Classroom Games for Kids, With Rules, Minutes and What You Need

Press Pick another game for one of 53 games, each with its rules, its minutes and what you need.

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Egg and Spoon RelayTeams of 5 or 6, 10 minutes, a spoon per team and plastic eggs. Grades K to 5. Set a cone 10 steps away. Each runner carries the egg on the spoon around the cone and back, one hand only, the other hand behind the back, then passes spoon and egg to the next runner. Agree the penalty for a dropped egg first: stop and put it back, or return to the line. The first team with everyone seated wins. Plastic or wooden eggs avoid the mess and the allergy worry of real ones.

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All 53 games

Circle and whole-class games 13

Doggy, Doggy, Where's Your Bone? Whole class, 5 to 10 minutes, an eraser for the bone. Grades K to 2. One pupil sits on a chair at the front with their back to the class, eyes shut, and the bone under the chair. Point silently to a pupil, who creeps up, takes the bone and hides it behind their back at their seat. Everyone puts their hands behind their backs and chants "Doggy, doggy, where's your bone?" The dog turns around and gets 3 guesses at who has it.
Duck, Duck, Goose Whole class in a seated circle, 10 minutes, nothing needed, but room to run. Grades K to 1. The picker walks around the outside of the circle tapping heads and saying "duck". On "goose" the tapped pupil jumps up and chases the picker around the circle. If the picker reaches the empty spot first, the goose becomes the picker. If tagged, the picker goes again. Play in the gym or outside, and have everyone run the same way around.
Four Corners Whole class, 5 to 10 minutes, nothing needed. Grades K to 8. Number the corners of the room 1 to 4. One pupil shuts their eyes and counts to 10 while everyone else walks quietly to a corner. With eyes still shut, the counter calls a number, and everyone in that corner sits down. Repeat until one player is left, and that player counts next. If the counter calls an empty corner, they call again.
Fruit Salad Whole class, 10 minutes, a circle of chairs, one chair too few. Grades 1 to 6. Go around the circle naming pupils apple, banana, orange, grape. The pupil without a chair stands in the middle and calls a fruit. Everyone with that name must change seats while the caller tries to take one. "Fruit salad" makes everybody move. Whoever is left standing calls next. One rule keeps it fair: you may not move to the chair right next to yours.
Heads Up, Seven Up Whole class, 10 minutes, nothing needed. Grades K to 5. Seven pickers stand at the front. On "Heads down, thumbs up" everyone else rests their head on the desk, eyes shut, one thumb up. Each picker presses down one thumb and goes back to the front. On "Heads up, seven up" the seven chosen pupils stand and each guesses who picked them. A right guess swaps places with the picker. Change who guesses first each round, because later guessers have fewer pickers left to choose from.
Hot Potato Whole class in a circle, 5 to 10 minutes, a beanbag and music you can pause. Grades K to 3. Players pass the beanbag around the circle as if it were too hot to hold while the music plays. Whoever holds it when the music stops is out and moves to the middle to help watch. Pass, never throw. For a version with nobody out, the pupil who is caught answers a review question and stays in.
Huckle Buckle Beanstalk Whole class, 10 minutes, one small object such as an eraser. Grades K to 3. The class shuts their eyes while one pupil puts the object somewhere in plain sight, not under or inside anything. Everyone searches without touching. A pupil who spots it keeps a straight face, walks on a little so as not to give the place away, then says "Huckle buckle beanstalk" and sits down. The first to sit hides it next.
Mother, May I? Whole class, or half at a time, 10 minutes, nothing needed, but a clear strip of floor. Grades K to 2. Players line up facing the leader. In turn each asks, for example, "Mother, may I take 3 giant steps?" The leader answers "Yes, you may" or swaps in something else, such as 2 baby steps or 1 frog hop. A player who moves without asking "may I" goes back to the start. The first to reach the leader leads next. "Captain, may I?" is the same game.
Red Light, Green Light Whole class, 10 minutes, nothing needed, but a hall or playground. Grades K to 2. Players line up at one end and the caller stands at the other with their back turned. On "green light" players creep forward. On "red light" the caller spins around, and anyone seen moving goes back to the start. Whoever tags the caller first wins and calls the next round.
Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament Whole class in pairs, 5 minutes, nothing needed. Grades 2 to 8. Rock beats scissors, scissors beats paper, paper beats rock, and a tie is thrown again. Everyone finds a partner and plays one throw. The loser stands behind the winner and cheers for them in the next match. Winners keep pairing up until two players are left, each with half the class behind them, for a best of 3 final.
Silent Ball Whole class, 5 to 10 minutes, one soft ball. Grades 2 to 8. Pupils stand by their desks and toss the ball to each other without a sound. A player sits down for talking, for a throw nobody could catch, or for dropping a fair one. Agree the extras before you start: no throwing straight back to the pupil who threw to you, and no holding the ball longer than 3 seconds. The last player standing starts the next game.
Simon Says Whole class, 5 minutes, nothing needed. Grades K to 2. The leader gives commands such as "Simon says touch your elbows". Players obey only when the command starts with "Simon says". Anyone who moves on a bare command, or fails to move on a real one, sits down. Speed up as the group shrinks. With kindergarten, skip the sitting out and count how many were caught each round.
Telephone Whole class in rows, 5 to 10 minutes, nothing needed. Grades K to 5. The first pupil whispers a short sentence to the next, once only, and it passes down the line. The last pupil says aloud what arrived, and the first says what was sent. Nobody wins. The point is the gap between the two. Run one line per row so nobody waits long. To compare rows, hand each row the same sentence on a slip of paper.

Guessing and thinking games 7

Charades Two teams, 15 minutes, word slips in a cup. Grades 2 to 8. An actor draws a slip and acts it out with no sounds and no mouthing of words, while their own team guesses against a 1 minute timer. Teach the signals first: fingers held up for the number of words, fingers on the forearm for syllables, a tug on the earlobe for "sounds like". A correct guess scores a point, then the other team acts. Use vocabulary words, book titles or verbs.
Hot Seat Two teams, 10 minutes, a board and a chair. Grades 3 to 8. One pupil from the first team sits with their back to the board. Write a vocabulary word behind them. Their team describes the word without saying it, spelling it or rhyming it, and the pupil in the seat has 1 minute to get as many words as they can. Then the other team sends someone up. It is a fast review of the key terms in any unit.
I Spy Whole class, 5 minutes, nothing needed. Grades K to 2. The spy picks something everyone can see and says "I spy with my little eye something beginning with B". Pupils take turns guessing, and the one who gets it becomes the spy. For pupils who are not reading yet, give a color in place of a letter, or give the starting sound for phonics practice.
Kim's Game Whole class, 10 minutes, a tray, a cloth and 10 to 15 small objects. Grades K to 8. Uncover the tray for 1 minute while pupils look without talking or writing. Cover it, then pupils list everything they remember. The longest correct list wins. For kindergarten and 1st grade, use 6 objects, take one away behind the cloth and ask what is missing. The game takes its name from Rudyard Kipling's 1901 novel Kim, whose hero plays it in training.
Twenty Questions Whole class, 10 minutes, nothing needed. Grades 2 to 8. One pupil thinks of an animal, object or person from your unit and tells only you. The class asks questions that can be answered yes or no, and you tally them on the board. A pupil who guesses right inside 20 questions picks the next secret. If the class runs out, the answerer reveals it and goes again. Teach the strategy: a good question cuts what is left in half.
Two Truths and a Lie Whole class, or groups of 5, 10 to 15 minutes, nothing needed. Grades 3 to 8. Each pupil thinks of three statements about themselves, two true and one false, and says them in any order. The group votes on which one is the lie before the speaker reveals it. Give 2 minutes of thinking time first, and keep statements to things pupils are happy to share. It also works for review: two true facts about a topic and one false.
Who's the Leader? Whole class in a circle, 5 to 10 minutes, nothing needed. Grades 1 to 5. One pupil steps outside. Choose a leader silently, who starts a motion such as clapping or tapping knees, and everyone copies. The leader changes the motion every few seconds. The guesser comes back, stands in the middle and has 3 guesses to find the leader. The trick for the class is to follow the leader without staring at them.

Word and spelling games 6

Board Race Two to four teams, 5 to 10 minutes, a board and a marker per team. Grades 2 to 8. Teams line up facing their strip of the board. Call a category, such as verbs, words with a silent e, or things in a cell. The first pupil in each line writes one word, hands the marker back and joins the end of the line. After 2 minutes, count each team's correct words that no other team wrote. Walking only.
Build a Snowman Whole class, 5 to 10 minutes, a board. Grades 1 to 4. Think of a word and draw a blank for each letter. Pupils guess one letter at a time. A right letter goes into every blank where it belongs. A wrong letter goes in a list at the side and earns one part of a snowman: 3 snowballs, 2 arms, a hat, 2 eyes and a nose. That allows 9 wrong guesses. The class wins by finishing the word before the snowman is done. It is the old letter-guessing game with a friendlier drawing.
Categories Individuals or pairs, 15 minutes, paper and a pencil each. Grades 3 to 8. Agree 5 categories, such as animal, food, place, first name and thing in a school. Pick a letter at random and give 2 minutes to write one answer per category starting with that letter. Read the answers out. An answer nobody else wrote scores 2 points, and a shared answer scores 1. Play 3 rounds with a new letter each time.
Ghost Groups of 4 to 6, 10 minutes, nothing needed. Grades 4 to 8. Players take turns adding a letter to a growing string, always with a real word in mind, while trying not to be the one who finishes a word of 4 or more letters. Finish a word and you take a letter of G-H-O-S-T. If you think the player before you has no real word in mind, challenge them, and whoever is wrong takes the letter. Five letters and you are out.
Sparkle Whole class standing in a circle, 5 to 10 minutes, your spelling list. Grades 2 to 5. Say a word. Going around the circle, each pupil gives the next letter. After the last letter, the next pupil says "Sparkle" and the pupil after that sits down. A wrong letter also sits a player down, and the next pupil carries on with the correct letter. The last pupil standing wins. Seated pupils check each letter against the list.
Word Chain Whole class or teams, 5 minutes, nothing needed. Grades 2 to 8. Pick a category such as food. Each new word must start with the last letter of the word before: soup, peas, sugar, rice. A player has 5 seconds, and no word may be used twice. Anyone stuck is out, or their team loses a point. With older pupils, drop the category and require at least 5 letters.

Math and review games 8

Around the World Whole class, 5 to 10 minutes, flash cards. Grades 1 to 5. The first pupil stands beside the second pupil's desk. Show a card. Whoever answers first moves on to stand by the next desk, and the other sits in that seat. A pupil who beats every classmate in turn and gets back to their own desk has been around the world. Give seated pupils a second job, such as writing each answer, so they keep working.
Buzz Whole class in a circle, 5 minutes, nothing needed. Grades 3 to 8. Count around the circle from 1, but say "buzz" in place of every multiple of 5. A pupil who says the number, or hesitates, sits down. For Fizz Buzz, multiples of 3 are "fizz", multiples of 5 are "buzz" and multiples of both are "fizz buzz", so the count runs 1, 2, fizz, 4, buzz, fizz, 7, 8, fizz, buzz, 11, fizz, 13, 14, fizz buzz. Swap in 7 to practice a harder table.
Estimation Jar Whole class, 5 minutes, a clear jar of counters, cubes or paper clips. Grades K to 4. Hold the jar up or pass it around. Each pupil writes an estimate on a sticky note and places it on a number line on the board. Then count the objects together in groups of 10. The closest estimate wins. Ask the winner how they worked it out, and refill the jar with something bigger or smaller next week.
Mystery Number Whole class, 5 minutes, nothing needed. Grades K to 4. Think of a number from 1 to 100 and write it where nobody can see. Pupils take turns guessing, and you answer only "higher" or "lower". Draw a number line and cross off the part that is ruled out after each guess. Seven guesses are always enough for 1 to 100 if each guess splits what is left in half. For kindergarten, use 1 to 20.
Review Basketball Two teams, 15 minutes, a bin and a ball of scrap paper. Grades 3 to 8. Ask a review question to each team in turn. A right answer scores 1 point and earns a shot at the bin. Mark two lines on the floor with tape: a shot made from the near line is worth 1 more point, and from the far line 2 more. A wrong answer passes the question to the other team. Pupils answer in a fixed order, so everyone gets a turn.
Review Bingo Whole class, 15 minutes, a bingo card each and counters. Grades K to 6. Cards are 5 by 5 with a free square in the middle, filled with answers: sums, sight words or vocabulary. Call the question, not the answer, so pupils must work out 6 times 7 before covering 42. Five in a row in any direction wins. Have the winner read their line back so the class can check it, then clear the cards and play again.
Swat the Answer Two teams, 5 to 10 minutes, a board and 2 clean fly swatters. Grades K to 4. Write 12 to 15 answers all over the board: sums, sight words or vocabulary. One pupil from each team stands a step back, swatter in hand. Read a question or a definition, and the first to swat the right answer scores. Swatters stay down until you finish the question. A new pair comes up for every question.
Tic-Tac-Toe Review Two teams, 10 minutes, a board. Grades 2 to 6. Draw a 3 by 3 grid. Teams take turns answering a review question, and a right answer lets the team place its X or O. A wrong answer loses the turn. Three in a row wins. Two careful teams will often draw, which players call a cat's game, so play best of 5 grids. For a harder version, write a question in each square, and a team must answer that one to claim it.

Art classroom games 6

Back-to-Back Drawing Pairs, 10 minutes, paper, a pencil and a simple line picture per pair. Grades 3 to 8. Partners sit back to back. One holds the picture and describes it using shapes, sizes and positions only, never naming the thing. The other draws what they hear and may not ask questions in round 1. Compare, swap roles with a new picture, and allow questions in round 2. It is good practice for position words and geometry vocabulary.
Draw It, Guess It Two teams, 15 minutes, a board and word slips. Grades 2 to 8. An artist draws a slip and sketches the word on the board while their team calls out guesses. No letters, no numbers and no talking from the artist. A guess inside 1 minute scores a point. If time runs out, the other team gets one guess to steal it. Fill the cup with unit vocabulary, and let a nervous artist take a partner.
Drawing Relay Two to four teams, 10 minutes, a board or chart paper and a marker per team. Grades 1 to 6. Whisper a subject to each team, such as a playground or a castle. The first pupil walks up, draws for 10 seconds and passes the marker on. Each pupil adds to the same picture. Stop after 2 laps. The other teams guess the subject, then vote for the clearest drawing. No words or numbers in the picture.
Fold-Over Monsters Groups of 4, 15 minutes, a sheet of paper and a pencil each. Grades 1 to 6. Fold the sheet into 4 strips. Everyone draws a head in the top strip, with the neck lines running just over the fold, then folds it back out of sight and passes it on. Next comes the body, then the legs, then the feet, with a fold and a pass after each. Unfold to meet the monsters. It is the drawing form of the old parlor game Consequences.
Roll and Draw Whole class or small groups, 10 to 15 minutes, a die, paper and a chart on the board. Grades K to 3. The chart gives 6 choices for each part of a picture. For a robot: roll once for the head shape, once for the eyes, once for the body, once for the arms and once for the legs. You roll for everyone, or each group rolls its own die, and pupils draw the part that matches the number. Even with the same rolls, no two pictures look alike.
Squiggle Challenge Whole class, 5 to 10 minutes, paper and a pencil each. Grades K to 5. Draw one quick squiggle on the board and have everyone copy it onto their paper. Pupils have 3 minutes to turn the squiggle into a picture of anything, turning the paper any way they like. Finish with a silent gallery walk. There is no winner. It works as a calm start after lunch.

Music classroom games 5

Freeze Dance Whole class, 5 minutes, music you can pause. Grades K to 4. Everyone dances beside their desk while the music plays and freezes the moment it stops. Anyone who moves or laughs during the freeze sits out the next song and then rejoins, so nobody misses more than a minute. Add a rule for each round: freeze on one foot, freeze low, freeze like an animal. In the UK the same game is called musical statues.
Hum That Song Two teams, 10 minutes, slips with songs the whole class knows. Grades 2 to 6. A pupil draws a slip and hums the tune with no words. Their team has 20 seconds to name it. If they cannot, the other team gets one guess. Use songs from music class, nursery rhymes and the birthday song, so nobody is left out for not knowing a chart hit.
Musical Chairs Whole class, or 10 at a time, 10 minutes, chairs and music you can pause. Grades K to 3. Set the chairs in a circle facing out, one fewer than the players. Players walk around the circle while the music plays, and when it stops everyone sits on the nearest free chair. The player left standing is out. Take one chair away and play again until one player is left. Walking only, and no touching a chair while the music plays.
Pass the Beat Whole class in a circle, 5 minutes, nothing needed. Grades K to 6. Send one clap around the circle, each pupil clapping once in turn, and time how long a lap takes. Try to beat that time. Then send a 4 beat rhythm: you clap it, the next pupil echoes it, and it travels the circle. If the rhythm changes on the way, find where. Older classes can send two different rhythms in opposite directions.
Poison Rhythm Whole class, 5 minutes, nothing needed. Grades 1 to 6. Clap a 4 beat pattern and name it the poison rhythm. Write it on the board if the class reads notation. Then clap a string of different 4 beat patterns. The class echoes each one, except the poison rhythm, which must be met with silence. Anyone who claps it sits down, or the class loses a point to you. Change the poison every few rounds.

Easter classroom games 3

Egg and Spoon Relay Teams of 5 or 6, 10 minutes, a spoon per team and plastic eggs. Grades K to 5. Set a cone 10 steps away. Each runner carries the egg on the spoon around the cone and back, one hand only, the other hand behind the back, then passes spoon and egg to the next runner. Agree the penalty for a dropped egg first: stop and put it back, or return to the line. The first team with everyone seated wins. Plastic or wooden eggs avoid the mess and the allergy worry of real ones.
Egg Roll Race Heats of 4 to 6, 10 minutes, plastic eggs and long-handled spoons. Grades K to 2. Mark a start and a finish line about 5 steps apart on carpet or grass. Each racer pushes an egg along the ground with a long-handled spoon. No lifting, no kicking, and the egg must cross the line. An egg is not round, so it never rolls straight, which is the whole game. An Easter egg roll was first held on the White House lawn in 1878 and is still held most years, and children there push eggs through the grass with long-handled spoons.
Review Egg Hunt Whole class in pairs, 15 minutes, plastic eggs with a question slip inside each. Grades K to 5. Hide the eggs around the room before pupils come in, in plain sight for kindergarten and harder for 5th grade. Each pair finds one egg, answers the slip on a recording sheet, closes the egg, puts it back and finds another. Number the eggs so answers can be checked. No candy is needed, which keeps the hunt safe for pupils with allergies.

End of year classroom games 5

Class Memory Quiz Teams of 4, 15 to 20 minutes, 15 questions you write about the year. Grades 2 to 8. Which book did we read first? Where did we go on the fall field trip? How many pupils have a birthday in March? Teams write each answer on a mini whiteboard and hold them up together, one point each. Let every team add one question of its own for the others. Keep questions about shared events, never about one pupil's mistakes.
Classroom Scavenger Hunt Teams of 3 or 4, 15 minutes, a printed list of 12 things to find. Grades 1 to 5. Write clues, not names: something older than you, a word with 4 syllables on a wall, a rectangle that is not a book, the page number of a map in the atlas. Teams write where they found each thing and collect nothing, so the room stays tidy. The first team with a complete, correct list wins, or the team with the most found when time is up.
Find Someone Who Whole class, 10 to 15 minutes, a grid of 12 to 16 prompts per pupil. Grades 2 to 8. Prompts might be "read more than 10 books this year", "can name 3 state capitals" or "learned to ride a bike". Pupils walk around and find a classmate who fits each square, who signs it. Nobody may sign the same sheet twice. Stop when someone fills the grid, and share a few surprises. Write the prompts about this year's units and trips.
One-Minute Challenges Stations or whole class, 20 minutes, plastic cups, index cards, pencils and a timer. Grades 2 to 8. Each challenge lasts exactly 1 minute. Stack 10 cups into a pyramid and back down. Build the tallest tower from index cards. Balance 6 pencils on the back of one hand. Write as many words as you can from the letters in "summer vacation". Record scores as personal bests, so pupils compete with themselves.
Paper Airplane Contest Whole class, 20 to 30 minutes, one sheet of paper each and a tape measure. Grades 2 to 8. Give 10 minutes to fold and test a plane, with no tape, clips or cuts. Everyone throws from the same line in a hall or outside, 3 throws each, and the best one counts. Measure to where the plane stops, not where it first lands. Give a second prize for the longest time in the air. It doubles as a lesson on fair tests: one sheet, one line, one measurer.

How it works

These classroom games for kids are traditional, so 25 pupils can play with no box. Press the button and one of 53 comes up. The whole list is printed below, in eight groups.

Read the full guide

Picking by grade, from kindergarten to middle school

The menu that reads All games holds four grade bands. Kindergarten and 1st grade keeps 32 games with one rule at a time, such as Simon Says and I Spy: classroom games kindergarten pupils can follow. 5th grade classroom games lean on scoring: Sparkle, Buzz and Review Basketball.

5 minute classroom games and longer ones

Choose 5 minute games in the menu for the 22 you can finish in 5 to 10 minutes. Eleven need nothing at all, among them Four Corners, Buzz and Word Chain. The art games, such as Fold-Over Monsters, take paper and about 15 minutes. Of the 5 music games, Freeze Dance and Musical Chairs need a speaker, while Pass the Beat and Poison Rhythm need only hands.

A pupil who is out still needs a job: judge, scorekeeper or caller.
First grade classroom games go better after one practice round that does not count.
Deal three and let the class vote. A game you have seen stays out of the draw until all have come up.

Questions and answers

What are good classroom games when nothing is prepared?

Choose No equipment in the All games menu, which leaves 18 games. Four Corners needs only a number on each corner of the room. Twenty Questions needs one pupil with a secret word. A substitute can read the rules here and start.

Do 1st grade classroom games need different rules?

Mostly shorter ones. Classroom games for first graders work best at 5 to 10 minutes with nobody out for long. In Simon Says, count how many were caught and let everyone stay in. For Kim's Game, use 6 objects and take one away.

Are there fun classroom games for middle school?

Yes, 28 of the 53 suit grades 6 to 8. Older pupils want a real contest: Ghost, Categories, Twenty Questions or a Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament that takes 5 minutes and nothing else.

What are easy classroom games for elementary students?

Games with one rule: Simon Says, I Spy, Four Corners and Freeze Dance. For classroom games for 1st graders and kindergarten, choose Kindergarten and 1st grade in the menu, which keeps 32.

Which games suit Easter and the last week of school?

The three Easter games skip candy because of allergies: an Egg and Spoon Relay with plastic eggs, an Egg Roll Race and a Review Egg Hunt. For end of the year classroom games, the menu has a group of 9.