We all love a good game show! Next time you’re looking for ways to spruce up your game-play in the classroom, try watching your favorite game show and then modify the games for your classroom. This is not a new concept; it has been done for years with shows like Jeopardy and Family Feud. And now we’ve done it with three games that are spin-offs of NBC’s Hollywood Game Night classics.
If you’re not familiar with it, the show brings together two awesome components—games and celebrities. We’ve simply put an educational twist on a few of Hollywood Game Night‘s very simple games so that you can use them to review just about any subject in your classroom. You probably won’t have the celebrity guests, but you can definitely have fun! Bonus…these games require very few materials. Each game will require you to have a writing utensil (shock!) and a timer (a watch will do just fine).
Want more reasons to start playing games in the classroom? Read this!
Off the Top of My Head Materials: Sticky-Notes, Marker, & Timer
Split the class into at least two teams. Each student will have a sticky note on his or her forehead. Each sticky note has a review word, phrase, punctuation or grammatical term, math formula, historical figure, book character, or whatever you might want to review written on it. Everyone can see what is on the sticky note, except for the person wearing the sticky note.
Have one team play at a time. Depending on how many students are in each team, assign a time limit, like 90 seconds. Each team has that much time to try and get through as many sticky notes as possible. Have team members line up. The person at the front of the line turns to face the person behind him. That person gives the guesser clues to help him figure out what the sticky note on his own forehead says. Once the guesser gets the answer, he moves to the front of the line and turns around to begin giving clues to the person who was behind him. The person who was giving clues goes to the end of the line. Each correct answer is worth one point.
Watch how this game is played on Hollywood Game Night.
Timeline Materials: Paper or Manila File Folders, Marker, & Timer
This interactive game will give you a chance to review story plot, historical events, or math problems*. Prepare by writing key events on large pieces of paper–at least five to eight events. Display the events out-of-order at the front of the class. Split the class into teams. Each team will take turns rearranging the events into the correct order. Once they have the events in what they think is the correct order, they can submit their answer to you. You quickly review and tell them how many events they have out of order. At this point they have another chance to rearrange the events and resubmit. Give teams at least 90 seconds to complete the timeline (depending on how many events you’ve asked them to rearrange). As each team takes a turn, time them. Whichever team completes their timeline the quickest wins.
To keep the other teams involved while one team is rearranging their events, have the teams quietly work on the same timeline together.
Tip! Write the events on manila file folders. This gives you a sturdy surface for four timeline events. Just put a small symbol at the top of each side so you know which sides belong together. When it’s the next teams’ turn, flip the folders around to the next set of events.
*For math problems, students would need to solve the math equations first and then rearrange the problems in order of lowest to highest answer. You may want to give teams more time to complete these timelines.
No Harm, No Vowel Materials: Overhead Projector or Whiteboard, Marker, Timer
Review vocabulary words with this simple game. Display one of your spelling words or science terms on the board with the vowels in the word missing.
For example, if you were reviewing the word “volcano,” you would display the word like this:
You can play this game in teams by having each team take turns with a group of words and a time limit of 30-60 seconds. The team who guesses the most words in the time limit wins. If a team struggles with a word, you can choose to offer hints before moving on to the next word.
Or you can have each student in the class write down what they think each word is. Only display the word for about 15 seconds before you move on to the next word. At the end, review what the words were that you showed and find out who got the most correct.
Watch how this game is played on Hollywood Game Night.
Love playing games in you class? Try these!
Do you have a favorite game show game that you play in the classroom?
