Games Don’t Have To Be A Distraction

With so many demands placed on the teacher to “focus on standards”, games can be seen more as a distraction rather than a tool for learning. Teachers often shy away from playing games in class because they can be seen as “playing around instead of learning.”

But come on who doesn’t like games? Students and teachers alike think games are fun, they help practice social skills and encourage interaction. It never fails to make a lesson livelier and that’s tough and tedious especially when it comes to things like grammar rules and vocabulary.

Best thing to come from all of this is that all students are more engaged when the learning is fun and largely because of the element of competition.

Here are some classroom games that are fun, age-appropriate and educational at the same time.

We polled our teachers for ideas on some popular games they use in class. Here they are:

1. 1. Hot Seat. This game is a perennial favourite of most teachers – it is easy to play, doesn’t need a lot of resources and yet it engages students and most of all it makes them speak in the classroom!
2. 2. Legos for Fractions Game. Many, if not all, children love Lego. Make fractions an interesting lesson by using Legos as a tool for illustrating the concept of “parts of a whole”.
3. 3. Mother May I? An excellent game to check if children give and follow instructions for their speaking and listening benchmarks.  It can be also used to check their behaviour with their peers as part of their social development.
4. 4. Charades. A very popular game, charades uses movement and is best used for vocabulary building. It is low-key and very easy to do, and it is a favourite of most teachers.
5. 5. Word Jumble Race. Who doesn’t like races? This fun game encourages teamwork and is good for teaching grammar and organisation of language.

We hope that these classroom games gives you inspiration and ideas on how to energise, engage and enhance your classroom.

Try to create your own games and let us know how you got on! Whatever the age of your students, they’re guaranteed to play and have fun. A good classroom is shouldn’t be boring and dull – it should be fun and foster creative minds.