Can’t Touch This

Today’s post is all about games you can play with your kids in your classroom to either reinforce content or give them a little break. These all follow the strict 2020 guidelines that we all know and love: don’t get within 6 feet of someone or you’ll simply melt.

All of these have been kid tested and approved. These were some favorites I used to do with my students. If you aren’t a teacher, you could easily use these for your next socially distanced, masked BBQ.

Would you rather?
This was ALWAYS a hit and more of a quick break to get them out of their seats and not for content. All you do is call out Would you Rather questions and have them decide one way or another. I used to do it by putting them all in the center of the room and asking the question, and they would walk to one side or the other. In the year of 2020, you could have sit or stand to show their answer. I’d usually just think of a few questions spontaneously, but there are a million of kid ones out there you could have printed. With kids, the grosser and weirder, the better.

Three Clues
I always used this one to review for vocabulary words, but it could be used for pretty much any subject. I would give each student one of the small white boards and a marker. They were in charge of keeping of with their own score in the corner of the their board. I would give three clues to try and get them to figure out the correct word. After each clue, they had to write down which word they thought it was, so after all three clues were given, they would have three guesses written down. It might be the same word each time, or each guess might have been different. The most points they could get each round was three depending on what they guessed. The first clue would always be very vague (two syllable word, it starts with a vowel, etc.), the second clue would make it a little clearer, and the third clue was intended to make it it very obvious. This game was always fun and a great way to review.

Don’t Skip a Beat
Everyone stands up at their desk, and the teacher calls out a category. (states, things in a bakery, vegetables, things you see at Christmas, etc.) You start at the front of the room, and show them the direction it’s going to go and who will end it. Each student has to say something when it’s their turn. If they hesitate or repeat something that’s already been said, they have to sit down. Then you can play as many rounds as you want with different categories and see who is left standing.

Pyramid
This is obviously after that game show we all know and love- $100,00 pyramid. I usually did this with vocabulary words but also used it in other subjects for test review. I’d have a giant pyramid on the board with three words on the bottom, two in the middle, and one on top. Two chairs will be at the front of the room SIX FEET APART with one facing the board and one facing the class. The student facing the board is supposed to give clues to try and get the other student to guess all of them. I would always give them a time limit. I THINK I gave them a minute, but it may have been 30 seconds. It’s been over a year since I’ve been in the classroom, so I’m not sure; you just don’t want it to be too lengthy in order to give them a challenge. Give your best Dick Clarke effort and have fun with this one.

Move It Move It
This is another one that I didn’t use to review anything but more for movement. It’s amazing how one or two minutes out of their seat would refocus them. It was always worth it. For this one, I always had their names on popsicle sticks for various ways to use them in class. They’d get out of their desks, I’d put on a song, and I’d pull a stick and call out that name. That student had to do a dance move that the class would mimic. I’d let them have the spotlight for a quick second and then pull another stick and repeat. This was one of my personal favorites because it was so fun to watch.

Hope these work in your classroom or with Aunt Pearl and Uncle Earl at your next family gathering!

Thanks for reading,