How to Turn Any Lesson into an Exciting Learning Game

Playing games in the classroom can have a dramatic effect on learning.  Have you ever been trying to teach a difficult concept and your students are zoning out?  We’ve all been there.  How can you engage them fast when you have nothing else in your lesson plan?  That’s easy, turn it into a game.  Learning games that are fun are motivating, engaging, and they can make a concept come to life like nothing else.  Here are a few of my favorite ways to make any lesson into a quick and exciting game. You can use these ideas with reading, math, phonics, or content from any subject area.  As an added bonus, they require little to no prep or cost.

Make Game Cards

First, you need to decide what topic you want to reinforce. Have a variety of colored index cards available and guide your students in making review cards on the subject. This also works perfectly for sight words, math facts, and vocabulary.   The process of creating the cards will help them review the material they are trying to learn.  They can later be used for study cards, but game cards are more  Game cards also makes a fast and easy way to individualize the lesson for each student. If you have a student for whom this is too difficult or frustrating, that’s ok.  Use commercial or teacher made flash cards.

Hit a Target Practice

This is one of my favorite activities for playing games in the classroom. It doesn’t matter how old you are, there is something satisfying about hitting a target.  To play, we spread the game cards out on the floor and use a soft bean bag, small ball or even a piece of paper to throw at our target card.  I call out a question or word, and my student must hit the mark.  Sometimes we take turns to see who gets the most cards, other times it is just fun to try to hit the target.

Fact Racing

This one is great for sorting practice or yes, no answers.  Write categories on large cards or paper and put them at one end of the room.  They can be attached to buckets or baskets if you have those available, but you don’t need them.  Students grab a game card and race to put it by the correct category.  This can be done with two teams, or individually by using a timer.  Many of my students just like to run and get energy out while learning.

Memory and Go Fish

These are time tested classics and are still fun today.  Have two sets of matching game cards.  Most kids are familiar with how to play Go Fish and Memory and can adapt any cards to play these games.

Tic Tac Toe

Everyone loves Tic Tac Toe.  The twist is that students have to answer a game card correctly to place their mark on the board.  Make it even more interesting by having each player choose the symbol they draw, for example, a lion and a cat.  See which one wins more rounds.

Count Your Points

Rolling dice is an easy way to turn fact review into a game.  Roll a die and answer a question.  Each player keeps track of the points they roll. Simple, but trying to collect the most points is motivating and sneaks in some math practice too.  Keep some standard dice handy.  There are also some great dice and game apps you can download so you always have dice, timers, and spinners handy.

Climb the Ladder

Each player or team draws a ladder with ten steps.  Players take turns drawing a card and answering the question.  If the question is answered correctly, the player rolls a dice.  If an even number is rolled, they get to move up one step, If an odd number is rolled they must move down one step.  The first player to reach the top is the winner.

Mix it and Fix it

In this game, questions and answers are written on separate cards. For word-building games, each letter of the word or each syllable is written on a separate card.   Each team or player is given a set of mixed up cards that form a word or answer.  For example the letters s-h-e-l-l for the word shell.  Lay a set of mixed up cards out for each player or team.  The first to “fix” their cards by matching all the questions and answers or unscrambling letters to make the word gets the point.

DIY Board Games

Board games are another favorite activity for playing games in the classroom.  Board games are easy and fun to make. Let students create a game board and decorate it with a theme of their choice.  They can be as simple or elaborate as you have time for.  I have sketched a quick one on a piece of paper and had students create elaborate projects.  If you are short on time, grab this free blank game board and print some copies.

You may also like these themed Fast and Fabulous games from Tammy’s Toolbox.  Print and keep them handy for any time you need a quick activity.

You can find more great ideas on using games to teach in this blog post on Why Playing Games is the Absolutely Best Way to Teach

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