Games List

Games 5x5

Students have 5 chances to guess a word with 5 letters. ~Materials: Chalk, chalkboard, list of 5-letter words. ~Class size: Any ~Level: Middle/High 1. Write 5 spaces on the board. 2.

Think of a 5-letter word & write ONE of the letters on it’s space.

3. Students guess the word and teacher writes the word directly below. 4. If the guessed word contains a letter that is in the teacher’s word but is NOT in the correct place, draw a circle around it.

If the

guessed word contains a letter that IS in the correct place, draw a square around it. 5. When students use all 5 guesses on the board, they have one last chance to guess the answer. If they don’t guess the answer, they lose. Note: Try dividing students into teams or play all together. Try using 3 minute or 2 minute time limits.

A Ship Comes Loaded

Students try to remember what other students say as well as adding their own word which begins with the same letter as the other words. ~Materials: None. ~Class Size: 10 or more. ~Level: Low/Middle/High 1. First student says, “A ship comes loaded.” 2. Second student says to the first, “With what?” 3. First student says, “With (apples).” Note: ‘A’ is the first letter of this word so all other words must start with ‘A’. 4.

Then second student says the same thing, “A ship comes loaded.”

5. A third student says, “With what?” 6. The second student says, “With apples and (angels).” Note: Angels was used in the example here because it starts with ‘A’. 7.

So the play keeps on going until a student either can’t remember all the words or can’t think of any new words quickly enough.

Alphabet Soup (Similar to Rhyme Time)

Students will make grammatically correct sentences using as many words that begin with a letter that the teacher gives them.

~Materials: Die/spinner w/letters of the alphabet, 1-3 minute timer. ~Class Size: 2 or more. ~Level: Middle/High 1. Put students in teams. 2. Give students a letter of choice. 3. Students are given time to construct a sentence using words in the sentence that begin with the letter that was given to them. Not all words have to begin with that letter, but the sentence must be grammatically correct. 4. Give teams points for each word used in the sentence that begins with the letter. If there is any grammar problem, award no points.

Rhyme Time (Similar to Alphabet Soup)

Students will make grammatically correct sentences using as many rhyming words that rhyme with the word that the teacher gives them. ~Materials: List of easily rhymeable words, 1-3 minute timer. ~Class Size: 2 or more. ~Level: High 1. Put students into teams. 2. Read students the word to be rhymed.

3. Students are given time to construct a sentence using words in the sentence that rhyme with the word that was given to them. Not all words have to rhyme with the word given to them, but the sentence must be grammatically correct. 4. Give teams points for each word used in the sentence that rhymes with the word given to them. If there is any grammar problem, award no points.

Scattergories

Students will conjure up words that are associated with each topic by using the same first letter as the letter on the rolled die (or spun spinner). ~Materials: Die/spinner w/letters of alphabet, topic lists, 5-minute timer. ~Class Size: 3 or more. ~Level: Middle/High 1.

Put students into teams. (A maximum of 6 teams is best)

2.

Give each team a list of 10 topics (which you have made). Go over each topic to make sure everyone understands.

3.

Role the die (or spin a spinner you have made) to determine the letter each word has to start with.

4.

Students have five minutes in their teams to come up with [1]

word(s) for each of the ten topics. 5.

After the five minutes, go through the list of topics asking each team what they wrote.

6.

Teams can not write same word more than once for each round.

7.

If two or more teams have the same word, they all cross that word out.

8.

Teams get points for writing a word that is acceptable and that no other teams have. They get 2 points for two words that go together that start with the same letter.

9.

Play two or more rounds. Highest score wins!

I Spy

Students search for something they can see and tell the other students what letter it starts with. Other students take turns guessing what it is. ~Materials: None. ~Class Size: 2 or more. ~Level: Low/Middle/High 1.

One student starts by saying the following: Inky dinky dye, I spy with my little eye, Something that begins with __. The student plugs in the first letter of something he/she sees.

2. Other students raise their hands and try to guess the word. 3.

The student who guessed the word is now the student who picks the object.

4. Play continues for as long as you like. Note: The object cannot simply be a word on the wall. It must be something.

Simon Says

Teacher tells students to touch a part of their body. Students only do it if the teacher says “Simon Says” do it. ~Materials: None ~Class Size: 2 or more. ~Level: Low/Middle/High 1.

Teacher stands on table or something high so all students can see.

2.

Teacher tells students to touch a part of their body by saying “Simon says [touch a part of your body].

3.

If teacher doesn’t say Simon says, and some students do it, then those students sit down.

4. Play continues until only one student is left standing. That student is the winner.

Note: For variation, you can have students perform actions instead of touch parts of body.

Word Clue

Students will guess the word being described. Each time the team guesses the word correctly, they color a square to their team’s color. The team that first gets five squares of their color in a row wins. ~Materials: 5x5 grid (must be able to change colors) word clue list, timer. ~Class Size: 2 – 45. ~Level: Middle 1. Divide students into two or three teams. 2. Choose team to go first by rock paper scissor. 3. Start the timer (1-2 minutes) and start reading off clues. 4. Students raise their hand to guess the word. 5.

If student guesses the word, they choose where they want their colored square to be and play passes to the next team. If students don’t guess the word, then play passes to the next team without changing a colored square.

6.

Play continues this way for four or five rounds, after which anybody can answer at any time – like a race. The student who first raises

his/her hand and guesses the word correctly gets to change a square color for that team. 7.

When all the squares in the grid have changed to a color, then teams can change other teams’ colors to their own when they guess a word.

8. The first team to get five of their color in a row wins.

Go Fish

Students try to make pairs from other students by asking if they have the same cards. The first student who lays down all his cards wins. ~Materials: Doubles or quadruples of same cards, enough to have some left-overs after all cards dealt to players, sentences/words for the cards (if not on the card). ~Class Size: Any (although classes under 20 work best). ~Level: Any (appropriate level cards must be used) 1. Put students into teams of 3 or 4. 2. Pass out cards to each team. 3. Dealer deals out 7 cards to each player and puts the remaining cards in the middle. 4. If any player has pairs, they lay them down on the table. 5. Play starts when all players have laid down all pairs.

6.

Person to the left of the dealer goes first by choosing any other player and asking them, “Do you have (one of the sentences for the card they are asking about)?”

For example: “Do you have ‘I like

summer because of summer vacation’?” 7.

If they have the card, they say “yes” and give it to the person asking and that person can ask anybody again. If they don’t have the card, then they say “Go Fish,” and the person asking must take one card from the pile of remaining cards in the middle and it’s the next person’s turn.

8. Play continues until either time runs out or one person has made pairs with all the cards. 9. The first person with no cards or the person with least cards when the time runs out is the winner.

X – O

Students try to guess whether the statement is true or false by making their arms into an X or an O. The team who has the most standing at the end wins. ~Materials: List of questions (questions regarding the unit or random) ~Class Size: Any, but larger classes (20 or more) work best.

~Level: Any 1. Put students into teams of two or three. 2. Students stand up and close their eyes. 3. I read either a true statement or false statement. 4.

Students must make an X (if they think it’s false) or an O (if they think it’s true) out of their arms.

5. After all students are showing their answers, read the correct answer. 6. Students who are wrong sit down. 7a. Variation A: Read questions until just one student is standing. That is the winning team. 7b. Variation B: Read 5 questions. The group with the most students standing after the 5 questions is the winner. 8. Play takes a short time, so you can have everybody stand up and play again. Keep track of team points on the board.

Outburst

Student teams are given a topic. They then have one minute to come up with as many answers for that topic as possible. For each answer they give that matches an answer on the teacher’s card, they get a point. The team

with the most points wins. ~Materials: Cards with topics and answers (questions regarding the unit or random), 1-minute timer, chalkboard (to keep score), card viewer from game (optional – just makes it a little easier). ~Class Size: Any. (10-30 works best) ~Level: Any. (Too low is difficult) 1.

Divide students into teams of 2 or 3.

2.

Teams take turns, but the team(s) that aren’t “in play” are still listening because they have a chance for extra points.

3. Choose one person who will be the team leader for answering for the bonus points. 4. Start with one team. Choose a card and tell them the topic. 5. Start the one-minute timer. 6. Students raise their hand to give answers that pertain to the topic. They have one minute, of course. 7.

After one minute is up, the other team(s) have 5 seconds to discuss answers they think the team that was in play didn’t come up with, and the “team leader” gives me one answer to that topic.

8.

If their answer is on my list, they get a bonus 3 points. If not, they get no points.

9.

Write the teams’ points up on the board and play then moves to the next team with a new topic card.

10.

Play to a certain number of points or until time runs out. Team with the most points is the winner.