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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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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Roll & Cover Counting Printables for Kindergarten
Build fine motor skills and counting skills with a set of printable Roll and Cover Counting Printables for Kindergarten.
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The Bean Game
A fun active game to play at any time.
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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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Digraph Coding Robot Mat
Practice identifying digraphs with the help of a coding robot and mat.
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Simple Multiplication and Division Word Problems Escape Room - Monkey Jungle!
Share our simple multiplication and division word problems escape room with your students to give them an engaging way to practice solving problems by modeling equal groups.
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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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Prime Factorization Match-Up
Practice how to find the prime factorization of a number with this match-up activity.
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Elements of a Map Match-up Activity
Answer the question "What are the key elements of a map?" with a map element matching activity.
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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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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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Mass Mystery Escape Room
Explore the different elements of mass with this super fun and engaging escape room resource.
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Roll to Create a Magical Story – Dice Game
Get your students writing magical stories with this engaging and interactive “Roll to Create” dice game.
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Rhyming Word Cards
Reinforce students' knowledge of rhyming words with this set of 30 picture cards.
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Decimal War Card Game
Get your students comparing decimals with this fun card game for two players.
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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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Addition Fact Practice: Numbers to 20 Escape Room
Engage students in addition fact practice with an interactive escape room and companion student notebook that make learning fun, hands-on, and meaningful.
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Alphabetical Order Activity
Support your students as they learn to organize the alphabet in order with this hands‑on, engaging activity.
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Irregular Plurals Escape Room
Teach irregular plurals with this engaging escape room game that helps teachers bring grammar lessons to life while keeping students motivated and excited to learn.
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Estimating Decimal Sums and Differences Interactive Activity
Take your students on a safari adventure while practicing how to estimate decimal sums and differences with this interactive activity.
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Lab Safety – Interactive and Printable Cloze Reading Activity
Demonstrate an understanding of lab safety rules and expectations by completing a cloze reading activity.
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Back to School - Get to Know You Dice Game
Play a Get to Know You dice game for students to get to know their classmates.
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Perimeter and Area Dice Game
Use this area and perimeter dice game as a math center activity when teaching area and perimeter to your 3rd and 4th graders.
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Drama Game Task Cards
A set of 17 activity cards with instructions for drama games.
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Adding Unlike Fractions Escape Room – The Lost Time Traveler
Have your super-sleuth students solve this fractions escape room to find out the location of the lost time traveler!
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Volume Escape Room
“Escape” ordinary volume activities with this engaging volume escape room that will have students solving volume challenges on a quest for a lost civilization.
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Roll and Write - Simple and Compound Sentence Game
Play a ‘Roll-a-Sentence’ simple and compound sentence game to help your students practice writing simple and compound sentences.
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I Have, Who Has? Game - Place Value (3-Digit Numbers)
Play an exciting I Have, Who Has? Place Value Game to help your students practice their skills with reading and writing three-digit numbers.
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Roll and Round Dice Game
Help your student refine their rounding skills with this set of 7 printable math games.
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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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Counting Objects Bear Hunt - Numbers 1-5
Use one-to-one correspondence and basic counting skills with this hands-on game.