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
Thanksgiving Would You Rather? Game
Engage your students in thoughtful and hilarious discussions in an engaging, interactive game of Thanksgiving Would You Rather?
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Roll to Create a Gingerbread House
Have some Christmas fun without the mess with a Roll-to-Create Gingerbread House Art activity.
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Christmas Trivia Advent Calendar Interactive
Host a Christmas trivia game show with an interactive advent calendar trivia game.
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Positive Self Talk Match-Up
Teach your students how positive self talk in challenging situations can boost self-esteem with this match up activity.
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Empathy Social Stories Interactive Activity
Help your students determine empathetic behaviors with this interactive game designed for 1st and 2nd grade students.
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Managing Stress Coping Strategies Puzzle Match
Set your students up for success against stress with this calming puzzle activity where they will explore actionable strategies to manage stress!
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Food Chains - Interactive Activity
Review producers, consumers and decomposers in food chains with this interactive digital quiz.
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Bump! Subtraction to 10 Math Game
Practice subtraction facts to 10 with a fun printable subtraction board game.
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3D Shapes Cafe- Interactive Activity
Practice identifying 3D shapes and their properties in multiple ways with this engaging interactive activity.
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Mixed Numbers - Fraction Model Match-Up
Practice matching improper fractions, mixed numbers, bar models, and fraction number lines with this set of 36 match-up cards.
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Animals and Their Habitats- Interactive Activity
Help a lost polar bear (and his friends) return to the correct habitat with a Google Slides interactive activity.
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Would You Rather? International Women's Day Active Game
Engage your students in thought-provoking discussions with this set of International Women’s Day-themed "Would You Rather" questions.
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Unit Fraction & Whole Number Division Models – Match-Up Activity
Practice how to divide a unit fraction by a whole number and divide a whole number by a unit fraction with this match-up activity.
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Math Bowl - Mixed Operations Word Problem Game
Score a mathematical touchdown with by solving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division word problems with an exciting football math game.
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Making Ten Memory Game
Practice making ten using ten frames with this fun memory game.
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Multiplying Fractions – Google Slides Interactive Activity
Challenge your students to multiply fractions while completing 7 different tasks with this Google slides interactive activity.
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Ordered Pairs Match-Up
Practice plotting ordered pairs and describing the process for graphing with this match-up activity.
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Bingo Game – Coping Skills for Kids
Review calming strategies and coping skills for kids with a game of Bingo!
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Multiplying Fractions – Domino Games
Engage students with a dominoes game while practicing how to multiply fractions.
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What Do Good Citizens Do? Matching Activity
Teach the roles and responsibilities of good citizens with a scenario matching cut and paste worksheet.
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Elf Escape! - Digital Escape Room
Help Elfy, the classroom Elf escape the locked classroom and return to the North Pole with an exciting escape room!
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Least Common Multiple – Match-Up Activity
Determine the least common multiple of a set of numbers with this match-up activity.
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Long Ago, Now, or In the Future? Match-Up
Help your students develop a sense of history and how life, transportation, and communications have changed with a matching activity.
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Order of Operations Bingo
Review vocabulary and solve expressions with this Order of Operations Bingo game!
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Measuring to the Nearest 1/4 Inch – Match-Up Activity
Practice measuring objects to the nearest ¼ inch with this match-up activity.
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I Have, Who Has? – Measuring to the Nearest Quarter Inch
Practice measuring objects to the nearest ¼ inch while playing this whole-class game.
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Telling Time Knockout
Practice telling time to the minute by reading analog and digital clocks with this competitive whole-class Telling Time Knockout game.
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I Have, Who Has? - Coin Game
Practice counting a collection of coins with this set of “I Have, Who Has” game cards.
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Telling Time to the Nearest Five Minutes - Interactive Activities
Read different clock faces to the nearest 5 minutes.
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100 Chart Missing Numbers
Practice counting forward beginning from a given number with this set of 100 charts and recording sheets.
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How Much Does It Measure? Match-Up Activity (Length, Mass, and Capacity)
A set of 18 match-up cards to reinforce measurement concepts of length, mass, and capacity.
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CVC Words Parking Lot Game
Practice decoding and spelling CVC words with this set of 16 word cards and matching game board.