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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Animal Adaptations Digital Learning Activity Slides
Discover a variety of structural, behavioral, and physiological adaptations with an Animal Adaptations Digital Learning activity.
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Converting Units of Time Match-Up Game
Convert time units, including seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months by completing a match-up activity.
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Rhetorical Questions Interactive Activity
Explore rhetorical questions with your students using this digital game perfect for your persuasive writing lessons.
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Array Match-Up Activity for 3rd Grade
Challenge your students to create sets of arrays, multiplication facts and products with this matching game for 3rd grade.
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5th Grade Math Review – Google Slides Interactive Activity
Review important 5th-grade math standards with a student-led interactive activity that covers 12 different mathematical concepts.
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Spring Riddles Bingo
Bring spring into your classroom with a fun game of Spring Riddle Bingo!
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Rhyming Word Cards
Reinforce students' knowledge of rhyming words with this set of 30 picture cards.
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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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Analyzing Graphs (Scaled Intervals) – Board Game
Use this board game to sharpen data analysis skills when solving problems with information presented in a scaled picture graph and bar graph.
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Identifying Fractions – Mixed Numbers & Improper Fractions Memory Game
Practice matching improper fractions, mixed numbers, and visual representations with this set of 30 match-up cards.
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Roll and Read – Sight Words – Grade 1
A fun game for students to practice reading sight words.
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Battleship Coordinate Grid Game
Practice using ordered pairs with this fun battleship game.
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The Bean Game
A fun active game to play at any time.
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Drama Game Task Cards
A set of 17 activity cards with instructions for drama games.
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Unit Fractions Game Show Interactive
Play a game of unit fractions with your students with this fun engaging interactive slide deck.
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Weather vs. Climate – Google Slides Interactive Activity
Strengthen student understanding of weather and climate with this interactive activity designed for 5th-grade students.
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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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Adopt a Chick - Interactive Writing Activity
Have some fun adopting a digital chicken with this interactive Easter writing 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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Which One? – Listening Comprehension Exercise
An Interactive PowerPoint where students listen to a description and choose the matching image.
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FIND IT! R Blends Board Game
Practice decoding and spelling words with this board game that focuses on R consonant blends.
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Roll and Read – Sight Words – Grade 2
A fun game for students to practice reading sight words.
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Grammar and Punctuation Tails - Active Learning
An active game that requires students to use their basic grammar and punctuation knowledge.
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Chicken Evolution Active Game
A whole class active game that encourages cognitive processing skills, physical activity, and social skills.
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Alphabetical Order Activity
A fun matchup activity to help teach children the letters of the alphabet and their sounds.
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What's Remaining? - Long Division Board Game
A game to play to when learning to solve long division involving remainders.
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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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Months of the Year Bingo
Recognize and order the months in a year with a printable Bingo Game!
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Unit Fraction Matching Game
Match up different visuals of simple unit fractions to help students understand this mathematical concept.
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Planets Escape Room Activity
Navigate facts about different planets with this fun and engaging escape room style activity with your students.
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Elapsed Time Interactive Word Problems Game
Practice solving elapsed time word problems with an interactive quiz game for 3rd and 4th graders.
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Multiplying With Equal Groups – Small Group Bingo
Download this multiplication bingo game to help students understand the concept of using equal groups.