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.
- Plus Plan
Interactive Perimeter Puzzle
Play this perimeter game with your class so they can practice calculating the perimeter of a variety of 2D shapes.
- Free Plan
Alphabet Letter Match
A fun match-up activity to consolidate your students' knowledge of uppercase and lowercase letters.
- Free Plan
Roll to Create a Strip Diagram
A roll to create template for students to use when learning to use strip diagrams.
- Plus Plan
Multiplication as Repeated Addition – Interactive Picture Reveal
Help your students understand the relationship between repeated addition and multiplication with this interactive picture reveal.
- Plus Plan
Perimeter Escape Room – The Mysterious Missing Cupcakes
Have your supersleuth students solve this perimeter escape room to find out who stole the missing cupcakes!
- Free Plan
Kindergarten Counting 1-20 Matching Game
Use this matching game in your primary classroom to teach students to count quantities and match them to numbers (1-20).
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Fact Family Safari (Multiplication and Division) Interactive Resource
Go on a colorful safari adventure with your students and help them solve interactive challenges whilst learning about multiplication and division fact families!
- Free Plan
Bump! Subtraction to 10 Math Game
Practice subtraction facts to 10 with a fun printable subtraction board game.
- Free Plan
Lab Safety – Interactive and Printable Cloze Reading Activity
Demonstrate an understanding of lab safety rules and expectations by completing a cloze reading activity.
- Free Plan
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.
- Free Plan
Positive and Negative Numbers – Board Game
Practice identifying opposite integers, plotting positive and negative numbers, and solving word problems with this free board game.
- Plus Plan
Interactive Area Puzzle (Squares and Rectangles)
Find the area of 16 shapes on the board and match the corresponding pieces to reveal a mystery picture.
- Free Plan
Comparing Three-Digit Numbers – Worksheet
Practice comparing 3-digit numbers with this hands-on worksheet.
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Past, Present, and Future Verb Tense Matching Activity - Regular Verbs
Practice using past, present, and future tenses of regular verbs with a butterfly matching activity.
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Four in a Row Game - Manipulating Sounds
Create new words by changing phonemes with 30 phoneme manipulation cards and gameboard set.
- Free Plan
Battleship Coordinate Grid Game
Practice using ordered pairs with this fun battleship game.
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Compound Nouns for Kids - Puzzle Pop Game
‘Pop’ in a bit of extra practice with compound words with a fun set of Noun Compound Word Puzzle Pops!
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Roll and Write - Telling Time Dice Game
Practice telling time and have fun learning how to tell time with a Roll and Write Telling Time Dice Game!
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Would You Rather? Animal Adaptations Game
Discuss and debate the best animal adaptations with the Would You Rather? Animal Adaptation game.
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Area Model Multiplication Interactive Activity
Help students understand how to use the area model of multiplication when solving multi-digit multiplication problems with this interactive activity.
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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.
- Plus Plan
Calculate the Perimeter Interactive Activity
Teach students how to calculate the perimeter with this drag-and-drop digital activity, perfect for whole-class and individual learning.
- Plus Plan
Escape from Stress Board Game
Introduce this board game in your classroom to help students practice identifying which stress management coping strategies to use and when.
- Plus Plan
Types of Triangles Interactive Math Game
Explore the properties of acute, right and obtuse triangles with this interactive space adventure!
- Plus Plan
Addition Strategy Spin Game
Have some fun all while practicing different addition strategies with this fun classroom game.
- Free Plan
Fractions on a Number Line – Kaboom Game
Practice identifying fractions on a number line with an exciting game of Kaboom!
- Plus Plan
Animals and Their Habitats- Interactive Activity
Help a lost polar bear (and his friends) return to the correct habitat with a Google Slides interactive activity.
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Multiplying Fractions – Google Slides Interactive Activity
Challenge your students to multiply fractions while completing 7 different tasks with this Google slides interactive activity.
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Ordered Pairs Match-Up
Practice plotting ordered pairs and describing the process for graphing with this match-up activity.
- Plus Plan
Ratio Match-Up!
Match ratio models with numerical representations and written scenarios with this match-up activity.
- Free Plan
What Do Good Citizens Do? Matching Activity
Teach the roles and responsibilities of good citizens with a scenario matching cut and paste worksheet.
- Free Plan
Expanded Form Dominoes (5-Digit Numbers)
Use this set of dominoes when learning how to match 5-digit numbers written in standard form and expanded form.