Best School Games for Kids: Fun Ways to Enhance Learning and Development

Best School Games for Kids: Fun Ways to Enhance Learning and Development

Introduction

School is a platform for kids to learn, interact, and develop cognitive skills. The curriculum of schools can be designed in a way that promotes holistic development of kids where along with attaining academic education, they also acquire soft skills. Hands-on training activities that require the child to be involved in the learning process may expedite the retention of information because of practical exposure.

Thus, integrating creative activities can be a logical way of making a child understand new concepts in a classroom. Interesting games can be systematically made a part of a child's curriculum to promote engagement in a classroom. These games can be designed in a way where each child gets to participate in the activity and share their insights with others. This may strengthen a child's understanding and invoke curiosity to do better.

Best School Games for Kids to Enhance Learning and Development

Here is a list of some school games that teachers may incorporate into their everyday lessons to promote better engagement and enhance learning outcomes.

Bingo

Bingo requires the child to think spontaneously to stay at the top of the game. It is a single-player game in which a child is given an individual board with content that has to be rearranged logically. The grid is generally in a 5 x 5 proportion, which means each grid has 25 blocks. Each of these blocks has a number, a word, or an image. The teacher may choose one of these options, depending on the lesson going on in the class. Now, after giving a bingo chart to everyone in the class, ask them questions like what is 5+2. Then ask them to mark the number if they have 7 numbers on their grid. As soon as a student is done with five vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines, the student has to shout bingo.

Headbands

Headbands require the child to work with other students in coordination and solve problems critically. To play this game, each child will need a sticky notepad and a pen. Now, while listening to the teacher deliver the lecture, kids have to look for positive adjectives and note them down on their sticky notes. After the lecture is over, they may hand over a sticky note to their peers depending upon how they view that person. This can promote the exchange of new words and understanding of their meanings through each other in the classroom.

Thumb Ball

Thumb ball is an entertaining and engaging group activity that will take less than 15 minutes to complete. Kids would need a beach ball and a marker. In the classroom, teachers can create some space for all the students to sit in a circle. Then on the beach ball, the teacher can write multiple questions just before the activities are about to start. Throw the ball to kids and whoever catches the ball will have to answer the question that is towards the section of their right thumb on the ball. After answering, the kid will pass the ball to other kids in the group and one by one, everyone will have to answer the question.

Dictionary

The dictionary is a game of vocabulary also mixed with a touch of creativity. It starts with giving each kid a dictionary and a small piece of paper. Now you may give them 15 to 20 minutes and separate them into a group of three or four. During this time, each group will be given a particular word, and they will have to find the word in the dictionary, understand its meaning, and use it in a sentence that's logical and well-structured. It's a perfect activity for kids who are just learning language syntax and complex words.

Jeopardy

Jeopardy is an evolved version of conventional quizzes. This game can be played to make a child familiar with the concept and give them surface-level knowledge before getting deep into the chapter. For every correct answer, the child will get a point. Also working in a team will allow kids to understand the importance of group coordination. Teachers will have to pre-prepare a jeopardy board on a creative template where each question has a point value depending upon its complexity. Now in your classroom, you may display the Jeopardy board on a laptop, computer, or a big screen. Now you may allow each team to choose a question on their own and give them 30 seconds each to answer. The team with the highest score will win the competition.

101 and Out

If you want to teach kids basic mathematics and make them work in a group to perform calculations, then 101 and out can be a considerable option. You may divide the class into 3 to 4 teams and each team will be given 2 dice. The goal is to score exactly 101 through continuous addition and subtraction. The kids will engage in strategic thinking to count the numbers based on the face value of the dice and perform spontaneous calculations. It is a great way to make kids competitive and enhance their engagement level in the class.

Conclusion

Customizing a learning experience allows a child to understand a concept more logically. Teachers can choose to add such fun and thought-provoking games to the curriculum to make kids understand a concept more deeply and keep them engaged.