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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Fighting Gravity Interactive Clip Cards
Explore objects that must fight gravity to stay in their air with this set of 24 digital clip cards.
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Sound Energy Board Game
Enable your students to practice identifying and describing sound energy sources with this fast-paced board game!
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Sound Energy Drag and Drop Interactive Activity
Enhance students' ability to identify and describe sound energy concepts in a hands-on and immersive manner with this interactive slide deck.
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Christmas Writing Prompt Dice Game - Roll-a-Story
Roll a Christmas Writing Prompt and write a fun Christmas story with our printable Christmas Dice activities.
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Interactive Build A Snowman Sequencing Activity
Practice sequencing and writing procedural texts with an interactive How to Build a Snowman game.
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How to Decorate a Christmas Tree - Year 1 Procedural Writing
Practice sequencing and writing procedural texts with an interactive ‘How to Decorate a Christmas Tree’ slide deck and differentiated writing prompts for 1st grade.
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High or Low Friction? Interactive Clip Cards
Explore high and low friction examples with your students using this set of 24 digital clip cards.
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'EE' Vowel Team Board Game
Decode words with the ee long vowel team in this word card board game.
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Vowel Team Dominoes - EE, EA, and EY
Decode words with ee, ea, and ey vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds using this set of 26 dominoes.
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Vowel Team Dominoes - OA, OW, and OE
Decode words with oa, ow, and oe vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds using this set of 28 dominoes.
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OA Long Vowel Teams Bingo Game
Practice decoding words with OA vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds with this BINGO game for up to 18 players.
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IE Vowel Team Bingo
Practice decoding words that use the IE vowel team with this BINGO game for up to 20 players.
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EE Vowel Team Bingo
Practice decoding words that use the EE vowel team convention with this BINGO game for up to 20 players.
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EA Vowel Team Bingo Game
Practice decoding words that include the EA long /e/ vowel team sound with this BINGO game for up to 20 players.
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Digraphs Game (Smash It!)
Segment phonemes and identify the digraphs in this set of 18 game boards and letter cards.
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Consonant Digraph Dominoes With Mouth Images
Practice decoding words by their digraphs with this set of 28 dominoes.
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FIND IT! Consonant Digraphs Board Game
Practice decoding words that include 4 examples of consonant digraphs with our digraph flashcards and board game set.
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'AI' Diphthong Vowel Team Board Game
Decode words with the ai long vowel team in this word card board game.
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OA Vowel Team Board Game
Practice decoding words with the oa vowel team in this board game.
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'EA' Vowel Team Board Game
Decode words with the ea long vowel team in this printable board game.
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Diphthong Vowel Team 'AY' Bingo
Practice decoding words that include the AY long /a/ vowel team sound with this BINGO game for up to 20 players.
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Diphthong Vowel Team 'AI' Bingo
Practice decoding words that use the AI vowel team convention with this BINGO game for up to 20 players.
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'AY' Diphthong Vowel Team Board Game
Decode words with the ay long vowel team in this board game.
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The Case of the Missing Turkey! - Thanksgiving Escape
Uncover the location of the missing Thanksgiving turkey with a 4th-grade multiplication Thanksgiving Mystery escape room activity.
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Thanksgiving Trivia Game
Host an exciting Turkey Day Competition with an interactive Thanksgiving Trivia Game for kids.
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2-Digit in Expanded Form Interactive Activity
Engage students in showing their knowledge of converting double digit numbers into their expanded form with this interactive activity.
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Reading and Writing Double Digit Numbers Interactive Activity
Get students practicing their knowledge of converting standard form numbers to expanded form with this engaging interactive activity.
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2-Digit Numbers Interactive Activity
Explore double digit numbers in a variety of different scenarios with this engaging interactive activity for your classroom.
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Comparing Numbers Christmas Game
Have some Christmas math fun with an interactive, self-checking comparing numbers game.
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Thanksgiving Place Value for 2nd Grade - Interactive
Review 2 and 3-digit place value concepts with an interactive Thanksgiving Math Activity.
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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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Thanksgiving Escape Room - The Stolen Feast
Play a Thanksgiving Escape Room game and practice two-and-three digit addition for holiday fun!