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.
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Industrial Revolution Interactive Activity
Engage your students to display their knowledge about the inventions and effects of the Industrial Revolution with a digital interactive notebook.
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Continents and Oceans Roll and Color Game
Learn to identify the continents and oceans of the world with a Continents and Oceans Roll and Color Game.
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Google Interactive - Regions of the United States
Practice identifying states in the five regions of the United States with a Google Interactive activity.
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Subitizing Slap It!
Help students strengthen subitizing skills with this multiplayer math card game!
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Multisyllable Words Google Interactive
Build multisyllable word decoding skills with upper-grade students with a Google Slides interactive activity.
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Sit Down If… Back to School Movement Icebreaker
Have your students giggling on day 1 with this getting-to-know-you activity.
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Feelings and Emotions Match-Up Activity
Help students to recognize and identify their feelings and emotions with this interactive match-up activity.
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Blending Phonemes Secret Message-Matching Activity
Blend phonemes to build words and uncover the secret message!
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Frog and Flies Match-Up Activity (Counting to 12)
Practice counting numbers 1 to 12 with this fun frog and fly match-up activity.
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Numbers 1-10 Bug Matching Game
Help students learn to represent numbers 1-10 in picture, word and number form.
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The Wacky Professor's Treasure - Mini Escape Room Activity
A mini escape room activity that allows students to complete grammar tasks, while working together to solve a riddle!
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Oblivious Orchestra – Rhythm Challenge
A fun and challenging game where students try to keep a steady beat.
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Memory Matcher PowerPoint – 3D Shapes
Recognize and recall the names of some of the most common 3D objects with a digital memory game!
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Order of Operations Dice Game
Practice order of operations with this set of 6 dice activity mats.
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Musical Instrument Bingo Game
A set of bingo cards using musical instruments.
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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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SPLAT! CVCC Word Game
A set of 36 task cards to practice decoding and reading CVCC words.
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Roll and Read – Sight Words – Kindergarten
A fun game for students to practice reading sight words.
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Fact Family Find and Flip - One- and Two-Digit Addition and Subtraction
Addition and subtraction game cards demonstrating the relationship between fact families.
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Fact Family Find and Flip - Addition and Subtraction Up to 20
Addition and subtraction game cards demonstrating the relationship between fact families.
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Two-Digit Place Value Bingo Game (Digits and Base-10 Blocks)
32 bingo cards using place value up to 99.
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Software and Hardware Match-Up Game
A matching game to assist students in understanding the difference between hardware and software.
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Word Twist - Word Building Game
Encourage word building in your classroom with this fun Boggle-style game!
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Music Symbols and Vocabulary Match-up
Match up the music symbols with the related word.
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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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Snakes and Ladders Game Board Template
Create a fun activity for any subject area with this black-and-white board game template.
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Compound Words Seek and Find Interactive
Seek and find examples of compound words with an engaging Google Slides Interactive activity.
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Compound Words Digital Learning Activity
Use a digital learning activity to help your students practice identifying, reading, and creating compound words.
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How to Make a Pizza Interactive Activity
Use this “How to Make a Pizza” procedural writing interactive activity to model the purpose, structural elements and language features of procedure texts.
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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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Vowel Digraph Cover Up Game
Practice vowel teams with your students with this set of three fun partner cover up games.
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Exaggeration and Hyperbole Interactive Activity
Explore hyperbole examples with your students using this digital game perfect for lesson warm-ups or lesson wrap-ups.