dice
5 different versions of dice to use when asking questions before, during and after reading.
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Human Rights Match-Up Activity
A match-up activity to consolidate the students' knowledge of how human rights affect their own lives.
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Fraction, Decimal, and Percentage Bingo
Convert between fractions, decimals and percentages with this engaging Bingo game the whole class can enjoy!
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Double Bubble – Doubling Game
Practice the doubles addition strategy with this fun board game.
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Parts of Speech Card Game – Upper Grades Classroom Game - Set 3
A card game for nouns, verbs and adjectives.
- Free Plan
Doubles Plus One - Grid Game
Practice the doubles plus one addition strategy with this dice game.
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Musical ZAP Game - Notes with Rhythm Syllables
A fun group game to play when learning notes and rhythms.
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Musical ZAP Game - Notes Only
A fun group game to play when learning notes and rhythms.
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Consonant Digraph WR Interactive
Engage students in practicing their learning around the consonant digraph of ‘wr’ with this fun building site-themed interactive activity.
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Push or Pull? Interactive Activity
Get students to determine whether a force is a push or a pull with this engaging digital game for Grade 3 science lessons.
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Unit Fraction Puzzle Pop Match
‘Pop’ in a bit of extra practice with unit fractions using this fun set of Unit Fraction Puzzle Pops!
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Compound Words Game - Headbands
Boost vocabulary skills and engage your students in some word-friendly fun with an engaging Compound Word Headband Game.
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Five Senses Digital Resource - Drag & Drop
Engage your students in learning about their five senses with an Interactive Digital Learning Activity.
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Time to 5 Minutes - Digital Learning Activity
Review how to tell time to the nearest five minutes with an independent Telling Time Digital Learning Activity.
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Roll and Write - Telling Time Dice Game
Practice telling time and have fun learning how to tell time with a Roll and Write Telling Time Dice Game!
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Finding Phonemes - Spelling Words with DGE, GE, J, and G
Read and spell words using the j, g, ge, and dge phonemes with an interactive digital learning activity for 2nd Grade.
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Months of the Year - Digital Math Activity
Drag and drop to learn the months of the year and how to identify dates on a calendar with an engaging drag-and-drop interactive activity.
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Inherited vs. Acquired Traits Bingo Game
Understand the difference between inherited and acquired traits by playing a few rounds of Inherited vs. Acquired Traits Bingo!