Check out these 5 No-Prep Reviews Games for any classroom or any subject! Click to see what no-prep review games you can add to your teacher toolbox!
Having a variety of art games at your fingertips is almost mandatory for any art teacher. Yes - of course - games can be used as class rewards, "art fun days", or (#dontjudgeme) "time fillers." BUT, art games can ALSO serve an educational and quite important purpose. Art games can act as aids to classroom learning, can be used as testing and assessment tools, review activities, hands-on ways for students to apply knowledge, fun ways to introduce new concepts, lesson wrap-ups, or (#letsbereal) simply as art-related amusement on the last day of school or other holidays. Here are a list of ten tried-and-true art games to play in any art classroom, elementary to high school (and every grade between): 1.) The Creativity Design Game - This art game, originally inspired from the book “Design Synectics” by Nicholas Rourkes, takes problem-solving to a new level. Students are asked to take two very different objects and create a drawing, combining these separate objects into one completely new invention. In my classroom, I call this the “Creativity Game” and I made this activity more game-like by typing out hundreds of random nouns on slips of paper, and placing them in a bag. Two students then blindly reach in the bag and pull out a ‘mystery word’. The students are given one to two minutes to come up with an idea, sketch it out and name it. As they work, I observe their drawings and ask the most creative thinkers to share their ideas with the class when time is up. Check out my FREE download of the "Creativity Game," print out the words, directions, and even customize your own game. 2.) The Artwork Memory / Matching Game - Artwork memory games - inspired by the child’s matching game “Concentration” - can be perfect free-time activities for elementary art students. The “Art Memo” game comes with 72 artwork images and can be purchased for around $20 here at Amazon. However, if you have a color printer you can easily make your own Art Memory game by photographing student artwork or finding art online, printing out 2 of each image, then laminating the cards (or glue onto note cards). 3.) Art Jeopardy! - A great way to review art terms, art history information, processes or artists before a test - or simply as lesson closure - a teacher can plan an Art Jeopardy game by coming up with five or more categories, and five questions to go in each category. Depending on the art teacher’s time, A Jeopardy board can be drawn onto the chalkboard, made in PowerPoint, or can be assembled with fabric and ’pockets’ for questions on note cards. 4.) Art Room “Win, Lose or Draw” - A great classroom reward, last-day activity or holiday treat, your classes can play the classic art game “Win, Lose or Draw” (or “Pictionary”). Simply put students in two teams, give the player a word to draw and have them try to draw it in a given amount of time with their teammates guessing correctly. 5.) “Clay Wars” Game - When introducing students to ceramics -- or as a way to practice recently learned skills -- have students play a clay-based art game. All students have an equal amount of clay, and compete to sculpt items, such as: the tallest structure without falling over, the most perfect sphere, the longest single rope coil, the best cube, the most realistic animal, the funniest face, etc. Students can be split into teams, or compete individually. 6.) Educational Art Novelties - When students have additional activity time in art class, they can play solo art games and puzzles by looking at hidden-picture art books (such as “Can You Find It Inside?” by the Metropolitan Museum of Art), using mosaic tiles to create pictures, working on art-based jigsaw puzzles, working on origami, and studying optical illusions. Students can easily create their own artwork novelties and games by designing tangrams (a Chinese puzzle, easily made with paper) or creating thaumatropes (a toy popular in the Victorian era). 7.) “Paint Wars” Game - Similar to “Clay Wars”, this paint-based art game is also a way to practice recently-learned processes and theory. Students can compete as teams or individuals, and will try to do the following: best match their skin tone using only primaries and neutrals, most closely match the color of a flower, paint the most realistic piece of food, the scariest monster, and other ideas. 8.) Art Book / Internet Scavenger Hunts - More effective with older students, this requires either a large assortment of art books or the internet in your library or classroom. You can either compile a list of items that students need to search for, perhaps with a worksheet to write them down on, or give one item at a time for students to search for as a timed competition. Your scavenger hunts can be customized to whatever your students have been learning about lately (find an Impressionist painting with a dog in it, find a sculpture made in France, etc.). 9.) Art Vocabulary Word Searches / Puzzles - Word searches, crosswords and other puzzles can be an effective and fun way to review art class vocabulary. Check out these downloadable word searches based on the Elements of Art, including Color, Line, Shape and more. 10.) Online Art Games - There are thousands of online art games and activities that are safe for students to play in school (some more so than others, so be sure to check them out beforehand). These can be a great educational activity for students who finish their work early. Check out the Incredible Art Department’s list of Online Art Activities for Kids for a huge list of online art games and resources. There is a place for games in the art classroom; despite their entertainment value, they can also serve an educational purpose. Try out some of these new games, or just add them to your mental file of ideas.
Looking for fun, educational games for art class? Check out these three simple games you can put together in a few minutes.
Too many classroom icebreakers require students to take big social risks with people they barely know. Or they don't really help students get to know each other. Or they are just plain cheesy.
These lessons are designed to explore texture in artwork and every day objects. They will have a chance to go on a texture hunt and play a texture guessing game before creating two types of texture books. Two versions of the book pages are included. The half page version could be used for individ...
Fun and engaging grammar games for your secondary ELA classroom! These grammar games will get your students collaborating, moving, and discussing those critical sentence structure and grammar skills! Bring fun to grammar instruction!
Start off the elementary school year with these special back to school lessons and activities that are fun and important for K-2 kids: Participate in community building activities, get to know each other with All About Me activities, and build friendship and empathy with students.
Art ideas for kids and families that are HILARIOUS!
Inside: Spanish vocabulary games for the language classroom. The best way to “learn vocabulary” is in context. I use to give long lists of isolated words, until I switched to proficiency-based teaching and threw out my textbook. I realized my students were memorizing the words to pass a quiz, and then forgetting them. Our students really need to see
This Tetris printable game will bring back nostalgia for your favorite childhood video game. Print, cut, and try to fit as many pieces in the grid.
This FREE handout is a great activity for warm-ups or even early finishers. This handout was inspired by the book Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg. Here is the BLANK version. This is a good opti…
Vocabulary instruction is so critical in today’s classroom! A vast vocabulary will help students to become better readers and writers. Vocabulary is also essential to their performance on standardized tests. Helping kids to develop their vocabulary is time that is well spent in a busy classroom. I have developed a routine to teach new vocabulary
Social-emotional activities have never been more important for younger kids.
One of my favorite topics to teach in my art class, no matter what the age or skill level, is divergent thinking. What is divergent thinking? One of my favorite videos to introduce divergent thinking to my students is the lecture by Ken Robinson. Divergent thinking is the ability to come up with multiple solutions
Learn About the 7 Continents! Exploring the 7 Continents has never been more exciting! It’s a Small World Continent Study is filled with over 35 activities to help your students gain a greater understanding of the seven continents. This 130+ page unit is filled with great resources, posters, printables, activities, and projects that will open […]
Need a way to engage your students and motivate them to learn. Use try using games to woo them into learning by incorporating technology in the classroom.
Whether your students are lethargic or super-charged, adding movement to your lesson plans will help to solve both issues. Not only is it healthy to move throughout the day, but it can also help students focus and become more engaged with the content they are trying to master. Due to the nature of English classes, ELA ... Read More about 10 Ways to Add Movement in the ELA Classroom
Find out all the top picks for brainstorming games, activities, lesson plans and worksheets that interactive, engaging and student-centred.
Using movies, short films or animations in the classroom is extremely engaging for students. I use short films from Pixar Studios to teach a variety of skills
Free printable Fall mini books and emergent readers for use in your classroom or home from PrimaryGames. Just print, cut and staple to make your very own book!
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Math art projects will get kids creative while also teaching them mathematical concepts. Fun ideas for children of all ages and skill levels.
A simple and fun collection of critical thinking activities, games & books to boost critical thinking and logical reasoning skills in kids!
Welcome to our series on social emotional learning in the elementary classroom! We are going to be chatting about some effective strategies and procedures you can easily and quickly apply to your classroom for improvement in student self-awareness, self-control, and social skills. During the month of January, we will cover four different SEL topics. January has always been my favorite month to teach, because I was always able to do a reset with the students I already had a relationship with. We could then really hone in and improve SEL skills to in turn take a deep dive into instruction. The less you are having to stop and redirect student behavior, the more time you have to teach. We know that is more important now than ever. This month, we will cover four topics that I felt were most needed right now that could cover the most behaviors: listening, making good choices, kindness, and resilience. Let's talk LISTENING and FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS. Why is listening important? Active listening is a vital skill in the classroom, as well as in life. You listen to directions, announcements, instruction, conversation, and more. As a student, I was not always the best listener. I tried really hard to listen, but I lacked the strategies to comprehend what was being said. I was more of a visual learner, so auditory was difficult for me. I think we sometimes forget that our students need to be explicitly taught the strategies and skills we expect them to apply. I have found that students need explicit SEL instruction all throughout the year. The problem is that we don't have the time to do that. I tried to think of ways you could easily and quickly incorporate it into your day, because it's so important to keep your classroom running smoothly and to decrease undesirable behaviors. The best time I feel to teach these, if you can, is first thing in the morning, during morning meeting. I have come up with some quick mini lessons, along with quick and fun activities, to teach each SEL topic. This week, we are going to look at some strategies to increase active listening in your classroom. Listening Strategies and Tips Call and Response The first thing you need to have in place is a call and response. I would only do one or two at a time. One that I always do is: Teacher: 1, 2, 3 Eyes on Me Students: 1, 2 Eyes on You When I teach this, I practice it a ton. It is important that students STOP AND LOOK AT YOU. Do not let them continue what they are doing. They will not be actively listening if they are still doing something else or talking while you are talking. Be firm about that expectation and wait until everyone is focused on you. We want to establish a muscle memory of them stopping, looking at you, and listening until you are finished. It's so important to have high expectations here. There are many different call and responses out there to choose from. Just be consistent with one or two for a while before changing to a different chant. Voice Volume and Tone If you know me, you know that I am not loud at all! Ha! I am pretty quiet so I use that to my advantage in the classroom. The lower I talk, the more they have to really listen. I also make sure that I keep a calm tone when I speak. This is also very important to have a calming environment because they tend to mirror what they are seeing. Something that I have found that has helped a ton with listening is buying a microphone headset and speaker. I just got one off of Amazon. It saves my voice and my energy, and I can use a calm tone that students are more likely to listen to. Keep Directions Short and Direct Stick to one-step instructions. Be direct and clear with your instructions, as well. If you can also add a visual, that will greatly help students. As students get better with one-step instructions, begin to slowly introduce more steps. Echoing One of my favorite and most effective ways to give instructions is through echoing. I will say the instruction in a sing song voice. The students know to echo me when I use that voice. Not only does it help them better comprehend the instructions, they also are busy being engaged which cuts down on opportunities to get off task or misbehave. Read Aloud Books The best way to begin a discussion with students about an SEL topic is through a read aloud. We want them to understand why listening is important. It helps us to be a better friend, we learn more, we are more caring, we understand what to do next, etc. I really love the book, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! by Julia Cook. The character in the story is having a very bad day because he chose not to listen to others. Students get to follow along on how those choices affected his day. His mom gives him tips on how to be a better listener and how to follow instructions that students can also apply. (I have made a resource that contains all of the mini lessons for teaching students to be better listeners, along with quick activities for a week focused on this topic.) Two other good ones are Lacy Walker, Nonstop Talker and My Mouth is a Volcano. Songs and Videos I love to incorporate music to help students better remember a strategy. You will get a song I wrote in the unit call "I Am Listening", but I have also linked some classroom approved videos you can show before or during your mini lesson about listening. Be a Whole Body Listener I Am a Good Listener (begin at 1:00) Why is Listening Important? Listening Game The Dance Freeze Song The Listening Game: Cosmic Kids Listening Mini Lessons Incorporate mini lessons into your morning meeting devoted to listening. I like to focus on one topic or skill per week. These lessons are quick and to the point. I also like to create an anchor chart with my students so that they have a visual reminder to refer to. Students also make a mini anchor chart to add to their SEL notebooks. Listening and Following Directions Activities Practice the Strategy For each lesson, I review the anchor chart and sing the listening song to open the lesson and review what we have learned. I then read a portion of the read aloud, The Worst Day of My Life Ever! I do this similar to an interactive read aloud, including text dependent questions that also start discussions about listening. After the story, I teach a new strategy that we then practice. I will take you through each day of this unit. We already covered day one and the anchor chart, so let's move on to day two. On day two, we learn a new listening strategy and then students listen to the story Go Away Big Green Monster. I do not show them the illustrations; they have to draw the monster by listening to the description. This is a fun way to practice active listening! They love to share their monsters with one another. On day three, we learn another listening strategy and play Listen, Draw, Check. You can use this game in all content areas for review. The game is very similar to Battleship. They have to be really great listeners and follow the directions to match my game board, which we check at the end. On day four, I introduce the students to an SEL animal character. Each character is a different animal and has a poem. For this activity, students have to follow the oral coloring instructions and color their Listening Lion. They also get a copy of the poem to trace. Finally on day five, we read the whole story and then discuss what lesson the author was trying to teach the reader. I then assign a writing activity (differentiated sheets included) in which they have to apply what they have learned about listening and following directions. This is a great way to wrap up the unit and assess their understanding. Listening and following instructions are skills that apply to so many parts of the school day, so they are vital to a smoothly run classroom. When you are having to stop and address behaviors, it is draining. Let's set our students up for success by giving them the tools they need to thrive in the classroom. I would love to hear and share with others if you have any great listening strategies! Thank you so much for stopping by this week! Be sure to come back next week for our next SEL skill, MAKING GOOD CHOICES. The following two weeks will be all about KINDNESS and RESILIENCE. You can grab the Listening and Following Directions Activities below or by clicking on any of the photos!
Here is a silly drawing games that is a lot of fun for kids to play. In this drawing game, you use dice to decide what parts of the drawing you will draw. We have included a face drawing game and a landscape drawing game. This is a lot of fun and it helps children who might not be able to draw freely and creatively...this will help them draw more freely and creatively. This will also increase silliness.
Explore epic writing games tailored for kids! Dive into interactive challenges that spark creativity and boost literacy skills
We love connecting projects to books, and we're always inspired by the amazing group of bloggers who participate in the Virtual Book Club for Kids (you can also check the club out on Facebook) as the group comes up with some great extension activities each month. This month's author was Leo Lionni. We chose to read and do a project using a book we've really been enjoying lately, A Color of His Own. This is the sweet tale of a little chameleon who is looking for one color to stay all the time, but keeps running into that challenge that chameleons change color. In the end, he winds up finding a friend to always be with so they can at least always be the same color together. I've used this book in the past as a primary teacher. It's a great way to talk about friendship and also about what makes us each unique. My boys have been loving the simple tale and the colorful illustrations this spring. For our activity extension we decided to use cray-pas and watercolors. I love how colorful this art technique can be. I sketched several chameleon outlines onto white drawing paper using permanent marker. (I'm including a printable copy here in case you just want to print one out, or use the printable to trace onto thicker paper.) Afterwards the boys and I each colored in a chameleon using the cray-pas. Big Brother and I thought about ways to create different patterns. Little Brother focused on just coloring his in, using mostly one color. After we were done coloring, we watercolored on top of the cray-pas. The watercolor doesn't stick to the cray-pas, and fills all the white spaces around it. We all had different strategies for painting. When they were done I cut the three chameleons out and we hung them in our play room. I love how they are a set but each one unique. That's part of what can also make this project a great classroom activity, especially for the start of a school year. Or turn it into a fun family project, with each family member creating a chameleon to represent themselves. What Leo Lionni books does your family enjoy? Have you read this one yet? This post may also have been shared at some of these terrific link parties.
Have a chatty class? Do your talkative students get louder and louder during small groups until it feels like chaos? Do they talk when you'r...
A read-aloud book such as Our Class is a family is an amazing way to build a positive, safe, and supportive community in your classroom!
Geometry for Young Children. Creative Shape Projects: arts and crafts using simplest of shapes. RoundUP via RainbowsWithinReach
Dot to Dot is a fun way to follow your way to solving a mystery! By connecting the dots, number by number, a picture forms before your very eyes. It’s a great way for young children to reinforce their numbers and counting memory, plus hand eye coordination and fine motor skills and writing preparation. All […]
If you're looking for free printables for teaching at home, at school, or online, you've hit the TREASURE TROVE of freebies from This Reading Mama!
These 5 fun 3D shapes activities for kindergarten are a great way for students to learn about shape attributes while having a blast.
Games are a great way to help students practice vocabulary. For newcomers that are just learning English, they are a fun way to practice basic Tier 1 terms. For students at higher language levels and native speakers, they are great ways to practice content-specific vocabulary. It is important to review vocabulary words with ELLs before
Do your kids LOVE to color? Here is a great way to combine coloring with learning with this FREE Countries of the World Printable Book!
Storytelling activities not only build imagination and creativity, but they can be a beneficial learning tool too! Great for the classroom.
TIG is a product of the Australian Sports Commission, extensively researched and collated by Ken Edwards with assistance from Troy Meston.
UPDATE 2/9/2021 – Since this post has collected more than 15 sites, I’ve created a Wakelet collection, which you can now find here. The Wakelet collection will be updated with any futu…
