Classroom Games (Free Printables for Teachers)

Using games to practice, not just to fill time

Bingo is the most flexible. Fill the squares with sight words, addition facts or vocabulary from your unit, then call out clues instead of the answers. Children listen, think and then find the match, so the game practices skills while it feels like play.

Word searches suit morning work and early finishers. Pick a topic from the science or social studies unit, and children meet the key terms again while hunting for them.

Word scrambles ask for a little more thinking, because students have to rebuild each word from its letters. Turn on first-letter hints for younger students, and use the answer key for quick marking.

An indoor scavenger hunt gets children out of their seats. Hide a clue list around the room, or ask pairs to find things that begin with a given sound.

Saving time as a teacher

Build a themed set once and keep the share link. The bingo card generator makes up to 30 unique cards at once, so a whole class gets a different card with no hand drawing.

Print a class set on plain paper, slip them into sheet protectors and hand out dry erase markers. The same set can then be used with each class, and the markers wipe clean.

Our guide to classroom bingo ideas goes through ways to play for each age group, and the back to school and last day of school pages mark the year's start and finish. For the party before winter break, our guide to Christmas classroom party games has a one hour plan that works in a public school too.