Being a year long virtual teacher, engagement seems to get harder as the year goes on. Here are some of my go-to activities that have increased engagement within lessons or just with some added fun. 

1.Camping Trip Game

This is a great activity to pull in when working on types of words, a specific sound or even a theme as rules can be made up based on what you are teaching by the leader. 

For example, if you are teaching sh sound maybe the rule is everything people are allowed to bring has to have a sh in the word. If you are studying weather, maybe everything that can be brought has to do with weather. 

Players Needed: 1 leader and many guessers

How to play: The leader picks a rule for what items can come on the camping trip. Rule examples- Items have to be blue, items have to start with a c or items have a p in it. Students ask if they can bring an item. The leader says yes or no based on what the rule is. It helps to keep a list of what is allowed. As the list grows, students work to figure out what the rule is. 

Great to play: As a whole class to work on what your teaching focus of the week was, whether it is a certain spelling or theme. The game is also good to use in breakout rooms so students have a chance to be the leader. 

2. Blind Drawing

This activity is more for fun and simple to do. It is a great one to do at the beginning of the year to help students work on the idea that everything they do doesn’t have to be perfect. You can easily tie this into a lesson where students have to draw something from a story or a word that goes with the sound of the week/day. You are guaranteed laughs with this one. 

Players Needed: 1 leader and all are drawers

How to play: The leader calls out what to try to draw. Everyone, including the leader, draws the item by closing their eyes or looking away from what they are drawing on.

Great to play: As a whole class to work on the idea that not everything has to be perfect and the idea of trying our best. The game also brings some great laughs to the class.  It also works great in breakout rooms. I have used it as part of the fun part of our class party days. 

3. It Sounds Like…

This was actually a game we did in our sound unit as it is a listening game. It is great to use for making predictions and having students explain those. If it is difficult it might be easier to show 5 different objects you may choose from as the dropper to help frame students’ thinking. 

Players Needed: 1 dropper and many guessers

How to play: The dropper picks an object and turns their camera off. They drop the object on their desk so it makes a sound. They may do it a couple times. The guessers are listening and trying to guess what object the dropper dropped.

Great to play: It is best to introduce this game as a whole class, but then play it in breakout rooms to make it easier to hear. 

4. Simon Says

A classic game

Players Needed: 1 Simon and many movers

How to play: Simon gives directions to say how to move by saying “Simon says …” I found students are really great at coming up with different moves.

Great to play: As a whole class for a movement break or a fun session. It is also great to use in breakout rooms. 

5. Pictionary

Like Blind Drawing this can be used for a fun activity or can be tied to a lesson. When using it in a lesson you can have students draw something from a story, in a science unit, or a word that matches the sound/spelling you are focusing on. 

Players Needed: 1 drawer and many guessers

How to play: The drawer draws a picture and the others guess what they are drawing as they are drawing it. It is best if the camera is tilted so students can see the drawing. Once the guessers figure out the drawing, change who is the drawer.

Great to play: This game is best if there is a theme to help everyone come up with something to draw. It works well to introduce this game as a whole class, but then play it in breakout rooms. 

6. What Time Is It, Mr. Fox? 

A P.E. game that has worked so well virtually. This was great to use when teaching time, but you could also do it for other topics like What Shape Is It, Mr. Fox? 

Players Needed: Teacher is the fox. Students write time or show the time.

How to play: When the time is shown as numbers and have students make the time on the clock. If they don’t have a clock, have them show what number the hour hand would point to or where the minute hand would. If the time is shown as words and students write the time. When the fox says “dinner time,” have students hide from the camera.

Great to play: As a whole class to review a topic. We played this game daily in our telling time unit. It also works well in small groups because then students can get a turn at being Mr. Fox and saying times. 

7. Guess My Number

This is probably one of my favorite games to play in the classroom as it works in so many different grades as it allows students to practice number sense. 

Players Needed: 1 clue giver and many number writers

How to play: Give directions of how big of number by saying “Write a 2 digit number.” Each student writes a number without showing their number. Then they stand up. The clue giver gives clues like “my number has a 2 in the tens place” or “my number is less than 50.” If the clue matches their number, the student sits down. Clues are given until only one student is left standing.

Great to play: This game is great to practice number sense. It can be played as a whole class or in small groups. When playing with kindergarten or first graders I stay as the clue giver. I also start playing this game with a number line to help show what numbers the clues hinted to. With second graders when they are more aware of place value, they get turns to be the clue giver.

8. Trash or Treasure

This is an easy and engaging way to focus on what you are teaching or a fun way to review. 

How to play: Pick two things you are focusing on. Designate one of them as trash and one as treasure. For example, maybe you have long a and long o as your two things. You picked long a as the treasure and long o as the trash. Then show pictures or words and decide if they belong in trash (if they have a long o) or treasure (if they have a long a). Students will do a movement to go with each. For things that are treasure, they pretend they are holding something really special. For things that are trash, they pretend to ball it up and throw it away. 

Great to play: This game is great to practice phonics and math skills. It can easily be used as a whole class and small groups. 

9. Flippity Net

I learned about this website and it is a go-to for making quick activities for high frequency words and our sound/spelling of the week. You do not need Google Classroom to use the activities. I just hit skip the spreadsheet and type in the words I want to use. Works great! 

How to play: Snowman- is a version of Hangman where students have to guess the word before the snowman melts. I have used this to focus on ai/ay. I play this often in my small groups. 

Word Scramble- has been great to use to provide more practice with our words of the week. I use them on the site or often take a screenshot and add that as an assignment on Seesaw. 

Matching- I have used this as a way to practice words that have the same sounds in the same part of the word. I usually add a link to Seesaw for this activity so students can do the actual matching. 

Great to play: Great to use for individually and small group practice of word sounds/spellings

10. Movement Sorts- See, Match, Move

This activity is one I loved to use in person as it provides focused practice on a skill, but also gets students moving. It can become really fast paced or can be slowed down to allow for think time. 

How to play: You pick two-four things. For example, these could be letters, sounds, parts of a word, types of words or numbers. You assign a certain movement for each of those things. So if you have picked B and D, you have jumping going with B and pretending to drive a car with D. Then you say words or show pictures that start with those sounds. If the word or picture starts with a B, students would jump. If it started with a D, students would pretend to drive. You can make it go really fast or make students freeze after they see a picture and then unfreeze to do the movement to allow them some think time. 

Great to play: This activity is perfect to use as a lesson review or a lesson warm-up to see how students are understanding the focus of the lesson. 

I have been making these for my current class but also have several See, Match, Move games both in print and digital available if you would like to check them out here. 

Engagement is the Goal

No matter where or how you are teaching, engagement is always a goal. Yes, engagement while virtual teaching can be a challenge, but I hope one of these activities is something that may help you or inspired you to try something new. 

Don’t Forget…

Maybe you think these are great, I need to try some of these but will forget later. So I have each one of these activities included in this download so you save them for when you are ready to try them out in your classroom.