If you want to explore classroom game ideas by grade level, click here to skip to that section of this blog.
Top Benefits of Elementary Classroom Games
Beyond being a fun way to break up the day, wake your class up from a mid-afternoon slump or work out some end-of-day wiggles, games can also have lots of benefits you’ll get to watch develop over time!
Create a Classroom Bond
One of the best ways to bond with your students (and for your students to bond with each other) is through positive, affirming interactions like playing games together. An enthusiastic, improvisational atmosphere will lead to funny moments and happy shared memories!
Present New Learning Opportunities
Students have different learning styles, and elementary classroom games are one strategy you can use to give students the opportunity to try out new learning methods and find out which ones work best for them. Games also give you another way to reach out to reluctant learners and others who may be struggling with specific material.
Establish a Routine
Games are also an effective way to help students readjust to their classroom routine at the beginning of a new school year or after spending time away during a school break (or even a weekend).
Encourage Creativity
Most classroom games for elementary students will have an element of creativity, from artistic games to word games to puzzle and problem-solving games. Even team challenges can include a bit of creativity by having students give their teams a name.
“Brain” Classroom Games for Elementary Students
These are games that focus on different ways of thinking, from puzzle-solving to recall. “Brain” games are ideal for introducing new lessons, refreshing information that hasn’t been reviewed for a while or studying in preparation for a test.
1. Quick Answer
First, set the topic of the game (like “multiplication tables for 10s”). Next, have students answer one at a time starting at one side of the room and ending at the other. Repeat until you’ve been through the entire room a few times or you’re finished with the information you want to review. This works best with counting (by twos, fives, tens, etc.), times tables and other information that can fit into a big list!
2. Spelling in Line
Similar to “Quick Answer” but with spelling words! First, announce a spelling word. Next, have the first student give the first letter, the second student the second letter, the third student the third letter, etc. until you get to the last letter of the word. Then, announce the next word and repeat.
3. Creative Problem Solving
Tell your students you need to solve a problem. Give them an abstract problem (like “travel to the bottom of the ocean” or “set up a farm on the moon”) and a list of three random objects (a paper clip, a rubber band, a magic key, a gallon of ice cream, a pool float, headphones, etc.). Then, give everyone five to ten minutes to write out a solution to the problem that involves each of the random objects in some way. After time’s up, ask for volunteers to share their creative solutions!
4. Making Up Words
Put two to three vowels and four to five consonants on the board. Then, give students two minutes to write down as many words as they can think of using the letters on the board. Award one point per letter per completed word. Remind your students to try to beat their own personal best every time.
5. How Does It Work?
Show students a picture and ask them to brainstorm what the image is and how it works. This can be a fun way to introduce a new lesson (macro shots of plants to lead into a botany lesson or photos of satellites for a lesson about the solar system are both good options). Encourage students to verbalize their thought process and build on the answers given by their peers to form a complete hypothesis.
6. 20 Questions
For this classic game, you have to think of a person, place or thing and your students have 20 questions (or however-many-students-are-in-your-class questions) to guess what it is! Students can only ask yes-or-no questions, and you’ll probably want to add rules about when and how students can make an official guess versus asking a yes-or-no question. This is another fun way to introduce young learners to a new topic!
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Choose one student to be “it,” and ask them to sit at the teacher’s desk with their eyes closed and ears covered. Choose a second student to hide somewhere in the classroom (like behind a bookshelf or under a table). Next, all the other students switch desks. Once everyone is sitting somewhere new, the “it” student opens their eyes and uncovers their ears then tries to figure out who’s missing. After they get it, choose a new finder and a new hider and go again.
This game works especially well to help everyone memorize each other’s names and faces faster at the beginning of the school year!
2. Charades
Divide students into two groups. Have one student from the first group come forward and choose a slip of paper or a card with a word or phrase written on it. Their task is to act out the word or phrase for their team to guess within a set amount of time.
If their team guesses right, they get a point. If they don’t guess correctly or have no guess, the second team has one guess to try to “steal” the point. Either way, one student from the second team comes forward, chooses a slip of paper and tries to act their word or phrase out for their team.
3. Corners
Label each corner of your classroom one, two, three and four. Have your students all walk around the perimeter of the room while music plays. When you stop the music, everyone needs to get to one of the four corners of the room. Next, use a die or a random number generator to pick a number from one to four.
Everyone standing at that corner goes back to their desks and either sits down or dances at their desk if they want to keep moving around. Play the music again and repeat until you only have one student left standing.
4. Freeze Dance
If you need to help your class burn off that after-lunch energy or get a little wake-up boost when the mid-afternoon slump sets in, throw on some music and Freeze Dance. All you need is some classroom-appropriate popular music to get started!
Put on the music and encourage students to dance in place by their desks or come to the front of the room to show everyone their best moves. After 30 seconds to a minute, turn off the music and yell “Freeze!” Everyone needs to strike a pose and hold still until the music starts again. Repeat until the energy level of the room is where you want it.
5. Thumbs Up, Seven Up
Choose seven students. Everyone else puts their head down on their desks with eyes closed and one thumb up. The seven students walk around the room, each one tapping one student’s thumb down, and then go to the front of the room.
The seven thumbs-up students who had their thumbs tapped down each get two guesses to figure out who tapped them. If they guess wrong, they sit back down. If they get it right, they replace the student at the front of the classroom for the next round!
6. Sleeping Lions
Call out “Sleeping Lions!” and all your students pretend to be sleeping lions. Choose the sleeping lion who’s sleeping the best to keep watch. Now the watchful lion watches to make sure the other lions are sleeping and when they’ve decided which sleeping lion is sleeping the best, they can choose that lion as the new watchful lion. Repeat until all is calm.
This game has dozens of different names, including “Sleepy Sheepies,” “Chill Penguins” and “Lazy Llamas.” Choose a new one for your class by incorporating a school mascot or a class mascot to make it even more fun.
Team Building Games
These are games that focus on collaboration and teamwork, and the fun of the game depends on full participation. Team building games are ideal for creating bonds between smaller groups or refocusing the room on smaller projects.
1. Don’t Say It
Divide your class into groups of five to ten (or you can play with the full classroom on one team if you have a small class size). Give each group a stack of cards or slips of paper that have vocabulary words or other lesson-related words or phrases on them. One student in each group picks a card. Their challenge is to describe the word to their teammates without accidentally saying the word. Their teammates have to guess the word on the card.
2. Guided Drawing
Hand out paper and drawing implements to all students and take them through a guided meditation, instructing them to draw the things they “see” along the way. Something like: “You’re walking through a forest. The sun is shining bright in the sky. You see a tree at the end of a path …” From there you can describe the tree, the path and any animals or birds along the way, all with increasing levels of detail. After the “walk” is over, have students share their art.
3. Collaborative Drawing
Another way to improve creativity while building on what others have made is with collaborative drawing. Give a simple prompt and let students begin a drawing for one to two minutes. When the time is up, everyone passes their paper to the person on their left.
Then, that student continues the drawing for the next one to two minutes. Keep going until all the drawings have gone at least all the way down one row. At the end, make sure each drawing goes back to the first person to finish up for one to two minutes. Look at all the different ways each drawing went!
4. No-Talk Line-Up
Instruct your students to line up at the door in a particular order (by birthday, age or height are good places to start) without talking! This game builds nonverbal communication skills and helps students learn something about each other. Plus, it’s a great way to use that last two minutes of the day after everyone’s packed up and ready to go, and you’re all just waiting on the final bell!
Fun Classroom Games By Grade Level
Below, you’ll find some of our favorite fun classroom games organized by grade level to keep learning exciting and engaging. Explore our top picks and don’t forget to check out our FREE grade-specific lesson plans and writing worksheets linked at the bottom of each section!
Games for Kindergartners and 1st Graders
Young learners thrive on interactive games that help develop foundational skills in a fun way. Try these classroom game ideas for K-1:
- Letter Scavenger Hunt – Call out a letter and have students race to find an object in the classroom that starts with that letter.
- Story Building – Start a sentence and have students take turns adding on to create a fun and silly story together.
- Shape & Color Hop – Tape different colored shapes to the floor. Call out a color or shape and students must jump to the correct one.
Looking for more engaging activities? Studentreasures helps teachers by providing resources at grade level. Check out our Kindergarten & 1st Grade Writing Worksheets and Lesson Plans.
Games for 2nd & 3rd Graders
As students grow, they’re ready for games that challenge their thinking while keeping learning fun. Try these games!
- Hot Potato – Pass a small ball while music plays. When the music stops, the student holding the ball must answer a grammar or spelling question.
- Mystery Word Match – Write vocabulary words and their definitions on separate index cards. Students work in teams to match them up as quickly as possible.
- Math Bingo – Create bingo cards with the answers to math equations. Call out and write the equations on the board as you go. Students mark the correct answer to the equation on their card.
Explore our 2nd & 3rd Grade Writing Worksheets and Lesson Plans for even more classroom games for elementary students.
Games for 4th Graders
Fourth and fifth graders are ready for more strategic and creative games. Here are some great options:
- Persuasive Debate – Give students a fun debate topic (e.g., “Is a hot dog a sandwich?”). They take turns making arguments and supporting their case.
- Story Relay – One student writes a sentence to start a story, then passes it on. Each student adds to the story until it’s complete.
- History or Science Jeopardy – Create a Jeopardy-style quiz with history or science questions to reinforce recent lessons in an exciting way.
Need more inspiration? Our 4th & 5th Grade Writing Worksheets and Lesson Plans offer engaging activities to develop writing, storytelling and analytical skills.
Sign Up to Receive Your FREE Classbook Publishing Kit
Another way to make the school day more exciting is with a class project that turns your students into published authors! Simply sign up for your FREE classbook publishing kit, and we’ll help you through the entire process, from planning to publication. Classbooks are a meaningful keepsake for your classroom and a time capsule of your school year. Parents can order copies, too!
You can also check out our blog and online Teacher’s Lounge for more writing activities, lesson plans and teaching strategies. Now that you’ve got some fun classroom game ideas, get ready to redirect the end-of-day classroom chaos into excitement for learning!
