literature review games classroom

January 29, 2024
Classroom Review Games

14 Fun Literature Review Games for Students

Review games in literature classes can turn the study of texts, characters, themes, and literary devices into an interactive and engaging experience. These games encourage students to think critically about the material, work collaboratively, and apply their knowledge in creative ways. Below, we explore a variety of games suited for literature review, detailing the necessary materials and instructions for each.

1. Character Bingo

Materials Needed:

Bingo cards with names or traits of characters from the literature studied
Markers or chip
A list of quotes, actions, or descriptions related to characters for the teacher to call out

How to Play:

In this adaptation of Bingo, cards are filled with characters’ names or key traits. The teacher calls out quotes, actions, or descriptions from the text, and students must identify the character and mark their card accordingly. The first student to get a row, column, or diagonal and shout “Bingo!” wins.

2. Quote Match

Cards with quotes from the literature on one set and the corresponding characters or contexts on another set

Spread out all cards face down. Students take turns flipping two cards at a time, attempting to match a quote with the character who said it or the context in which it was said. This game tests students’ recall and understanding of key moments in the texts.

3. Literary Terms Jeopardy

A Jeopardy board with categories related to literary devices, themes, plot points, and characters
Questions for each category

Students choose from categories like “Metaphors,” “Plot Twists,” or “Dynamic Characters,” with each question assigned a point value. Correct answers earn points, and the student or team with the most points at the end of the game wins. This format is great for a comprehensive review of literary elements.

4. Story Sequence Scramble

Cards or strips of paper with key plot events from a text

Students work individually or in teams to arrange the cards in the correct narrative order. This game reinforces understanding of the plot structure and key events, encouraging students to discuss and justify their choices.

5. Literary Pictionary

Whiteboard and markers or paper and pencils
Cards with literary terms, characters, themes, or plot elements

Players draw representations of the literary terms, characters, themes, or plot elements written on the cards, while their teammates try to guess what they are drawing. This game encourages creative thinking and helps solidify students’ understanding of literary concepts.

6. Theme Park

Index cards with themes from various texts

Students draw a card and have a set amount of time to explain the theme and how it is developed in the text, citing specific examples. This can be played in teams, with points awarded for clarity, accuracy, and the ability to provide detailed examples.

7. Character Hot Seat

A list of characters from the literature studied

One student sits in the “hot seat” and assumes the role of a character from the texts studied. The rest of the class asks questions, and the student in the hot seat must answer as they believe the character would. This game deepens character understanding and encourages empathy and perspective-taking.

8. Plot Twist Challenge

Cards with plot points from various texts

Students draw a card with a plot point and must create an alternative plot twist or ending based on that point. This encourages creative thinking and a deeper understanding of narrative structure and character motivation.

9. Literary Speed Dating

Character profiles from the literature studied

Students assume the identities of characters from the texts and engage in short “dates” with other characters. They discuss their backgrounds, conflicts, and relationships as outlined in the texts. This game promotes character analysis and understanding of character interactions.

10. Vocabulary Crossfire

Flashcards with vocabulary words from the literature
Definitions, synonyms, or sentences using the vocabulary words

Students are divided into two teams, and one member from each team draws a card. The first to correctly define the word, provide a synonym, or use it in a sentence wins a point for their team. This fast-paced game enhances vocabulary knowledge related to the texts.

11. Literary Maze

Maze templates with literary questions or prompts along the paths

Students navigate through a maze, answering literature-related questions at certain checkpoints. Correct answers allow them to proceed, while incorrect answers might lead them down a dead end. This game is a fun way to review various literary elements and text-specific questions.

12. Fictional Family Tree

A list of characters from one or more texts
Paper and pens or a digital tool for creating family trees

Students create a “family tree” that shows the relationships between characters from the literature studied. This can include literal family connections, as well as thematic or symbolic relationships. This exercise helps students visualize and understand character connections and dynamics.

13. Synonym Synthesis

Cards with complex vocabulary from the texts
Cards with synonyms or simpler explanations

Students match vocabulary words with their synonyms or simplified explanations, promoting a deeper understanding of the texts’ language and enhancing their vocabulary.

14. Book Cover Redesign

Art supplies (paper, markers, colored pencils, etc.)
Key themes, symbols, or motifs from the literature

Students redesign the book cover of a text studied in class, incorporating key themes, symbols, or motifs. This artistic activity encourages students to think about the visual representation of literary elements and themes.

These literature review games transform the study of texts into an interactive learning process that engages students in critical thinking and collaborative learning. By integrating these games into the literature curriculum, teachers can foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of literary works in their students.

10 Fun Classroom Review Games

Revising and reviewing the material you have taught your students during a module, course, or semester is vital in preparing them for assignments and tests.

It can, however, feel a little tedious and boring going over topics that have already been covered. Fortunately, methods are available to help you motivate students and ensure they possess the necessary knowledge to overcome specific educational hurdles. The trick is introducing classroom activities and games into the learning process to keep them entertained. Some classroom review games can be so fun that kids will fail to realize they are educational!

If you’re looking to incorporate some entertaining activities into your lesson plans but are unsure where to start, we’ve put together ten fun classroom review games to help inspire your students:

Education resources

1. The points game

This is a very simple game that kids will pick up quickly. Start by dividing your class into two or more teams. The aim of the game is for teams to answer as many questions correctly as possible, so start asking questions relevant to the topic being reviewed. Call on the person who raises their hand first to keep things calm and orderly. If they answer correctly, they have earned a point for their team. If they answer incorrectly, the other team(s) should be able to answer. Keep a scoreboard and a few sweet treats to hand out as prizes!

2. Monopoly

Students play as individuals in this game, so it is a good option to motivate students who are usually happy to let other class members do the hard graft for them. To start the game, give each student the same amount of fake Monopoly money. Start asking questions relevant to your course topic, encouraging the students to wager their money when they want to answer the question. The more confident they feel in their answer, the higher the wager is likely to be. If they correct the question, they can keep the money. If they answer incorrectly, however, they must hand the money to the next student who answers a question correctly. Once you have asked all your questions, the students can cash their Monopoly money in for prizes. Look at these inexpensive gift ideas if you need a little prize inspiration.

3. The Hot Seat

This is a fun game that encourages students to think quickly and independently. Start by asking one student to sit facing the rest of the class. Proceed to write a word or list related to your review material on the board behind the student’s chair. The role of the rest of the class is to offer clues to help the student in the ‘Hot Seat’ guess the word. If students can think of a good clue, they may raise their hand, and the person in the ‘Hot Seat’ can call on them to help them guess. The student doing the guessing can have up to three clues before the word is changed and someone else is invited to sit in the ‘Hot Seat’.

4. Family Feud

Divide your class into two teams. Each team must nominate a student to answer a review question for them. If they get the answer right, they have earned their team a point. To ensure that all students remain engaged while their classmates answer questions, encourage them to write the answers in their journals. If they get the answer right, they can at least feel a sense of personal satisfaction! Check out this helpful article for more tips on pulling off Family Feud .

5. Jeopardy!

This game can require a little preparation but is fun and rewarding for students. It can be done using PowerPoint slides , a Smartboard, or a humble old blackboard. You may also be able to find downloadable Jeopardy games on the internet. As part of your classroom prep, develop several questions relevant to your review topic and assign specific points depending on their difficulty level. During the game, divide the class into two teams and get them to choose a number. The game aims to answer the question attached to their chosen number. The winning team is that which collects the most points.

6. Ping Pong

Start this game by dividing your class into two teams of students. You can then start asking review questions. If a team answers a question correctly, they are offered the chance to bounce a rubber ball into one of three cups to win a prize for their team. Each cup should contain a different prize, including extra computer time, free time, or a homework pass.

Review Bingo is a classic classroom game that will go down well. Start by asking students to fill out their bingo cards with words relevant to the chosen topics and pull questions randomly.

Another classroom classic, this is a fun game that requires a little preparation from the teacher. Create a wheel with relevant questions, randomly calling upon students to spin the wheel and land on a question. They win points or a small prize if they answer the question correctly.

9. Beach Ball

To play this game, you must bring a large white beach ball. Start by writing a range of review questions on the ball in a pen that can be wiped off. Ask students to sit at their desks and throw the ball into the classroom area. When a student catches the ball, it is their job to answer the question that their right thumb is touching.

10. Headbands

Start this game by asking students to write down a word relevant to the review topic on a post-it note. This can then be placed on the forehead of a classmate (ensuring that they do not peek at it). The game aims to figure out the term on the forehead by asking for clues from other students.

Hopefully, these games should give you some great ideas for classroom games. As well as motivating your students to learn, they can help with building skills such as:

Critical thinking
Improvisation

If you need more inspiration, check out this excellent article from Teach 4 the Heart .

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5 Games for Reviewing Any Content

Engagement , Planning

When I was in school, I remember teachers reviewing content by simply having us open a book, going to the end of the chapter, and answering the questions. It was not my idea of reviewing, nor was it exactly exciting. In fact, I hated the end of a chapter. It was very predictable and it never helped me remember anything. There was no application piece. There was no engagement. And there definitely wasn’t any benefit to it.

As I mentioned in my last post, Why You Should Use Games in the Classroom , often times teachers feel concerned about using games too much in the classroom for fear that it isn’t educational enough. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are incredible benefits from using games for reviewing and learning (including a surprising one I mentioned in that post). Check them out if you’re apprehensive about using games in your classroom.

Today, I want to share with you a list of whole-group games for reviewing that can be used for any content area!

Are you looking for some games that you can use whole group to review important content with your class before a test? Check out these 5 engaging games for reviewing!

Whole Class Games for Reviewing

1.) Heads Up, 7-Up. This has long been a classic game for indoor recess, but now you can use it for any topic! Play the game like you normally would, but before a student can guess who picked them, they have to solve a problem or question on the board. Only if they get both the question and guess who selected them, can they switch spots. (As an alternative, have all students write their answer on an index card first before putting their heads down).

2.) Zinkers! Break your class up into teams. Then draw a question or task cards and read it to the first team. If they get it correct, have them draw a slip for points. (The point options are 25, 50, 75, or 100.) If they get a slip that says Zinkers , their team loses all their points. If they answer incorrectly, the other team takes a turn. Students play until all the questions are answered or time is up. The team with the most points win.

3.) Sink or Swim. I love this game for reviewing. Break your class up into two teams and place them on opposite sides of the room. The middle of the classroom is an ‘ocean.’ Have team 1 answer a question. If they answer it correctly, they can select a member from team 2 to ‘sink’ (move into the center of the ‘ocean’ and sit – they are out). If they are incorrect, they must ‘sink.’ Then team 2 takes a turn. If correct, they can choose to ‘sink’ a member of team 1 or save their sinking team member. This continues until all the questions are answered. The team with the most members swimming (not sinking) wins!

4.) Knock ‘Em Out. Have students stand in a row along a wall. Randomly draw a student’s name (I use sticks) and randomly draw a question. Ask that student whose name you drew the question. If he gets it right, then he can choose to have the person to the right or left of him sit down. If he answers wrong, then he has to sit down. Continue until only one student is left standing. Occasionally on missed questions, you can ask a student who is knocked out (or sitting) if they know the answer so they can rejoin.

5.) Schooled. Break the class up into two teams. Draw on the board for each team 8 lines like you would when playing the game Hangman. (_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _) Then ask questions back and forth between the teams. If a team gets the question correct, a letter is added to the opposing team. If they answer incorrectly, the other team gets a chance to answer. Continue playing until the word ‘SCHOOLED’ is spelled out. The first team to have schooled spelled out is the losing team.

Of course, there are other games too, such as Pictionary, trashketball, Flyswatter SWAT, and Around the Room. You could even pretend to be on a game show by bringing up a player from each team and having them face one another and placing one of their hands behind their back. Then when it’s time to ring the “buzzer” have them press your stapler or a battery operated touch light (found typically in dollar stores).

You’ll also find that I have a few games described in other posts here on my website, such as the Heartbreaker game , Human Bingo , and Task Card Games .

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14 Great Review Games to Engage Your Classroom

Classroom engagement is key to a successful learning environment.

“Student engagement is the product of motivation and active learning. It is a product rather than a sum because it will not occur if either element is missing.” ― Elizabeth F. Barkley, Student Engagement Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty

It's important for students to be active participants in the classroom, though we know how difficult it can be. One way to create energetic engagement, while also keeping students on task and helping them prepare for lessons or tests, is to use review games.

We've put together 14 different types of review games to keep your students engaged and learning!

Word Cloud Game

Word cloud games are an amazing way to have general review sessions with your students without putting any pressure on them to speak in front of the entire class. Word clouds also work great for teachers to get a general feel for areas where students might be struggling to understand.

Using our Word Cloud Game slide deck, you can create several prompts overviewing different areas the students need to study. For example, ask what the most difficult thing to understand was in a specific section. Or what they'd like to have explained again/in more depth.

Our word clouds allow students to make a response and also vote for one or multiple responses by the rest of the class. This will give you, and the students, a visual representation of what they'd like to learn more about or get more clarity on.

Deal or No Deal

While you might need to plan a bit ahead for this particular game, the engagement you'll get from your kiddos will be well worth it!

Pick 20 or 30 game 'events', or bonuses and penalties, which relate to your content. For example, adding points, subtracting points, bonus turn, lose a turn, etc. Write each event on the back of a post-it note and display them, numbered, on the board.

Divide the class in half and ask questions back and forth between each team. If the team answers the questions correctly in the allotted amount of time, they get to decide to get 1 point or to make a deal.

Students will take turns picking a card and reading it aloud. The team then decides together if the event is a 'deal' or 'no deal'. If it's a deal, the student keeps the card and gets the reward or penalty. If it's no deal, the student gets 1 point, like usual. The goal is to have the most points at the end of the game!

Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are such a fun way to get students up and moving around the classroom, while also learning! We especially love scavenger hunts for math reviews .

To create your own scavenger hunt, make numbered posters with 2 pieces of information on it: At the top, include the answer to a math question on another poster. At the bottom, place a new question, without the answer.

Create an answer sheet for yourself that includes all the station questions and answers.

Once you've created your posters, place them around the room. Divide your class into groups and place some at each station. Give the groups a set amount of time to complete each problem. After that time is over, give about 30 seconds for them to find the station with the answer for their previous question.

Students should continue until they're back at their original question!

These scavenger hunts can be as simple and short or complex and long as you want. And while math is a favorite topic for us, you can use the format for a wide range of subjects!

Word Ladder

Word Ladders are the perfect activity to go over vocabulary lists for older children or work on phonics for younger children. And, this review activity is super easy to plan and takes very little preparation.

To create the best word ladder review game, start with a word at the bottom of the ladder. Write that word in huge letters on a piece of chart paper or poster board. Then, write a new vocabulary word above it, changing only 1 letter of the first word. So, if your first word was 'cat', your second word could be 'cot'.

The goal is to make it all the way to the top of the ladder!

For a more complex word ladder , set a word at the top and bottom, with the goal being to find just the right combination to get from one word to the next.

You can create ladders for any content area, and they're perfect for a quick review at the end of a unit or before a test.

Word Jumble

If you want to review vocabulary, word jumbles are a great way to add a little fun to the process. While you are more than welcome to create your own word jumble, we highly recommend using a word scrambler .

Want to make your word jumbles even more accessible and create more interaction with your students? Use our Class Quiz slide deck and add in the jumbled words or phrases and have your student’s type in their answers on their phones.

While you can decide how many answers are shown in class (we don't recommend showing more than 5!), with our Pro Plan , you can save the data and see which students got the answers correct.

Jeopardy is another one of those review games that may take a while, but is definitely worth the effort. Like the classic game show, pick 6 categories on things you're studying in the current lesson. For each category, create 5 questions going from easy to hard and worth different amounts of points - Starting at 100 and going to 500.

Play with the whole class or in teams. Students will choose a category and point value, then you'll read the question. The first person to buzz in gets to answer. If they're correct, they get the points! If they're wrong, they lose those same amount of points.

Bingo is a review game with such versatility, we won't be surprised if it becomes one of your favorites. Bingo can be used for math, vocabulary, or (for younger students) learning sight words .

To create your bingo review game, start by creating a list of 25 math solutions, terms, or words you want to review, along with their answers or definitions. Write each term in a different box on a bingo card of 9 or 16 blocks (3x3 or 4x4). Or make the whole process easier and use a bingo card generator !

Then, using your answer sheet, give the math problem, vocabulary word definition, or show a picture of the sight word. Whichever student fills a row first, wins!

The classic game headbands isn't just for games' night anymore! It's also a fun, giggle-inducing way to review for a class!

To start, write a review term on a post-it note and have students wear them as headbands. Each student must stick the note to their forehead without looking at it. Their goal is to figure out what the term on their forehead is.

For example, if one person has the word "Nectar" written on his sticky note, teammates would give them hints, such as a sugar-rich liquid that attracts pollinating animals, or something that a hummingbird drinks, until they guess the answer. If they can't guess in 20-30 seconds, they are out! The game is over when only one team has players left or when all terms have been guessed.

Trivia Competition

We love a good trivia game here at Slides With Friends, so you shouldn't be surprised to see a trivia game on our list of review games.

Our favorite slide deck for a trivia review is our Trivia Competition game.

What makes our trivia slide deck so amazing is it can be used for almost any subject. You have complete control over how it's customized - How long it is, what slides are included, and what questions are asked.

$10,000 Pyramid

If you're comfortable with a little chaos in your classroom, this is probably the review game for you.

To start, create a pyramid with space for 1 word on top, 2 in the middle, and 3 on the bottom. Add words, concepts, or phrases to these 6 blank spots, making a version for each round. Then, pair off your students and have them sit back to back. Have the first student start describing the first word at the base of the pyramid, giving hints to their partner until every word is guessed in bottom to top order.

The first team to get all 6 words or phrases wins! Then have the teams switch partners, with the student that had been giving clues now being the one to receive them.

Word Association Game

Another great way to have students learn their vocabulary words, while also getting their hearts pumping, is to play a word association game.

Give your students a list of vocabulary words and have them stand up. When you say a word, the first student to shout out a word associated with it gets a point. If they can't think of one, they sit down. The game is over when only one person is left standing or when all the words have been used.

You could also play this game with a twist - instead of the first person to shout out an associated word getting a point, the last person to do so loses a point.

What's Your Opinion?

For this game, you'll need some review questions that can be answered with opinions, such as "Who is your favorite president?" or "What is your favorite color?"

To start, have students form a circle. Then, choose one student to start by asking them the first question. The student that they ask can answer the question or pass it off to someone else by saying "I don't know." If they answer the question, the person to their left goes next. But if they say "I don't know," the person to their right gets to choose whether to answer the question or pass it off.

If someone answers three questions in a row, they get a point! The first person to reach five points wins.

You can also play this game with teams of two or more, with each team taking turns asking and answering questions.

This is a classic game that can be played with almost any subject.

To start, choose a list of review terms or concepts. For each term, come up with a list of words that cannot be used to describe it. For example, if the term is "apple," the taboo words might be "fruit," "red," "round," or "food."

Then, put students into pairs and have them sit across from each other. One student will be the clue-giver and the other will try to guess the term. The clue-giver can say anything they want to describe the term, except for the taboo words.

If the guesser hears a taboo word, they can call it out and the clue-giver loses their turn. The first team to guess the term gets a point, and the first team to reach five points wins!

You could also play this game with teams of two or more, with each team taking turns being the clue-givers.

Family Feud

Another review game students can play in teams, or 'families', is family fued! Like the popular TV show, this game pits two teams against each other in a race to answer questions.

Divide the class into two teams. One member of each team must battle against one another to answer a review question. If they get it correct, their team earns a point. Have the remainder of the crew write the answers to the questions in their notebooks while they are playing with others. The game is over when all questions have been asked. The team with the most points at the end wins!

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12 Best Review Games and Activities for the Classroom

A review game is a fun activity to prepare students for tests and to help them with their understanding of the content in class. Classroom review games aim to find ways to get students to answer questions correctly in a way that doesn’t make them feel uncomfortable. It allows them to ask questions, score points for the right answers, and create a unique educational environment.

Group activities, whereby students work in teams, are a great way to foster team-building and can also help students with test prep.

In this article, you will find a list of the best review games that are fun for students and teachers. But let’s take a look at some of our favorite review games first. You will find more games and more details about the rules of the games further down in this article.

The 12 Best Classroom Review Games

Games are exciting and engaging and make finding the right answer to a question something to strive for. They prepare students for the questions they will find on the exam and make test preparation a social play.

Below are our favorite low-prep review games and activities for elementary, middle, and high school.

1. Friendly Feud

Want a fun group review game for your students? Try the classroom version of “Family Feud”!

Here is how to play Friendly Feud in your classroom:

First, divide the class into two teams. (Each team will compete against the other to answer review questions.) Next, the teacher shows a question from the Friendly Feud game template (don’t forget to download the “Friendly Feud” PowerPoint game !). One student from each team then tries to guess the answer. If they are right, their team continues guessing; if not, it is the other team’s turn. Teams earn points based on how popular their answer is, and after three wrong guesses, the other team has a chance to steal points. The game ends when one team has the most points, and for an added twist, the winning team can play a bonus round to guess the top answers quickly. The main goal? Guess the most popular answers and enjoy the game!

2. Classroom Jeopardy

If you have a smartboard or other type of projection, try this classroom Jeopardy template!

First, make sure to download the Jeoparty PowerPoint game template . Then, create Jeopardy questions for the game in categories with monetary values. Next, divide the class into teams. It works great whether you are in a classroom or on a video call with screen sharing.

The game rules are simple. A team selects a category and point value, and the teacher reveals a question by clicking on it. Students get a limited time to answer. The teacher can show the correct answer using a button on the slide. If the team’s answer matches, they get the points, and scores are tracked on a scoreboard. After each turn, you will go back to the main question board. Keep playing until all questions are picked. The aim? Answer correctly and rack up points!

Watch the video below to see how to customize and use the Jeopardy template.

3. Classroom Wordle

playing classroom wordle game online for free

This Classroom Wordle for students is a fun game to test vocabulary, suitable for teachers to use in any grade.

Playing Classroom Wordle online is super fun to play and easy to set up. Students guess a 5-letter word and type it into the first row of the 5×6 tiles. Tiles will change colors based on your guess: grey means the letter isn’t in the word, yellow means it’s in the word but in the wrong spot, and green means it’s correct and in the right place. Players have six tries to guess the word. If they get it before then, they win! If not, the word is revealed at the end. Each new turn brings a fresh word to guess. Students can play the quiz game individually on phones, classroom tablets, or as a group activity in class. You can create your own online Wordle game here .

You can play classroom Wordle unlimited times with your students in these three fun ways:

Fastest Fingers: Students play individually on their phones and the quickest to guess the word wins. The Closest Letters: Assign points for each correct letter guessed; green letters earn more, yellow letters less. The student with the most points wins, even if they don’t guess the word correctly. The Whole Class: Use Wordle as a fun, engaging way to start vocabulary exercises by having everyone play together. It’s a great warm-up or just a fun activity for the class.

4. Mystery Box Game

students play the mystery box game in classroom

The Mystery Box Game is designed for review sessions and test prep. This game is all about choices and surprises and is perfect for any grade or subject.

Before you begin, download the Mystery Box PowerPoint template and customize the questions to suit your lesson or topic before you start playing. Playing the game is easy. Students pick a box and answer its question. If the answer is correct, they decide to keep the box or pass it on. Not all boxes are created equal; some might boost their score, while others could set them back.

Watch this video tutorial to understand how to make your own Mystery Box game with this template for your students:

5. Hot Seat

A single student will sit at the head of the class, and a term will be written on the board behind the student. The student can not see the word on the board.

The student in the “hot seat” can call on up to three other students to give them clues as to what the term is. The students describe the word without using the term itself.

The hot seat changes when the student does not correctly guess.

The video below will help you to understand how to play “hot seat” in your classroom.

6. Pass the Chicken

Students sit in a circle, and one receives a question while a rubber chicken is passed around the circle. The idea is for the student to answer before the chicken comes back around to them correctly. You don’t have to use a chicken.

7. Ping Pong

In this review game, the class is divided into two teams. They work together to answer the query. If answered correctly, the student will get a chance to toss these Ping Pong balls into one of three cups. If they succeed, the team wins a prize.

This is an entertaining way to review for a quiz. Some teachers will use candy as markers to add a bit more excitement to the game. Use this as a way to review vocabulary words or math equations. This website allows you to create your Bingo cards for free .

9. Beach Ball

Queries are written on a light-colored ball. The teacher will throw the ball to the first students. The student watches the ball and answers where the right thumb touches the questions. The student will throw the ball to the next student.

Watch this teacher who explains how he plays the “beach ball” in his classroom after the summer break.

10. Spin the Wheel

Similar to the “Beach Ball” game is the “Spin the Wheel” review game. Put review terms and concepts on this wheel that the student can spin and then be queried on the topic or term. Depending on your class size and grade, you can make up the rules on how to divide the students into groups or play the game as a one-student game.

11. Hedbanz

For this review game, you do not need to buy the original Hedbanz game. Here is a simple and cheap alternative: Review terms or questions are written on sticky notes stuck to the student’s forehead (they can’t peek). The student will have to find out the term/word with the help of their team’s clues.

Depending on the class size, the students play either in teams of two or the teacher divides the class into 2 groups. If you play the game with two groups, choose one student and stick the note onto the forehead to not see the term.

12. Monopoly Style Game

This is a one-person game. Each kid will receive a certain amount of Monopoly money, which they will bet based on how confident they are that they know the correct answer to the question being asked.

The teacher asks the first question. If the students think they know the answer, they will put an agreed amount of money into a pot or onto the table, write the answer secretly onto a piece of paper, and hide it from other students. If a student does not know the answer, they don’t have to play that round. The teacher gives the answers, and the students show their papers. The student with the correct answer wins the pot. If more than one student has a correct answer, the pot will be split equally. If no student got the answer correct, the money would stay in the pot for the next round. As soon as one student has no money left, the game ends, and the student with the most money amount wins.

How to Make Test Review Fun?

Exchanging ideas and teaching tips with other teachers helps to get creative in finding the best ways to help students find the correct answers to test prep. You will find another five engaging review games for elementary, middle, and high school students in the video below.

Working in Teams

Review games can help students to learn how to work as a team appropriately. As teachers, we want to take the time to help foster team bonding and educational experiences because they will help the student in more ways than just performing better on tests.

Working in teams gives the teacher the ability to educate beyond the use of a board and chalk. Small group instruction will help you to plan and design a test akin to playing effectively.

Teams can write out answers, work together to define terms, or properly guess what the key term is defined. It leaves room for open cooperation. Turn test prep into a points-earning game that the student feels engaged with. Bringing points into the session can help spark working together or that competitive drive to get the point before another does.

How Do Students Benefit from Review Games?

Not all kids learn best from an educator standing in front of the classroom, writing definitions on a chalkboard. Many teaching tips will discuss ways in which we can turn test reviews into a game. This is how we can make a review for a test seem like something other than it is, and this can help foster a love of knowledge for kids in a classroom.

Review games turn test prep into a game. This type of play engages students and can spark their interest in how a PowerPoint lesson just can’t. Rather than going rote through concepts, make a jeopardy-style game that makes math a fun classroom game.

Kids develop skills in different ways, and for many, these group review games are their favorite way to explore ideas. Teaching requires flexibility. Whether the students are learning the ins and outs of mathematics or how to write a specific type of report, this type of practice helps them hone their skills and develop a love for knowledge.

You can easily find tons of digital resources that make education a bit more exciting for students. And the best part is that many of these resources are free. You can find questions and answers, point charts, and ideas for creating an engaging and fun way to get your students ready for the next exam. This is a great way to prepare your students for the content they can expect on a quiz and ask questions if they are unsure.

The review games on this list can help students to develop a love for learning. Students can foster a better ability to work in teams, which will score them points in the future where they will be expected to work together in a team environment easily.

A team-building exercise may seem to be childlike play, but it is an important social lesson that will significantly help them in the future.

Whether you use a question-based board game or a points system for an activity that involves teams, you can find free templates and plans that will allow you to create a unique system. Perhaps even with a points value, that will pose a key question to students who can earn points if they get correct.

Using points or not doesn’t matter. The idea is to help one student make their way to the correct answer to the question and take the time to explain to the students why these terms or concepts are important.

Review games are an important part of getting students ready to take tests and move on to more complicated subjects that rely on understanding groundwork principles and concepts.

Allowing students to work as a team, spending time letting them explore a question, and even assigning points so that a student, in the end, feels like they have won something is well worth the time and effort.

10 Teacher-Approved Online Review Games

Online review games for the classroom are wonderful modern education tools. They provide an engaging way for students of all ages to study essential lesson material while remaining active participants, often in a positive group setting. Additionally, digital games are familiar to students and teachers alike and can be easily introduced into classroom pedagogy. In today’s tech-driven environment, 99% of boys, 94% of girls, and 62% of teachers play video games. 1

This guide to 10 teacher-approved review games will help you learn more about the different classroom review games available and select which of these gaming programs will best fit your curriculum, your budget, and your students’ educational needs.

If there is one review game platform on this list you’ve heard about before, it’s Kahoot!. Kahoot! is popular and boasts millions of users and more than 100 million ready-to-play games, according to its website 2 . Kahoot! launched in 2012 and is designed for social learning. 3 Kahoot allows you to create multiple-choice games, polls, and quizzes quickly for an exciting gaming classroom experience. Teachers can host live review games during class time, or display their “kahoots” on a shared screen to remote students participating from home. Students can play in classic mode, or team mode with shared devices. Kahoot! requires registration with a login. Once you’ve gained access there’s a basic, free version and a premium version to choose from.

Teacher Tip: Check out Kahoot!’s “curriculum aligned collections” to find games created by teachers.

For those interested in a free classroom review game that's made by students, for students, Gimkit is the answer! Gimkit’s Kahoot!-style gameplay is supercharged by delivering virtual dollars to players for correct answers. As an added bonus, players can get more money per correct answer as they level up. Gimkit “streak bonuses” deliver even more money for sequences of correct answers meaning student players are rewarded for their overall efforts. Gimkit’s increasing virtual rewards, based on question level and willingness to take risks, encourages strategic play among students and teams. Other features include “insurance,” “multiplier,” and “money per question.” 4 It’s easy to get started with Gimkit. Just create a new “kit,” add an appropriate title, add your choice of cover image, create your questions, and go live. Paid versions of Gimkit allow you to edit your questions after your quiz has been created. Once your Gimkit review game is underway, it’s up to students to build value for their teams. They will be encouraged to do so with Gimkit’s exciting, monetized gameplay features.

Teacher Tip: Turn off Gimkit’s clapping feature to minimize distractions at the end of games.

3. Flipgrid

Flipgrid is perfect for discussion-based style classroom reviews or reviews which require a bulletin board style program to facilitate learning. Acquired by Microsoft in 2018, 5 Flipgrid describes itself as a free video discussion platform that promotes social learning that’s both “fun” and “supportive.” 6

Educators start a Flipgrid by creating topic grids, setting sharing and access guidelines, and lastly, opening up grids for student participation. Students can create short video responses to grids that last anywhere from a short 15 seconds to five minutes in length. This online review tool also provides an accessible forum for students who are less talkative in a traditional classroom setting. With Flipgrid, all students can share at their own pace. To turn your grids into a game, have students post responses to practice quiz questions. In summary, Flipgrid is an easy-to-use conversation starter for students who are middle school age or older, including high school and college students.

Teacher Tip: Press the “disco grid” button to get already-created assignments by other educators that you can customize to your classroom needs.

Launched in 2015, Quizizz bills itself as “the world’s most engaging learning platform,” 7 and is a great way for educators to create tech-based exams, pre-test reviews, unit tests, and impromptu tests for their online review activities. Educators can choose from Quizizz’s presenter-led or student-led setting options. Students have more autonomy with Quizizz and can work at their own speed on a variety of personal electronic devices. This online review program also allows teachers to see student performance data. As of late 2020, Quizizz has more than 65 million global users across 150 countries. 8

5. Flippity

Flippity enables educators to turn their very own Google Sheets spreadsheets into different online reviews games including flashcards, crosswords, trivia games, and board games. Flippity is free to use, though some additional features are ad-supported. Flippity works on most browsers but does require Javascript to function. Each student can have his or her own version of the Flippity review game and teachers can have student results emailed to them for quick classroom progress tracking. A web connection is needed for each page to load, but no special application is needed to get the program.

6. Quizlet Live

Quizlet helps students build their soft and hard skills while they use this collaborative classroom game to solve quiz questions. You’ll need at least six students to run the game and both the students and the classroom education will need an electronic device to participate. To get started, teachers should divide students into groups. With Quizlet, only one student’s device has the correct answer, per group. This ensures student teams must cooperate and communicate in order to find the correct answer and progress to the finish as a group. Teachers can track each team’s progress along the way. The more effectively teams work together, the faster they can win. Wrong answers put teams back to the start to collaborate together again. Students do benefit from Quizlet’s method of group learning and seven different study modes. According to Quizlet, 90% of students who use Quizlet report higher grades. 9

Teacher Tip: Quizlet Live can be accessed from a browser or the Quizlet downloadable app.

Padlet is recommended for Grades 2-12 and is a great way for your students to share their ideas and their work with the entire class. Padlet has a free basic version that provides three “padlets,” or bulletin boards, and comes with an ample amount of storage space for classroom use. If you need more padlets or storage space, select the paid pro version. Any type of file can be posted to Padlet and students can type in responses to a question as well as share work files from external applications. Classroom educators can customize Padlet backgrounds and content to keep material visually interesting and conducive to classroom learning. To get started with this online review game, create a new Padlet, decide on the layout, and give it a name and description. Further customize it as you like to your classroom needs. For classrooms that need more monitoring, select “require approval” for each student comment to review that material before it is posted for the group. Padlet’s approval option works best if you want more control over classroom content and if you have time to check Padlet regularly to prevent content approval backlogs. Lastly, have your students sign in to free Padlet accounts to launch their experience and you’re ready to go.

Teacher Tip: Turn on Padlet’s “attribution” feature to see what each student has shared. Turn on comments to get students engaging with one another. Keep “reactions” off to tamp down on student competition over who has the most “likes.”

8. Quizalize

Quizalize is your tool to help create and share your online review quizzes while conducting formative assessments. 10 Quizalize allows teachers to track individual student progress accurately and to see which students have mastered which skills. Tailor each quiz to your curriculum’s needs or utilize the application’s existing quizzes, designed by fellow educators, that are tied to common curriculums. Quizalize motivates students individually but also on the team level and can be played from a variety of devices (laptop, cellphone, tablet) that are internet-connected. To get started with Quizalize, select from their free, teacher-made quizzes or create your own review quizzes. You can add images to your quiz and correct answer explanations. Next, choose quiz length and then save. With Quizalize, you have the ability to add as many questions as you’d like and you can customize the quiz delivery options for students. Once all of your preferences are set for your classroom needs, your Quizalize quiz is ready to launch!

Teacher Tip: Select “mastery mode,” to have students receive individualized questions based on information they need to show improvement with.

9. Bamboozle

Need to boost your students' vocabulary skills? Bamboozle is a great online review game option for vocabulary building. It’s also free. Bamboozle is easy to launch, is great for all classroom levels, and has the ability to be replayed in the same classrooms as its games are randomized. To get started quickly, search for games in a category, preview the questions and pictures, pick the number of teams, and the number of questions. Next, set up scoring and additional game options and you're ready to launch. You can also set up your own Bamboozle games from scratch.

Teacher Tip: Once your game is ready to play, increase the fun levels in class by calling on your students individually, asking them to pick a numbered card and answer the question that appears. Click and show the correct answer after each individual student has participated to review answers and reinforce group learning.

10. Bookwidgets

No online classroom review games list would be complete without Bookwidgets. With more than 40 exercise templates to choose from, Bookwidgets empowers teachers and curriculum developers to evaluate, grade, and give valuable feedback to students. 11 Bookwidgets can interface with Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Canvas, Schoology, and Moodle. Games you can create with Bookwidgets include flashcards, quizzes, bingo, crosswords, and math exercises. Customize your tests for a variety of devices including tablets, PCs, and Chromebooks. Create your very first widget and follow the series of prompts to get started. Though free for students, Bookwidget does have a cost for teachers. Pricing plans start at $49 for a year-long subscription for individual educators. Discounts apply for group purchases. For those who want to try Bookwidgets before committing to a full purchase, a 30-day trial version is available.

Teacher Tip: Share your newly created widget with students and other teachers via Bookwidgets’ customized, shareable links.

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Retrieved on July 6, 2021, from thetechedvocate.org/the-positive-connection-between-games-and-online-learning/
Retrieved on July 6, 2021, from kahoot.com/schools/how-it-works/
Retrieved on July 6, 2021, from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahoot !
Retrieved on July 7, 2021, from gimkit.com/
Retrieved on July 6, 2021, from venturebeat.com/2018/06/18/microsoft-acquires-education-focused-video-platform-flipgrid/
Retrieved on July 6, 2021, from blog.flipgrid.com/gettingstarted
Retrieved on July 6, 2021, from quizizz.com/
Retrieved on July 6, 2021, from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quizizz
Retrieved on July 6, 2021, from quizlet.com/features/live
Retrieved on July 6, 2021, from app.quizalize.com/
Retrieved on July 6, 2021, from bookwidgets.com/

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9 Best Online Review Games for Teachers to Play in Class

December 21, 2022

Why Play Online Review Games in Class?

Online review games for teachers to play in class can be an effective way to engage students and promote learning. By allowing students to interact with the material in a fun, competitive way, online review games can help students learn and retain information, and can encourage collaboration and teamwork. Additionally, online review games for students can help keep them engaged and motivated, which can lead to improved performance in the classroom.

Looking for more ways to engage your anatomy students? Download your FREE ENGAGEMENT GUIDE today!

9 Best Online Review Games for Classroom

Kahoot! is a free online game platform that allows teachers to create and share their own quizzes and games with their students. It is an easy-to-use, interactive way to review concepts, and it can also be used to teach new material. With its customizable options, teachers can tailor the game to their specific class and subject matter.

Quizizz is a free online game that allows teachers to create multiple-choice quizzes for their students. With its simple and intuitive interface, teachers can create customized quizzes that can be used to review concepts, teach new material, or even have a little fun.

3. Quizlet

Quizlet is a free online game platform that allows teachers to create and share their own flashcards and games with their students. Flashcards can be used to review existing material or introduce new concepts. Quizlet also offers a variety of interactive games that can help engage students and keep them actively engaged in learning.

4. Socrative

Socrative is a free online game platform that allows teachers to create and share their own quizzes and games with their students. With its simple and intuitive interface, teachers can create customized quizzes that can be used to review concepts, teach new material, or even have a little fun.

5. Jeopardy Labs

Jeopardy Labs is an online game platform that allows teachers to create and share their own trivia quizzes and games with their students. With its customizable options, teachers can tailor the game to their specific class and subject matter.

6. Quizalize

Quizalize is a free online game platform that allows teachers to create and share their own quizzes and games with their students. With its simple and intuitive interface, teachers can create customized quizzes that can be used to review concepts, teach new material, or even have a little fun.

Blooket is an online game that allows players to create their own virtual world and compete in various activities. Players can customize their characters and explore different maps, complete quests, and battle monsters. The game also features a leaderboard system and social media integration, allowing players to interact and compete with others.

8. Kahoot! Live

Kahoot! Live is a free online game platform that allows teachers to create and share their own quizzes and games with their students. With its customizable options, teachers can tailor the game to their specific class and subject matter.

9. Quiz Tree

Quiz Tree is a free online game platform that allows teachers to create and share their own quizzes and games with their students. With its simple and intuitive interface, teachers can create customized quizzes that can be used to review concepts, teach new material, or even have a little fun.

Review games in class can be a great way to make learning fun!

By using games to review materials, students can become more engaged and motivated to do their best. Games can also help students to better understand and remember the material. Additionally, online review games for teachers can provide a fun and competitive environment for students to practice their skills. As an added bonus, review games can be tailored to the needs and interests of the students, making learning more enjoyable.

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9 Engaging Review Games that are Quick & Easy and Aren’t a Waste of Time

January 26, by Michelle Leave a Comment

Looking for ideas for engaging review games for your class that work? Read to find some quick and easy review games for primary students that won’t waste your time!

Old ideas for revision

Revision or review of learned classroom work can be a pretty boring task for kids.

N.B. In Australia, we call it revision, but if you are used to the word review, I can use these phrases interchangeably.

Yes, you can give them a revision sheet or you could put revision questions on the board.

Both of these types of activities have value. They give you opportunities for monitoring their learning while guiding you on what to reteach before assessment time.

But for kids, these activities all the time are BORING!

New ways of looking at reviewing class work

Why don’t you use some engaging games that are quick and use more of a collaborative approach to help your students review their learning?

From time to time, I try to change up my revision/review activities in my class, especially for my grade 5 students.

This age group has so much stimulus from technology in their every day lives, that we definitely need to make learning more engaging for them.

Have you noticed how competitive they are at this age? This can work well for revision and review games.

I’ve compiled a list of some classroom review games for kids at the middle primary age, that are quick and easy to set up and implement into your revision routine.

I use them regularly and they work a treat!

It will change things up, not waste your time and make revision a bit more fun for your students.

Engaging Review games and ideas

The following revision ideas include some more active review games, including the well-known ‘around the world’, plus other revision activities that I use regularly to revise classroom work.

1. Group contests/table points

Group contests are an engaging way for students to collaborate in their revision of school work. (If you’re clever with the groupings, it will also help students to learn from their peers in the process.)

For these group contests, you will need to explicitly teach your class how the contest will work ; plus include information about their discussions while deciding on their responses.

Groups are numbered and each will gets to give their answer. If they get it right, every group will get a point.

A good way to run this is to designate roles in each group . For example, a) a student who records responses, b) ideas people, c) scorekeeper etc.

Group contests work best with no more than 4 or fewer students in a group.

2. Around the World

This is a very classic and well-loved game . Many teachers use ‘Around the World’ for many quick-response types of questions. It works well for number facts, particularly, but it can be used for any other short answer types of questions.

How it works –

One student stands behind another student. These two, verse each other for a question.
If each child answers the question correctly at the same time, another question will be asked of them. If the student who’s standing answers the question correctly first, this child moves to the next student and continues around the class.
If the student sitting down answers the question correctly, before the student standing, they will take the place of the standing student and move to the next.
The student who got the question wrong sits in the place of their opponent.
The winning student answers the most questions correctly and moves the farthest around the class -“Around the World.” (The students will help you keep track of the most wins)

3. Personal Whiteboards

I use personal whiteboards for students and their dry erase markers in my room every day.

These small whiteboards are a quick way for students to respond to answers in a written way. Plus helping me, as the teacher, to easily monitor their learning and offer help and suggestions, where needed.

Students can also share their responses with the student next to them and get timely feedback.

Personal whiteboards are an engaging way to revise work instead of having the students write answers into their exercise books. (I think it just a novelty way than pencil and paper, but it works!)

4. Paired challenges

As the name suggests, paired challenges are another way to review content.

When students get to collaborate with a partner, it’s more valuable than just reviewing on their own. This allows them to learn from each other and help them make connections that they might not have previously made.

Tip: By cleverly pairing up students, it enables a strong student to support a weaker student, which benefits them both. Firstly, the stronger student gives explanations to their peer (which gives them a deeper understanding of the content) and secondly, the weaker student may understand his peer’s explanation in a different way. Win-Win!

5. Game Shows

Games Show formats are such a fun way to revise work.

Constructing your game show in a PowerPoint presentation, I must admit is a lot of work, but after it is made, you can continue to use it year after year.

Construct your game show to follow popular shows on television, like ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. This is a great format because you can set up multiple-choice questions and it really gets the student thinking.

They love the fact that they are earning ‘money’ in the game too! which they can track through the game and share their totals at the end.

6. Catch the Fish

I have a very larger, colourful fish puppet that adds a fun element to my revision times with the class. I use it at the beginning of lessons to quickly revise what we have learnt over several lessons to help consolidate knowledge.

I set the scene of what we will be reviewing – for example – What do you know about the Language Features of Narratives? Then I throw the fish to each student as they recall what they remember. This continues around the whole class until each student has a turn.

N.B. The trick is, students can’t answer something that has previously been offered and they can’t talk if they don’t have the fish in their hand.

My kids love this activity and it’s a really fun and engaging way to review past content, get them thinking quickly, as well as have every child answer.

For this game, you can use any type of large soft toy as something to be thrown and caught by the students.

7. Whole class brainstorm activities

I love doing a whole-class brainstorm at the end of a unit of work.

If you record your classes responses to a particular question on a mind-map chart, it’s a clever way to revise many weeks of work and have a visible reminder on the wall to refer back to.

It’s great for subjects like; English, History or Science etc.

Examples of whole-class brainstorm questions:

What have we learnt about….?
What are all the elements you need in a narrative story?
What language features do you need to include in an entertaining narrative?
What are the qualities of light? etc. etc.

8. Warm-ups

Warm-ups are another quick strategy to recall students knowledge at the beginning of each lesson.

‘Warm-ups’ are activities that call on student’s the prior-knowledge from past lessons. As part of your explicit instruction , a “warm-up’ is essential for students to revise information, skills and concepts they have previously learned.” ‘Warm-ups’ “move knowledge from the student’s short term memory to their long-term memory, as well as build automaticity.”

Just choose a few quick questions or activities from the previous lesson and go over them at the start of a new lesson. This will help build their mastery in the topic.

For many warm-up opportunities, it’s helpful to get students to respond on their personal whiteboards. This gives them a chance for a quick response as a whole class, share with a friend and also get some immediate feedback on their work. You can also use peer tutors to go and quickly help those that need it, on the spot.

I love warm-up activities, as they are a quick way to review work and help students to gain confidence and achieve success in areas needing it.

By using this activity on a daily basis, you’ll see a huge improvement in student achievement and the kids will love it.

The game of ‘Buzz’ is another fun way for revision. It a very engaging for the whole class and I often use it to revise spelling words for the week or for a whole term review.

All of your class form a large circle around the outer part of the room. They don’t need to stand in any particular order, but you will need to give them clear expectations of the positive behaviours needed to play the game in a safe and respectful manner.

Start the game by picking a student.
Then the teacher chooses a word that the class will spell, for example, ‘Respectful’ – the beginning student says the first letter of the word – ‘R’, then the next student says the next letter -‘E’ and so forth.
If a student says the wrong letter, they sit down and are out of that round.
Once all the letters for the word are spelt, the next person must say the word ‘Buzz!’ If they forget, they sit down, if they remember the next person sits down.
Then you start on subsequent spelling words until all the students are out.
The last person standing is the winner and they begin the new game.

It’s a great way to develop listening skills as well as revising work.

In closing:

I hope these suggestions have given you some ideas for your next revision session.

I know my classes of grade 5’s have really loved these engaging revision game over the years and are certainly not bored.

I hope your kids love them too!

PIN THIS FOR LATER!

Looking for ideas for engaging classroom review games that work? Read to find some quick and easy review games for primary students that won't waste your time!

About Michelle

Michelle is a qualified primary teacher in Australia - BEd (Dist) and is the founder of Teach Smart With Me. She is also a certified Holistic Life Coach (HLC) and Mind-Body Practitioner (MBP) and is passionate about guiding other busy teachers in their search for balance.

Michelle understands the ins and outs of life in the classroom and loves to coach educators to thrive, using a variety of tools to help them prioritise their own self-care and wellbeing.

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Classroom Review Games For Any Subject

teacher at whiteboard with words on top saying 9 Classroom Review Games You Can Use Over and Over

Keeping things fun and engaging on a daily basis in the classroom can be a challenge sometimes. I find that implementing new and fresh ideas on a normal basis keeps my kids on the edge of their seats and more willing to interact with the skill we are learning. This is a list of some of my favorite classroom review games that I rotate in and out throughout the year to keep things exciting for elementary students. Anytime I am going to be teaching something that may not be the “most” interesting subject, or I feel we need a change in routine, these are my go-to games. These 9 classroom review games could work for any skill and any subject!

(This post contains affiliate links. By purchasing through this link, we get a small commission–at no additional cost to you. Rest assured – we only share links to products that we use and love!)

Spin the Wheel

This is a great “game” that can be done for review or while you’re introducing new content. Each time a student answers a question, they get to come up to the board and spin the wheel. This is the website I use for virtually spinning the wheel: https://wheeldecide.com/

For example, we may be going over a reading passage together as a whole class under the document camera. If someone raises their hand to tell me what the answer is, what background knowledge they used, what paragraph the proof is, what they’re inferring right now, etc.—they get to spin the wheel! It’s a great way to encourage every student to want to answer so you don’t see the same five hands going up over and over again.

This website allows you to add anything you want to the wheel selections. You can add in choices like “No Homework Pass”, “New Pencil”, “New Eraser”, “Sticker”, “Dojo Point”, or anything else you’d like. Sometimes, I put points on the wheel and whichever student or team has the most points at the end of the class period wins.

The possibilities with this website are endless for playing classroom review games. You can have them spin for points, spin to choose who goes next, spin for prizes, etc.

There’s another variation you can use this game for as well…partner work! When students are working in partners, if they finish their work together well, or score a certain percentage correct when I check it, I’ll let both partners go spin the wheel as a reward for their hard work. This can be a great motivator for students who may be a little shy working together. When they know there is a potential “prize” at the end, it helps them overcome that hesitancy and work together to reach a common goal. You might also like this REAL wheel. I bought one a few years ago and love to pull it out to surprise the kids with every once in a while.

@thelifetimelearner A game you can play anytime! The virtual wheel I use is https://wheeldecide.com/ ##teacher ##teachers ##teachersoftiktok2021 ##teachersoftiktok ##teachertiktoker ##teachertiktok ♬ Little Bitty Pretty One – Thurston Harris

Wheel of Names

This is a great website as well: https://wheelofnames.com/

I use this “game” for names getting picked. I may let that person choose their practice partner first. That person may get to answer a question. That person may get to choose someone else who is going to answer the question. It’s just a fun way to keep things interesting on a daily basis.

@thelifetimelearner Easy way to randomly choose students! ##teacher ##teachers ##teachersoftiktok2021 ##teachersoftiktok ##teachertiktoker ##teachertiktok ♬ Jeopardy – The TV Theme Players

whiteboard with connect 4 board drawn on it with expo marker

I draw a big connect 4 board on the whiteboard that is very big. The grid is usually a 10×10 board of squares. Then I tell the kids that each row in my classroom is a different colored team (red, blue, green, yellow) and give the first person in that row a whiteboard marker in that color. If someone on the red team answers a question, they get to go put a red circle anywhere on the board they want. If someone else on the red team answers a question correctly, they get to put a second red circle anywhere they want (and then they have 2 in a row).

Then, if the green team answers a question, they’ll get to go up and put a green circle on the board. They might block the red team from getting 3 in a row. The first team to get 4 in a row wins. I’ve done this as a classroom review game for practicing content and have even used it as an indoor recess game because students love it.

@thelifetimelearner Use connect 4 to review skills! ##teacher ##teachers ##teachersoftiktok2021 ##teachersoftiktok ##teachertiktoker ##teachertiktok ♬ 80’s Game Show Girl – Hollywood Film Music Orchestra

Basket-Ball

All you need for this game is a basket (or trash can) and a piece of paper for each student. I happen to have these little baskets that look like basketball nets and they work perfectly too. Anytime a student answers a question correctly, they get to try and shoot the ball in the basketball can. I’ve seen this game referred to as ‘trashketball’ before as well.

This particular classroom review game really pulls in my classroom athletes. Sometimes we do this whole group and sometimes I let each set of partners take a basket to shoot points after each question they answer together.

an example of classroom review games with hand throwing dice

This classroom review game is super simple. First, write everyone’s name on the board. Whoever answers a question correctly about literally anything gets to roll a dice. I use large ones that the whole class can view when they’re rolled across the floor. You could also roll virtual dice online. It’s easy to google “virtual dice” and then roll them whenever a student answers a question. Whatever points the student rolls, you add next to their name. I normally let the student actually add their own points to their name so they get a chance to move around a bit. The kids compete to see who can get the most points by the end of the class period. When we play this, I let the winner of the game be line leader for the day and they love it.

I’ve also done a variation of this game with “Class vs. Teacher”. Someone answers a question correctly and they get to roll the dice. I add the points to the class team. Then I roll and add my points. They see if they can beat my score. I get to roll every round and someone who answers a question gets to roll every round. If they beat my score, I give them that many minutes of extra recess at the end of the day.

two students pointing to answers on whiteboard

Students only need a whiteboard and a marker for this classroom review game. Split the class in half and put half of the students on each team. Call up a student from each team and they bring their whiteboard/dry erase marker. I ask a question about the passage and they write the answer on their whiteboard (it might be as simple as writing ABCD or it might be “Guess what this word means?” or “What keywords should we underline?”). Whichever student gets it right wins a point for their team. If they both get it right, they both get a point.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

A lot of students enjoy classroom review games that are found on TV. That’s where Who Wants to be a Millionaire comes in! Split the class in half so there are two teams. But instead of calling up one person from each team, call up one person only from only one team. I rotate back and forth between the teams for each question. Each team’s points are kept track of on the board. But instead of just writing their points on the board, I also write three phrases: “Ask the Audience”, “Phone a Friend”, and “Cut It In Half”.

I explain that these are lifelines that can help students when they get stuck.

Here’s what the lifelines mean: -Cut it in half means I take away two answer choice possibilities. -Phone a friend means they can choose anyone on their team to go out in the hallway with. They get to talk to the friend in private about what they think the answer is and why and then they both come back in (30 second time limit). -Ask the Audience means everyone on that team gets to vote for what the answer is. Then, the person gets to side with whoever they want (30 second time limit).

Each team only can use those lifelines once. So, if Johnny uses the “ask the audience” lifeline while he’s up for his team, no one else on his team can use it. I explain that he should only use it if he really is unsure.

My class has become good at assessing who really needs those lifelines versus who doesn’t and they’ll call out “Save it, you can do this. You got this!” Or, if it’s someone they know may need a little extra help, they’ll call out “Use a lifeline, we got you!”

hangman with a flower instead of a hangman and the words say a new way to play hangman

Play Hangman (I actually like to use “Build A” games instead of Hangman but it’s played the same way. We may be building a flower or building a snowman instead of a person like in Hangman). First, you put all the letter choices on the board. Call on a student to answer a reading question. If they get it right, THEN they get to guess a letter on the Hangman (or “Build A…”) game. Each time a student gets called on, they can either A-guess a letter or B-try to solve the entire puzzle. They cannot do both. If they call out, they know they will not get called on to solve the puzzle. That helps a lot with students guessing when it’s not their turn. The student who solves the classroom review games puzzle gets a small prize from me like a pencil or eraser.

Deal or No Deal

On television, there are plenty of classroom review games. Another one is Deal or No Deal! Deal or No Deal is a game that does require a little bit of prep. However, it’s a classroom favorite and students’ eyes always light up when they see this on the board when they come in the room. I use dojo points as a reward but you could utilize any reward system with this classroom review game.

Here’s how to play: Put 20 index cards on the board with tape. On the back, write a number of dojo points that it’s worth. You put a number from 1-20 on the front of each card. So, when kids are looking at the board, they should see 20 index cards numbered from 1-20 (they can be in numerical order, don’t need to be mixed up), BUT they don’t know what’s on the back of each one.

I explain to my class that a reward is on the back of each card. Some cards have 1 point written on them and the amounts go all the way up to 100. Whichever card they end up with at the end, they get to add those points to their Class Dojo account. Tell each kid to write their name on a sticky note and put it on the corner of their desk.

When a student answers a question correctly, they get to choose which number they want to stick their name on. Let’s pretend Johnny chooses Card #7 so he sticks his sticky note with his name on it on Card #7. Then, Molly answers a question correctly and chooses Card #5. All students do not get to see what’s on the back of the card till the very end of the game. They’re taking a risk.

Here’s where the twist comes in. Bobby may get an answer right and wants Card #7. He has two choices. He can choose a different card that hasn’t been claimed yet OR he can move the other person to another card number and take #7 for himself. To help with time constraints, I have a simple rule. If they move the other person’s name, they have to move the person’s name to the closest number nearby. That way, students aren’t standing there wondering which of 20 numbers they should bump the person to.

At the end of the game, I let all kids flip their cards over to see how many points they received. Everyone ends up with an amount no matter what.

Sometimes, we’ll play this individually as well. When they finish a worksheet or skill-based task, they’ll bring me their paper to grade. If I can tell they put forth their best effort, they get to go take any card off the board they want and see how many dojo points they just earned.

If they scored poorly on their assignment or did not try their best, they do not get to choose a card. However, they still have a chance to earn a card. Students can choose a partner that DID pass to help them go over their wrong answers. Then if they come back with the partner and can explain to me what they did wrong in detail, that student gets a turn to pull down a card on the board, AND the partner that helped them gets to choose an additional card. This method keeps everyone engaged and working so no one is bored.

Hopefully, these ideas help or spark an idea of how you can implement them in your own classroom!

You may also like to read about Hide and Seek Games. These are classroom review games that are pre-made for you. They can be used for any subject, any grade level, and with any content. They’re a great way to review before an assessment with any content or can be used to practice math facts any day of the week.

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10 Low-Prep Classroom Review Games Your Students Will Beg For More Learning Fun!

Sylvia Nguyen

10 Low-Prep Classroom Review Games Your Students Will Beg For More Learning Fun!

Are you tired of restless students who seem disinterested and unmotivated during review sessions? Do you find it challenging to make end-of-unit or lesson reviews engaging and productive?

It’s frustrating to witness students losing interest in essential review activities, especially when these sessions play a crucial role in accelerating learning and addressing any learning gaps.

But fear not! We have the perfect remedy to transform your classroom and captivate your students’ attention. These 10 innovative and entertaining classroom review games are designed to not only improve knowledge retention but also infuse your classroom with a new level of excitement. Let’s dive into these exciting classroom review games and get ready to witness your students eagerly participate in them!

Classroom Review Game	Materials Needed
Around the World	Questions
Multiple Choice Quiz Game	ClassPoint, Kahoot!, Quizizz, or other interactive quiz platforms
Fill in the Blanks	ClassPoint’s Fill in the Blanks
Fly Swatter	2 fly swatters Whiteboard A list of vocab words & definitions
Crossword Puzzle	Crossword generator Copy printer or ClassPoint or other similar interactive activity tool such as Nearpod
Groupwork Contest	An assignment you can turn into a competition game A timer : a digital scoreboard!
Headband	Vocabulary words Index cards, sticky notes, or paper
Team Trivia Race at the Board	Questions Whiteboard Timer
Independent Trivia Race	ClassPoint Draggable Objects
Drag and Match

10 Low-Prep Classroom Review Games

1. around the world.

Around the World is a classic game that I’ve seen used time and time again with great success! It’s perfect for individual play and limited time because all you need is a list of questions, and you can leave your students in their seats (to begin with).

You start by having two students stand up and pair off against each other.
Then, you ask a question, and whoever shouts the answer first wins.
The winner then moves on to the next desk for the next contestant, and so on and so forth.
The student who didn’t win sits down in the desk where they are, even if it’s not theirs! The goal is to move as many seats as possible before losing. Once you lose, you sit in the seat of the person who bested you.
The game ends when one student makes it “around the world” and gets all the way back to their seat, or when the time is up – the person who traveled the farthest wins.

Materials : Just questions!

2. Multiple Choice Quiz Game

Turn your material or assessment questions into a quiz game to have your students practice, learn, and have fun while doing it!

Option 1: ClassPoint . As a PowerPoint user, ClassPoint is my go-to! It’s a PowerPoint add-in that lets you turn your slide into a student activity, posing a question that they can answer from their device! Write your question on your slide (one question per slide!), then add the Multiple Choice button, and invite your students to join online! Gamify it by awarding stars for correct answers and revealing the leaderboard to showcase the standings after each question!
Option 2 & 3: Kahoot! and Quizizz are other great alternatives if you don’t use PowerPoint. Go online to their website, create an account, create your quiz, and invite your students to play! Kahoot has a library of existing quizzes if your material is universal too.

Materials : ClassPoint, Kahoot!, or Quizizz are all great options!

3. Fill In The Blanks

You can turn a simple fill-in-the-blank review activity into a game by using ClassPoint’s gamification system as well. With a combination of features supporting teachers to reward students with levels and a leaderboard, it surely is not a boring review exercise but a fun one!

Add your questions or phrases, including blanks, to your slides in PowerPoint! You can leave a maximum of 5 blanks per slide.
Add the Fill in the Blanks button, then run it with your class in presentation mode! They can use their devices to fill in the blanks and submit them back for you to review and reveal the correct answer!
Gamify it by giving stars for correct answers! Also, let students pitch their answer variations for a chance to earn a correct star!

Materials :

4. Fly Swatter

Need to practice vocabulary? An easy and tech-free way is to play Fly Swatter with vocab words written on the board!

Write a spread-out cloud of vocabularies on the board and divide the class into two teams.
Have one student from each team come up to the board and turn their back to it, then give them a fly swatter.
Read out the definition of the word, and the students will race to turn around, find the correct vocab word, and touch it with the fly swatter.
Whoever swats the correct word first gets a point for their team!
2 fly swatters
A list of vocab words & definitions

5. Crossword Puzzle

Has anyone spent hours solving a crossword puzzle? If you have, then welcome to the team, because you’re one of 50 million people who consider crosswords as part of their daily life .

In fact, according to Griffith University, crossword puzzles are intellectual activities that teachers should implement in classroom activities because they could provide an opportunity for students to evaluate their knowledge and help them pay more attention to the lesson.

Which is why, sometimes, I would create crossword puzzles as a review game for students at the end of the lesson to help them recall their lesson more easily!

Designing a crossword puzzle is surely time-consuming, so I found a smarter and faster way to do it – online!

You just need to provide the tool with a list of words that you want to put in the game, and it will automatically generate the crossword puzzle for you.
Then, download the worksheet and the answer sheet, print out copies, and give them to your students!

Tips : If you want to make it a digital classroom game on PowerPoint, simply copy and paste it onto your PowerPoint slides, then use ClassPoint’s draggable objects to turn it into an interactive Crossword Puzzle right inside PowerPoint!

Crossword generator: There are many online crossword puzzle makers, such as My Crossword Maker and Crossword Labs , but my favorite is Crossword Puzzle – Worksheet Generator .
ClassPoint or another similar interactive activity tool, such as Nearpod .

6. Group Contest

Use the power of group work collaboration combined with gameplay competition for a fun and effective review game!

Divide the class into 2 to 4 different groups.
Then, pose a series of questions or challenges that each group must achieve within a set amount of time to earn points.
Set the time to be somewhat limiting to increase the challenge and practice time-constrained thinking and recalling.
Once the time is up, the group with the most correct answers wins! Make this more competitive by adding multiple rounds and a scoreboard to keep track of points earned in each round!

Tips: You can make a digital scoreboard using ClassPoint as well. That way, your students will be encouraged to actively participate in the group activity.

An assignment you can turn into a competition game
Optional : a digital scoreboard!

Group activity is truly essential and effective when it comes to review games. By allowing students to work in groups with their peers, they can help each other learn faster and understand the knowledge more easily.

Furthermore, according to the University of New South Wales , group work motivates students to improve their skills and exposes them to diverse ideas and approaches. Thus, as teachers, we can also take advantage of these benefits to host group activities and support students in group games.

7. Headbands

Have you ever played the popular mobile game Headband?

The first player – player A – will receive a note card with a word and, without looking at this word, they must place it on his or her forehead. Then the other player – player B – will need to describe the word without directly mentioning the answer. In the digital game, player A tries to guess as many words as possible before their time is up! This is super fun and can be easily turned into a classroom review game!

When played as a classroom game, 1 student plays the role of player A, and the rest of the class will be player B.
Using index cards or sticky notes, write vocab words or course concepts that you want to review.
Without looking, player A holds up one note card on their forehead, revealing it to the class. The classmates must describe the concept or the definition without using the written word to player A while they try to guess it!
To gamify it, you can set a 2-minute timer for each player and see how many cards they can go through.
Or, make it a relay and set a 5-minute timer, switching player A after each word and seeing how many students they can get through. There are many ways you can play around with these, from individual player points to setting teams!

By doing this, we can motivate our students to describe and talk about the knowledge they learned in the lesson on their own. This is actually a trick of using the Feynman Technique – a popular study technique – in our classroom.

Vocabularies
Index cards, sticky notes, or paper!

8. Team Trivia Race

Who doesn’t love a game show-like game? But instead of the time-consuming prep of jeopardy, just take a list of assessment questions, add a scoreboard, and voilà, you have a trivia game!

Divide the class into 2 teams and have the students form two lines starting at the board.
Ask the first two students a question, and whoever answers first gets a point for their team.
If the teams are even, keep each student for two questions and alternate who leaves to mix up the pairings.
If both students get it wrong, anyone gets to guess for a team point to keep the rest of the students involved.
Set a timer, and the team with the most points in the end wins! Make it fun with speed and by trying to get through as many questions as possible quickly!

9. Independent Trivia Race

Similar to the last game, you can do an independent trivia race at the board (or even in their seats!) by asking a group of students a question and giving whoever gets it right first a point!

Randomly select 2 to 5 students, have them come up (or stand up at their desk) to answer your question.
Give points to whoever gets it right first or whoever can get it right if it’s challenging!

Tips: To randomly select names, use ClassPoint’s Name Picker in PowerPoint! Add your class list and draw multiple names at once with the auto-pick! It’s that easy, and the names will be left out so everyone is sure to get a turn before you reshuffle!

Leaderboard or rewards – To spice up the game, you can use a class leaderboard to give points to individual students, or you can give out rewards of your choice. If you use PowerPoint, ClassPoint has a gamified leaderboard that you can add your class list to and give out stars for whatever you choose!

Name picker
Optional : timer

10. Drag and Match

An easy drag-and-drop classroom game of matching the knowledge description with the definition or the keyword of the concept. While your students figure out the description and definition that they need to match, they also get to review their lesson through the game.

Prepare a slide with drag-and-drop elements of descriptions on one side, and on the other side of the slide, prepare fixed definitions or keywords of the concept.
Then, students will need to match the descriptions with the definitions of the knowledge they learned.
They can drag and drop the elements of description to where they belong, or they can also draw on the slide to connect the factors.
ClassPoint’s Draggable objects
Alternatively, you can prepare this as a Slide Drawing activity and allow students to match the keywords by drawing the connections on their devices.

Final Thoughts

All the classroom review game ideas above are easy to adopt in your classroom. After a long session of lecture, using classroom review games can help you and your students relax while still revising the knowledge.

If you don’t have time to prepare all the review questions for your lesson, then an AI quiz generator might be just what you need. One of my favorites is ClassPoint AI . I’ve been using ClassPoint for a while to create interactive questions and activities in PowerPoint for my students, but their recently released AI feature has taken the ed-tech game to a whole new level.

Now, all I need to do is prepare lecture slides in PowerPoint. After every lesson, in presentation mode, I give my students 5 minutes to review everything. Then, I turn on the ClassPoint AI feature to automatically generate questions from the lecture notes . It’s quick and easy, and the AI-generated questions using Bloom’s Taxonomy meet my expectations perfectly. Moreover, it provides three diverse types of questions, including MCQs, short answers, and fill in the blanks. This tool is an absolute must-try!

About Sylvia Nguyen

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Teaching in the Fast Lane

February 3, 2019

4 Review Games to Keep Test Prep Engaging

Are you looking for a way to spice up your test prep review games? Check out this blog post with 4 unique and engaging review strategies that will excite your students while requiring minimal prep from you!

Are you looking for review games to keep your students engaged and excited about spiral review ahead of your standardized tests? This post includes four unique review strategies that gamify the classroom and pump your students up to review!

All four review games are classroom tested and have shown themselves to be crowd pleasers with upper elementary students, but will work at any level by modifying the materials and content being used.

Let’s dive right in!

My Favorite Review Games for Test Prep

Hot stew review.

Hot Stew Review is a PowerPoint review game where students work collaboratively to answer questions and earn points towards their total.

There are 20 questions and answers slides. After each question, there is an opportunity for students to choose a vegetable from the pot of stew and write down their selection on the recording sheet. The following slide will reveal how many points they have earned, but it isn’t always a positive point value! Sometimes teams will lose half or all their points, a certain point value, or have the opportunity to double their points.

Due to the point values being random throughout the game, every team is in it to win it until the very last question upping engagement and encouraging students to continue to work hard throughout.

You can check out Hot Stew Review for yourself here .

Trashketball

This is another review game that always garnered cheers from my students. The idea of crumpling up their papers and throwing them across the room was some kind of fantasy for them. What can I say? I love to make their dreams come true!

To play trashketball, students should be in teams, preferably of four. Every student needs a whiteboard and marker.

The teacher reads a question or displays it in some manner
Students work individually to answer the question
When given the signal, students confer with their teams to come up with a single answer which they write on a piece of scrap paper
The teacher asks for answers from the team
All teams show their answers
Teams who answered correctly select a team member to squish the paper into a ball and take a shot into the trash can or recycling bin
If they make it into the bin they receive the point for the question, if not, even if they had a correct answer, they do not

If you want to add another element of challenge into the game you can mark off 1, 2, and 3 point lines for students to shoot their trashketballs from. Students love this extra element because it adds a sense of risk and allows teams to come from behind later in the game.

Towers is one of those review games that it so beautifully simple it just works!

To play Towers all you need are a set of questions and some kind of building material. You may choose to use paper cups, blocks, math cubes, or anything else you have available.

Once again students should be in partners or teams. Towers is especially fun to play in partners because it adds more competition and there are no points to keep track of.

A question is given
I prefer to use the Heads Together strategy for students to find the answer so that every student is doing the work instead of just one or two from each team
Students reveal their answers to the class
For now, the cups are just set to the side of their workspace

Continue the process for all questions or until you have about three minutes left for the review game
I prefer to use 2 minutes for this part of the activity, but it is up to you
The challenge is for each set of partners or team to try and build the highest tower with the number of cups they have. It is completely up to them how to build the tower.
When time is up all hand are off and you go around with a yardstick finding the tallest tower.

Students really get into their tower creations and just because a team has the most cups doesn’t necessarily mean they win, but it certainly does help!

Stinky Feet

Stinky Feet always has been, and probably always will be my absolute favorite review game. It was introduced to be by a colleague and was an immediate hit with my students.

There are two ways to play, the sticky note version and the digital version.

To play with sticky notes, you will need to create a poster covered with sticky notes. On the back of each sticky note should be a point value, with both positive and negative points included.

Once again, students are in a team of 4 to play and each student will need their own whiteboard and marker.

A question is introduced to the group
Students work independently to answer the question before conferring as a group to answer
A correct answer means the team chooses a sticky note
Continue this process for all questions or for as long as time allows

In the end, you total up the number points and the team with the most (or least if you decide) points wins. You could also choose to keep a running total of each team’s points.

To play the digital version, you will need this template or one of the pre-created Digital Stinky Feet editions here . Gameplay is the same, but instead of having sticky notes teams choose a stinky sock to reveal their points.

About All These Review Games

Something all these review games have in common is students working together to problem solve. Only together can they submit an answer. This leads to more critical thinking and important conversations.

This is important because no one student is able to carry a team. Nor can one student do all the work leaving other students not taking part in the review.

Additionally, none of these games focus on how quickly the work is done. Instead, they reward the quality of work or correct answers. I would caution you to stay away from a review that rewards rushing through work. It will build bad habits that cannot be easily broken.

Stinky Feet Directions

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in Review Games , Student Engagement , Teaching tip

The tiny review activity

This review activity is super popular with my classes. So I thought I would share it here. It is so simple and fun that you can implement it with very little preparation at all!

Here’s how I came up with the idea:

A while ago I joked to a colleague that my year 11s knowledge of Animal Farm was just about enough to fill a stamp. I was joking, of course. However, this conversation did remind me of a good friend from my university days. Pete was (and is) an artist. He found great delight in being quirky and gauche and his best expression of this was the teeny-tiny notes left under my door, which needed a magnifying glass to be read.

The Tiny Review

I love using the tiny class review with my classes. Essentially, it has two review strategies rolled into one – summarising and questioning. The basic idea is that students summarise their learning onto a postcard… and then another student in the class has to respond in some way!

Here’s how it works

First: I ask students to summarise their learning (on whichever topic I need to cover) onto a postcard (usually a sheet of paper cut into 4!).
I collect these up. The second bit will depend on whether you have 2 classes studying the same topic.
To use with the same class : muddle them up and redistribute .
Then ask students to read the postcard they have been given, then form 2 – 3 questions on the summary to challenge or extend the ideas presented.
They write these on the back of the postcard . You can muddle them up with this Q & A going for as long as you have paper.
To use with a different class : complete the postcard summary task with both classes (it doesn’t have to be exactly the same day – as long as both classes have covered the subject areas) collect them in. At a relevant point, h and one set out to the other class and have them read and write questions as above.

What are the benefits of this activity?

It’s the perfect activity for an end of the day lesson when writing what feels like an essay in books can be quite a challenge. You can use any postcards at all of course. Most of the time, I just use scrap paper that I’ve torn up into 4.

One unexpected benefit of this review activity was the competitive nature of my classes, when we started off writing these postcards, they just wrote them. Then after a while, we started seeing who could write 30 words on a card, then 40, then 50. In time, my students became ‘tiny writers’ (just like my friend Pete) and were squeezing up to 100 words squashed onto one postcard. Just imagine my delight!

Competition and more

Added to that, the competition aspect increased when I started using this as an inter-class challenge. My students all knew each other and although they didn’t sign their postcards, they got a kick out writing exceptionally hard questions for their peers in the other class. This upped-the-ante for each class during each session we used this idea. It became crazy after a while. A couple of years ago, we got so into this activity that we even made an inter-class postbox!

Drop me a comment below if you try these ideas out and let me know how they went!

If you are looking for other fun and engaging activities to use in your ELA classroom, why not check out these blog posts:

The Perfect Review Game

One Amazing Debate Idea

Also, each week I send an email out to my teacher-friends, in this message, I include one classroom activity (like the perfect review game) and one literature activity (like this blackout writing activity). These tasks are fun, engaging, and will create brilliant learning moments for your students. If you would like to receive this weekly email (I send it on a Sunday morning – ready to help stave off those Sunday scaries), then all you need to do is fill out the email sign up below!

Subscribe to my weekly teaching tips email!

Sign up below to receive regular emails from me jammed packed with ELA teaching tips, tricks and free resources. Also access my free resource library!

in Classroom , Collaboration , Review Games , Teaching tip

The Perfect Review Game for High School

This review game is perfect to help your students demonstrate their learning for any literature text. You can use it while reading a text or after reading to have your students prove their learning.

In this blog post, I’ll show you:

The basic idea

The extra challenge
What it looks like
How to set up the game
Why it’s not as complicated as it sounds!

Card game image with text "the perfect review game for high schoolers"

The basic idea is that students build a card tower. The catch is that each card on their card tower has to demonstrate their knowledge of the ideas, characters, and the plot of a text.

The extra challenge!

It would be too simple to build a card tower with just information on it. Nope – that’s not enough for us. Here’s what the key to the challenge is: Each card has a sticky note with information on it. But each sticky note has to link to every other sticky that it touches in the tower.

Let me show you what I mean

In the image below, each card in lower zigzag pattern touches. The cards that touch either at the top of the V or at the bottom of the V have to have information on that connects.

So the sticky that we can see on the lower level states “Macbeth does not experience guilt”. This means that the card propped up against it must link to that idea. Perhaps with a quotation that proves this, or a reference to an event that links to this idea.

Even more challenging – the cards that make the horizontal support across the lower level also have to contain facts and information that link the ideas on the cards!

Card Tower with sticky notes on each card. Each sticky note has a different sentence on it.

The overwhelming benefit of this game is that students have to think and think hard about all the ideas they wish to demonstrate before they try and construct their card tower. The tower itself becomes secondary to their knowledge and learning.

How to set up this review game

So for this activity, you will need some packs of playing cards (although other cards will do) and sticky notes (mini ones if possible).
I place students in groups of 3 – 4 and then I give each group about 8 – 12 playing cards.

As this is a literature review game. So your students will need to know about your text. It is essentially a 3D game of dominoes. Here are the instructions I give to my students:

Your job is to make the tallest card tower, but you must follow these rules or you will be disqualified.
Rule 1: each card must have a sticky note on showing information from the text.
Rule 2: you must show information in the following order – plot, character, theme, then back to plot again. So each sticky note will have information on something from the plot, a character, or a theme in a series, in that order.
Rule 3: each sticky note must relate to the ones on either of side.
Rule 4: the tower must stand with no support for 2 minutes.

It sounds more complicated than it is

The first time I use this review game, students get all caught up with what is and isn’t allowed. So I give them this example. Here’s is what a sticky notes series might look like from Macbeth Act 1, Sc 1:

Plot – Macbeth fights bravely against rebels trying to overthrow King Duncan – which links to – Character – Macbeth is shown to be bloodthirsty and violent from the outset – which links to – Theme – The theme of rebellion is introduced as Macbeth is given the rebel’s thaneship – which links to…plot! But this time because the theme is rebellion – you could include anything from the plot on rebellion!

Image of card tower with text "perfect review game for high school"

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12 activities to use during literature circles or your next novel study.

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Small group teaching activities

A collection of ideas and templates to promote active learning with small groups, interactive literature review.

Preparation time: 15 minutes. Group activity

Instructions

Hand out parts of the readings for the topic – a different text for each group.
Put up a set of questions or principles on the board
The students have to answer the questions or link ideas to the principles from the text they have been given
Get them to write on a piece of paper with correct referencing

What the activity achieves

Ensure the students do the readings
Develop an ability to draw out ideas from within the text
Practice referencing
Practice forming a literature review

Alternatives

Once each group has written down what the text says, each group is given one of the questions/principles and has to group together like ideas and separate out different ideas
Have additional readings to give to groups who finish quicker than others.

Trending Post : 12 Powerful Discussion Strategies to Engage Students

10 of the Best Literary Analysis Activities to Elevate Thinking

Inside this Post: Ready to elevate your literary analysis lessons? This post is full of engaging and effective activities to help students master literary analysis topics.

Literary analysis has become the beating heart of English classes around the world. When students read a text, we want them to peel back the layers one by one, appreciating the deeper meaning that lies within each sentence. As English teachers, many of us connect with texts easily and persevere through complex literature naturally. For our students, this process is not always as enjoyable.

In this post, you’ll find suggestions for elevating thinking with middle and high school students. These ideas can be used with paired or individual texts and can be differentiated to reach a variety of learners.

Engaging and Effective Literary Analysis Activities

Literary analysis elements are best when they are engaging and elevate thinking without frustrating students. I’ve played around with different approaches, and these are the key elements that resonate most with students.

Model literary analysis for middle and high school students with think alouds #MiddleSchoolELA #HighSchoolELA #LiteraryAnalysis

1. Thinking Aloud

One of the best feelings as a teacher is knowing you have an entire class full of teenagers engaged. It’s amazing how every single student in a classroom is in tune with think alouds. Something about making thinking transparent challenges students of all readiness levels. With literary analysis lessons, I love providing think alouds with the whole class. Whether we do this via face to face instruction or by creating a short video for virtual classrooms, we have to model our thinking.

Here’s an example with “All the world’s a stage” from William Shakespeare’s As You Like It …

This speech, at first, seems complicated. But, Shakespeare is talking about the world being a stage, and I think there is something deeper to what he is saying. Let’s go back again and look for clues. The men and women are players on the stage. He writes that they have their exits and entrances. I’m trying to visualize that in my head now. The world is a stage, the people are actors, and when they walk on and off the stage, that is their theatrical entrance and exit. Now that I understand he is using this speech as an extended metaphor, I wonder why would Shakespeare is choosing to compare these two things?

When modeling literary analysis, we can break down our thought process. If we write a written response, we can scaffold by color coding our thoughts in order to highlight the necessary critical thinking steps.

First, acknowledge what is confusing or uncertain about the text. What might we be missing as readers?
Second, make observations.
Third, apply reading strategies (in this case, I used visualizing).
Last, teach students to ask questions that probe at the deeper meaning and reason for the writing.

2. Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are one of my go-to strategies for elevating thinking . We can use them to differentiate and to guide students as we work in small groups. I like to keep a variety of literary analysis graphic organizers for any text on hand so that I can be responsive. If students show a need to work on analyzing a specific literary element – characterization, plot, theme, conflict, etcetera – I use a graphic organizer as we read a text or excerpt together, modeling my thinking. Then, students can practice using the same organizer in small groups, partners, or independently.

Literary analysis consists of asking a bunch of questions to lead students to deeper thinking, and graphic organizers are a bridge that walks students down that path of purposeful questioning.

Grab this print and digital literary analysis graphic organizer for analyzing song lyrics – one of secondary students’ favorite texts to pick apart!

Nothing grabs a student’s attention like an image! Visuals are amazing tools for introducing literary analysis skills. I always begin my literary analysis unit with pictures. Using an image, we can quickly show students how to differentiate between summarizing and analyzing . Then, we can walk them through the steps of acknowledging what we might be missing, making observations, applying reading strategies, and questioning for deeper meaning.

Consider using images from a variety of sources. We can try historical images, political cartoons, famous paintings, graphic novels, wordless picture books, advertisements, or even just regular photographs.

I even work this type of analytical thinking into my vocabulary activities ! Students get used to interpreting photos and using textual evidence to support their thinking.

Use one pagers as an engaging way to analyze literature #OnePagers #LiteraryAnalysis #MiddleSchoolELA

4. One Pagers

One pagers are one of my favorite literary analysis activities. In order to make them meaningful, I incorporate scaffolding . So, students have access to standards-aligned goals and questions that prompt their responses to the text. Choice helps as well. We can allow students to choose digital or traditional , response angles, and even texts.

In terms of literary analysis benefits, we can really focus on asking students to cite textual evidence to track a universal theme. While doing so, students can draw conclusions about how literary elements work together or how they provide tension to impact a reader’s overall takeaway.

5. Colorful Charts

Mood and tone can be tricky for students to analyze. So that they can understand the difference between them but also so that they see how mood and tone work in tandem, I began using an equalizer metaphor . Students can use color and amplification to analyze how mood and tone change throughout a literary work. By creating a visual representation, there’s a direct connection between the mood and the storyline.

How does setting impact mood , and how does mood impact the conflict in the story?

For instance, the quiet beauty of the Capulet garden sets the stage for a romantic balcony scene, but the noisy bustle of the lewd fighting in the Verona streets helps to define the conflict and tension between the two feuding families.

With tone , how does the author’s word choice and sentence structure in each section convey his or her attitude in the work?

As we study the amplification of tone in the play Romeo and Juliet , we see a consistent change from light-hearted comedy to an intensely poetic and tragic seriousness. Over the course of the play, one might say that Shakespeare’s juxtaposition creates an overall sympathetic tone toward the star-crossed lovers.

Movement in ELA; sticky note activity for literary analysis #LiteraryAnalysis #MovementinClassroom #SecondaryELA

6. Get Moving

One of the issues when it comes to citing evidence in a literary analysis essay is finding relevant support. Sometimes, it seems like the lines students select from literature are completely disconnected from what they are writing. That may be because they don’t truly understand how their thesis connects to their main points or how their main points connect to the evidence. For some students, there are too many degrees of separation!

A kinesthetic option to address this issue involves Post-Its (or colored text boxes if you are doing this digitally) and a t-chart. At the top of the paper (use big paper or a white board if you can do this together in the classroom!), write the analytical point. What conclusion can students draw about characters, setting, or another literary element that would support their thesis statement?

Under that, label the T-Chart as “Relevant” and “Off Topic.” Then, you have some options.

BASIC: You identify support for students in advance and have them sort the support based on its relevance. Could they use it to analyze the text, or is it off topic?

ADVANCE: Ask students to find examples of relevant and off-topic lines from the text.

A MIXTURE: Provide students with a handful of lines they can sort into relevant and off-topic categories, and then ask them to find a couple more examples on their own.

To increase the engagement factor, use some washi tape on the floor in the shape of whatever makes the most sense – a character outline for analyzing character, a house for analyzing setting, a circle for analyzing a universal theme. Then, have students stick their Post-It notes inside or outside of the shape. Inside indicates that the evidence is relevant, and outside means it’s off-topic.

7. Children’s Books

We don’t always think to use picture books with older students , but they are one of my absolute favorite ways to scaffold literary analysis! Because picture books are short, we can cover an entire (and often complex) story in a short period of time. And, we can continually refer back to that text throughout the school year. Because picture books are accessible for all students, they will remember sharing the story together, and you can really make significant strides with whole-class discussions and small group lessons.

Try using picture books to teach Notice and Note signposts, language, aesthetics, and theme . One of my favorite ways to use picture books is teaching students to analyze how dialogue impacts decisions, propels action, and develops characters. For example, in the book Elbow Grease , the protagonist is motivated to participate in a race for which he is the underdog simply because some crass comments from his friends make him angry. This really is the turning point in the story, which makes it convenient to analyze how dialogue can lead to decisions and actions that change the course of a storyline.

8. Short Films

For a thousand and one reasons, I adore short films. They’re short (obvious, I know), which makes them ideal for modeling and mini lessons. Plus, they are visually captivating and apply to a wide age range. And, generally, they hold quite a bit of depth and leave room for a variety of interpretations.

During first quarter with ninth graders, I built in a yearly routine of watching short films during our literary analysis unit and having students complete their first full analytical essay. It’s fun. I can model using a short film I enjoy. Then, I get to read a wide range of responses from students who choose different texts. To scaffold for struggling writers, I suggest a few short films I am very familiar with; this way, I can guide them if they get stuck or confused.

You can also build in short films by using them with poetry for paired text analysis .

Reading strategy activities for middle and high school ELA #ReadingStrategies #LiteraryAnalysis

9. Reading Strategies

One of the building blocks of literary analysis is having a good foundation in apply reading strategies. It’s fun to model what readers do. We can show students how analyzing texts and re-reading for deeper meaning helps us with writing and then ask students to practice those skills.

For instance, when students begin to understand that authors have a purposeful craft that impacts their reading experience, it empowers them to pick that craft apart, studying the nuances of what makes it work. And, it gives them an advantage as authors themselves. They may think, I remember how the author’s purposeful use of short, staccato sentences and onomatopoeias increased the suspense during that scene. Maybe I should use those techniques in this part of my story to add an emotional element for my readers.

These are some of the graphic organizers I’ve used to scaffold reading strategy work with the whole class, and then students can transfer those skills to small group or independent practice, using the same organizer if necessary.

10. Social Media Activities

Social media is everywhere. We might as well use it as a relevant option for analyzing literature! One of my favorites is booksnaps , and I tie in Snapchat by having them take a photo of part of the text they want to analyze. Then, they add interpretations, images, and text as well as a caption with a more detailed analysis. I call these Snap-a-Books. I also created a Spot-a-Book analysis option, reminiscent of Spotify playlists. Students can create playlists relevant to character analysis, setting analysis, conflict analysis, and more!

And, that’s ten! I hope you’ve found some meaningful literary analysis activities to spark creative, critical thinking in your classroom.

Engaging and effective literary analysis lessons and activities for middle and high school ELA #LiteraryAnalysis #MiddleSchoolELA #HighSchoolELA

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23 Review Activities For High School: Video Resources, Games, Flash Cards, And Test Prep

February 27, 2024 // by Anna Hodge

Unit and test reviews shouldn’t be painful! A simple game will make a difference in the engagement of your students and they are remembering the material. Of course, a study guide will also help, but during class review time, use some of the below examples to boost student participation and information retention.

1. 6 Review Games Video

This source uses classic game styles and reviews questions that only let students win if they can give the correct answer. During testing season these games are a must need for revision.

Learn More: YouTube

2. Virtual Classroom Review Strategies

We all need to be prepared for any circumstance now and with many hybrid and fully virtual schools becoming more commonplace, it is important to know how to navigate the online teaching world. Here is a great video with 10 fun review ideas for online learning.

3. Bingo Board Review Game & More

This resource starts out with a game of BINGO with review questions and goes on to give four other fun review activities for students.

Learn More: Hopefully Home

4. Graffiti as Review

A unique and creative idea for review, this activity can be done by a single student individually or as a class. Whiteboards are useful for this exercise but not required.

Learn More: Hojo’s Teaching Adventures

5. Trashketball

You’ll have to use a paper ball or two for this math review game. This is definitely not your typical worksheet review and does take a bit of prep. However, it is engaging and can be adapted for all class sizes.

Learn More: Mrs. E Teaches Math

6. 11 History Board Games

Attention History Teachers! These 11 history board games should be put on your department order for next year. They vary in appropriateness depending on grade level, but this resource provides a great variety for many ages.

Learn More: Reluctant Homeschool Mama

7. Let the Cards Decide

This review activity uses game cards and can be adapted for any subject and age level. It utilizes flash cards for review to engage visual and kinetic learners alike!

8. Jenga for History Review

History teachers rejoice! Here is another fun game that is hands-on for history review. You’ll need a Jenga set for every 2-4 students depending on how you want to split up your groups.

Learn More: Active History Teacher

9. Review Stations for High School Science

A student-centric and active way to review class material for test preparation! Although this particular resource is made for science, the same ideas can be utilized in other subjects. It includes practice questions, cheatsheets, and an ask the teacher station to name a few. This is one of those fun activities that are also extremely valuable to students.

Learn More: It’s not Rocket Science Classroom

10. Ideas for High School Science Review

This resource encourages review games as well as a practice test the day before the real exam. Jeopardy has conveyed here as a clear winner and there are also online templates you can use to make your life easier.

Learn More: Rae Rocks Teaching

11. Flyswatter Game

Prep time should be fun! And this review activity fulfills that requirement ten-fold. In the Flyswatters game students work in teams to swat the correct answer to review questions. The answer sheets should be posted around the room which makes for a very lively and active lesson.

Learn More: Teaching & Learning English

12. BOOM Review Game

You’ll need a few materials for this review game but it is another one that can be adapted for any subject. Grab your popsicle sticks and get ready for BOOM!

13. Vocab Review Clue

Everyone loves a good mystery and Clue is the ultimate mystery game. This teacher uses Clue to review vocabulary in History but it can be used in all subjects. It does take a bit more preparation but it will surely get students excited and engaged with the material.

Learn More: Students of History

14. ELA Test Prep

In this resource, you get many ideas and activities to implement for ELA test prep. Whole class games, station work, and review of test-taking strategies are among these ideas.

Learn More: Reading and Writing Haven

15. BAZINGA Review Game

A combination of questions and task cards, Bazinga is loved because the smartest group doesn’t always win. It keeps students engaged and you can add silly elements to the task cards for a bit of humor (cue dance card).

Learn More: Tales of A High School Math Teacher

16. Baseball Test Review Game

This math review game is a great way to encourage teamwork and have fellow classmates help students who are having trouble with a particular problem. The baseball element comes into play when a team is “up to bat” and has to answer correctly before forfeiting the next team.

Learn More: Caffeine And Lesson Plans

17. Task Card Review

Task cards can be used for review in a multitude of ways. In this resource, you are given 9 different ways to use task cards which means you can switch it up for different units or grade levels.

Learn More: Lindsay Bowden

18. Humorous History Review

Modeled after “Who’s line is it anyway?” and “Party Quirks” this review game has students acting as famous people from history and having their classmates guess who they are.

Learn More: Peace Field History

19. Test Prep Olympics

This resource is made for grade 3 but can be easily adapted for higher levels. A mix between relay games and station work, will keep students energetic and help them retain information for their upcoming assessments.

Learn More: The Applicious Teacher

20. Peer Review

Getting feedback from your teacher is so important for your academic success, but learning how to give and receive feedback from your peers is just as important. With this review activity, students can gain valuable insight into a topic and format prior to a test.

Learn More: The Daring English Teacher

21. Biology End of Course Review

In this resource, you get 3 ways to prepare your students for their end-of-year exam in Biology. What makes this resource stand out is that one of these ways is project-based review. Expert teachers know that you need to use multiple review methods to help your students be successful in their exams. This resource gives you another take on reviewing materials besides playing games.

22. Easy Review Game

A subject-specific Pictionary game that will surely keep your students excited and engaged. If someone doesn’t like to draw, simply give them a leadership role in the game.

Learn More: Musings of A History Gal

23. Test Prep Ideas

In this resource, you not only get activities for test prep that help students retain information, but you also get activities that emotionally prepare students for exams. This is a valuable article that focuses on a holistic test prep approach.

Learn More: Julie Faulkner’s Blog

17 Test Review Game Ideas for Middle & High School

Why should you use games as review in your class?

-Games are fun, and test review games are useful and AWESOME. Reviewing for an exam can be an enlightening formative assessment in and of itself.

Before administering the test you can see what the students have retained. As the review unfolds you can identify weaknesses, clarify a misunderstanding and support students before they face the exam.

World history review 1750 to present cover

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

-Gamifying the review raises the stakes, the energy and the buy-in for students. Plus, it can be a lot more fun for you! Here are a list of 10 games to get you rolling, plus some from around the web. Use them verbatim or modify to your classroom needs.

The last review game is an editable board game that you can download for free, so be sure to grab it!

Let’s Play!

If you’ve never played this game it’s super fun; and if you can’t draw it’s so much better!

How it Works: In groups of 4 students pair up, two and two. One pair goes first. The drawer picks up a card with a term on it — event, person, vocabulary, whatever you’re reviewing. S(he) has 1 minute to draw clues and get their partner to guess the correct answer. If said partner doesn’t get the answer after a minute the other pair has a chance to try and answer and steal the points. If they get the answer right they get 5 points. Then the next team has a turn. This continues for a prescribed amount of time. Whichever team has the most points at the end “wins”.

Extensions: You can have the winning team for each group enters a playoff on the whiteboard at the front of the class until you have the ultimate Pictionary Pair.

Materials & Prep: You need to create about 20-25 clues to play this game for most of the period. Type up the clues in a grid (or handwrite the terms if that’s faster for you) and make enough copies for 1 per group. They need to be cut out and put into an envelope.

I’m not going to lie, this does takes a few minutes to do, depending on how many classes you have. However, think long term; you can save them to use next year. If you have a service student (I’ve landed 1 for the last couple of years — yay!) it’s easier.

If you have small dry erase white boards like these for each pair that’s awesome, but not at all necessary. Just cut up (more cutting!) sheets of copy paper into 4s and use to draw on (you can even have students do it at before the game begins)

You will also need timers, which are super cheap on Amazon. Check them out here . As an alternative you can set a timer on your SMARTBoard and all groups will work in the same timeframe. That’s it, you’re done.

Students Create Their Own Review Game

How it works: I LOVE this one! The picture above is a game board I made for the Chinese Cultural Revolution. But I’ve also created an editable blank copy that you can use for any unit.

Or, better yet, let your students create their own review game board! It looks like this:

Materials & Prep: You’ll need 2 things besides the game board, dice and game pieces . You can pick up a 50-piece set of dice on Amazon for about $7. They’re nice to have around. You can pull them out to see which group gets a particular assignment, who goes first when presenting, even how many days to allow for an assignment!

If you don’t want to buy game pieces, colored paper clips or coins will do.

PASSWORD

This is a REALLY old school game, but perfect for review. Students get riled up when playing this — to the point where they sometimes shout out the answer for the other team!

How it Works: Divide the class into 2 or 3 teams. You need a student to be the clue giver — they can rotate or choose one for the whole game. Team 1 starts. The spokesman has a term/person/event they must try to get their team to say without saying any of the words in the answer. They give verbal clues as fast as possible until someone gets it. Then they quickly go to the next term. Team 1 has two minutes to get as many terms as possible. Then it’s Team 2’s turn — same routine. Next up is Team 3 if you’re using 3 teams. Rotate three or four times and add up the points for the winner. This is fast-paced and fun and covers a lot of review.

EXAMPLE (For French Revolution) Term: Louis XVI. Clues: “Absolute monarch. Lived in a huge palace. He spent more money than they could afford. He had his head cut off.”

Materials & Prep: You simply need a stack of index cards. Write words, terms, events, people, anything relevant to the review, one on each index card. Your need A LOT of index cards, at least 35, depending on how hard each term is to describe. Write down every clue you can think of, then start googling the topic to get more or throw in terms from older units to refresh their recollection. When you create the index cards save them to use year after year and class after class.

HEADS-UP

The game is the opposite of Password above. Instead of 1 person trying to get their team to say the answer only one person doesn’t know the answer and the team has to get that single student to answer.

How it Works: The class is divided into 2 or 3 teams. Team 1 goes first. Whoever is it must stand in the front of the room for the whole team to see them and hold up an index card on their forehead, so everyone can see but them. Alternatively, someone can write the term on the board behind the guesser. The team gives clues to try and get “it” to guess correctly. As soon as they get the answer they go to the next clue. After a prescribed time (2-3 minutes) play stops and the next team goes. You can do a determined amount of rounds (at least 3) or period of time.

Materials & Prep: You need index cards with clues. I try to make about 30. This takes some prep time, but if the questions are harder you can use less because it will take each team longer to answer the questions. If you’re having a hard time coming up with that many on the specific unit you’re reviewing throw in some review questions from prior units. And save the cards to reuse at the end of the year for finals and for coming years.

I love this game and have made cards for several topics. Global history teachers, if you’re short on time, or just want to see how I’ve done it, you can access review cards for the Scientific Revolution & Enlightenment Era or Imperialism they’re a click away. U.S. history teachers, you can try my cards for the Civil War or the Great Depression . You could also use these cards for both Pictionary and Password. Hope these resources are useful to you!

BATTLESHIP

A colleague of mine turned me on to this game and it’s fun (thank you, Brendan!). Students get to throw paper balls! But it’s also challenging and an excellent review for a unit.

How it Works: You start with groups of 4. Each group has to create 5 questions for the topic being covered. They cannot be questions that allow a yes or no question. Each question should be written on a separate sheet of paper.

Now the battle begins. Starting with a team chosen by picking a number or rock, paper, scissors — whatever floats your boat — the team throws their “bomb to another team. That team has 2 minutes to read the question, discuss and answer. If they get it right it’s their turn to throw a “bomb”. If they get it wrong one of their 2 battleships are sunk. Play continues until their is one victor.

Materials & Prep: This game is EASY prep. Create a PowerPoint slide of the rules. Walk around to ensure that questions are appropriate. You can allow open notebook while playing or not.

If you’re a teacher who likes props you can print out pictures of battleships or plastic toys for each group and take them away as they’re sunk. To take it to another level bring in dollar store tub toys as battleships and float them in a basin of water. When a battleship is sunk play an appropriate sound effect and push one of the boats to the bottom of the water.

Who doesn’t like Bingo?! I use this game often as a review.

How it Works: Students each get a different Bingo card with review terms on it. Walk around and have different students pick a term from a bag. They have to give the class a definition or explanation of the term, not just say it. This allows for a deeper, more meaningful review. The student calls on students until they identify the term.

You can play straight Bingo, L shape, inner circle, outer circle, “X”, postage stamp, and finally full card.

Materials & Prep: There are 2 ways to implement this. The first method is that you just make copies of a blank Bingo board for each student and display a minimum of 24 terms on a PowerPoint. Students are in charge of writing one term in each box (except the free middle box of course) in whatever order they wish.

The second method is to distribute pre-made Bingo cards with the terms already filled in. I have created a FREE Bingo Review for the Enlightenment Era , which is useful for both global and U.S. history teachers. There are bingo cards pre-made for the French Revolution as well that includes 30 different scrambled bingo cards and a vocabulary review handout.

Digital Dice

I happened upon a pair of digital dice and was hooked! These are awesome for review games, but work to gamify anything you’re doing in your class on a day-to-day basis. It’s a PowerPoint slide. You simply click to roll the dice and click again to stop the roll. I have a whole separate post on them here , including a link to download our own set! Check it out if you’re interested.

LIFE’S TOUGH, GET A HELMET

This is a group game (groups of 4 works well) that involves answering questions and gaining points — or losing points if you’re unlucky!

How it Works: Display a medium-to-challenging question with clear instructions: Identify 3 causes of the French Revolution in a full sentence. One group member writes the full question for the group (recorder should be rotated). The group discusses the question and writes the answer once they’ve figured it out. Another group member is the runner (also should be rotated) and brings you the answer.

The first 3 groups to deliver the correct answer go to the whiteboard where there are Post-it notes. The 3 winners each take a Post-it which has points on the back: 5, 10, 15, -5 or -10. The reason for the negative points is two-fold. Firstly, it makes the game more risky. Secondly, there are invariably 1 or 2 teams that start to dominate a game, this evens the playing field. Continue on to Rounds 2 – 10. Whoever has the most points in the end wins.

Variation: You can up the stakes for the last few questions by having a double-bonus rounds where the 3 winners can take two Post-its instead of one.

Materials & Prep: The two things you need are:

A PointPoint with each question posted on a different slide
Between 35-45 Post-its with points written on the sticky side.

Stick the Post-its randomly (or in rows if you’re a bit OCD) all over your whiteboard or any smooth surface. I’m not going to lie; it does take a few minutes to make and stick all those Post-it notes. If you’re playing this game with numerous classes elicit the help of students, if you have access to service students or class helpers.

Create the questions to cover major concepts you want the students to review and make them somewhat difficult. If the questions are too easy then it’s a content of who can write faster, rather than knowing the subject matter. I wrap up the class by distributing the ten questions from the game on a handout and ask students to answer them for the last ten minutes of class. This reinforces the review that just took place and gives them a study guide.

WHEEL OF FORTUNE

This is not a game for a rowdy class. It entails throwing a beach ball from team to team and not all classes can handle that. However it’s fast-paced, fun and can be as rigorous as you want to make it.

How it Works: In groups of four the teacher throws the beach ball to a group. Whoever catches it has 30 seconds to answer your question. If they get it right they go to the spinner to see how many points they get. That team then throws to another team and the game continues. You can end the game when a team reaches a certain number of points or stop at a prescribed time to ascertain the winner.

Materials and Prep: Obviously, you need a beach ball or an equivalent (nerf ball, paper ball, etc.) You can invest in a prize wheel for your classroom, which can be used for various other purposes as well.

My daughter purchased one and uses it weekly as an incentive for her students as well as for teaching and review games. She gives out raffle tickets all week for various good behaviors. On Friday any student with ten or more tickets can spin the wheel for a prize (homework pass, +5, candy, pencil, etc)

It’s not the highest quality they sell, but Jackie says it gets the job done. You can also write on each section; it’s like a whiteboard. You can check the price on Amazon here .

BASKETBALL

Boys and girls love this game. It can also be added to any of the other games. When a group gets an answer they get the prescribed amount of points AND get to shoot for extra points.

How it Works: Divide the class into four groups. One group gets to pick the question for another. Simply have a stack of index cards facing down, so they don’t know if they’re choosing a hard or easy question. Group 1 has 30 seconds to answer the question. If they get it right they get 10 points. The group chooses a shooter who gets 2 shots at the basket for an extra 5 points. The game continues until a set amount of points or time.

Variations: If a group does not get the answer you can go to the next group, then the next, etc. Another variation is to have a double bonus round at the end to allow lagging groups to try and catch up so that they don’t give up and “check out” of the game.

Materials & Prep: Write down 20 easy and 20 hard questions on index cards in preparation for playing the game. You also need a basketball hoop and basketball. We share one in my department. The really flimsy ones can be frustrating. This is a solid hoop which you will have for years and is less than $25.

PLICKERS

This is a great way to practice multiple choice questions. Students enjoy Plickers much more than traditional paper and pen methods of review.

How it works: Each student is given a sheet of paper with a QR code that is unique to them. A multiple choice question is posted on PowerPoint. Students hold up their Plicker with their answers (each side has a 1-4 and they turn the card so that the correct answer is on top). The teacher scans the room with an app on his phone and records all the answers. The app tallies all the answers and show each student’s correct or incorrect answer.

Materials & Prep: Plickers is a free app that you download on your phone. Simply sign up and upload your classes onto their site. It’s very user-friendly. The site will generate QR codes on each Plicker for you to print out. I like to laminate mine and they can be used again and again. Generate multiple-choice questions from Problem-Attic, old NYS Regents exams or Googling.

REVIEW GAMES FROM AROUND THE NET

The above games are all tried and vetted in my classroom. I surfed the web to find other review games that seemed like fun (and I will try in the future). Here are the ones that I particularly liked.

The following games are from Teach4theheart.

RACE TO THE BOARD

Teachhub.com described several review games in their article. Three I really liked are

PASS THE CHICKEN

Scholastic describes two classic games here scholastic.com

MILLIONAIRE

FAMILY FEUD

Finally here is a game with a fun name at Toengagethemall.blogspot.com

Playing games in class has so many advantages. It changes the tone of the classroom and allows you to interact with the students in a more informal manner. You get to see different sides to students (some are incredibly competitive!) You can assess student comprehension and recall in a nonthreatening atmosphere.

Prizes can take many forms. My go-to is extra points on the test the we are reviewing for. Other possibilities are candy, their names posted or a homework pass. One colleague gave “bragging rights” to the winning team in each class. He told them that they could officially declare themselves “Global History Badasses” or something similar for the rest of the day. The students bought into it, much to my surprise!

Whichever game you play and prize you give enjoy the levity. Teaching is often stressful; we need to embrace those fun and sometimes inspiring moments when we can. So go play, good pedagogy demands it!

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A qualitative literature review of educational games in the classroom: the teacher’s pedagogical activities

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Six Literature Games For The Classroom
Six Literature Games For The Classroom
Review Games for the Classroom (Literary Devices)
The Perfect Review Game for High School
The Outsiders Bingo Review Game from Juggling ELA Teaching American
7 Ideas for Review Games and Activities that Engage English Learners

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14 Fun Literature Review Games for Students
Students choose from categories like "Metaphors," "Plot Twists," or "Dynamic Characters," with each question assigned a point value. Correct answers earn points, and the student or team with the most points at the end of the game wins. This format is great for a comprehensive review of literary elements. 4. Story Sequence Scramble.
7 Classroom Review Games that Won't Waste Time
Review Games that Use Time Effectively: Just give points: Divide the class into two (or more) teams and start asking questions. Call on the first hand raised, and if s/he's right, give his team a point. If s/he's wrong, the other teams get a chance to answer. Keep a tally on the board, and the team with the most points at the end wins.
Six Literature Games For The Classroom
Six literature games to use in the classroom. 1. Secret Word. This game is brilliant for reading discussions and is done in pairs. The pair will read a short story, chosen beforehand. It should be one that's suited to their age range, with a few new vocabulary words in it. Then, one member of the pair will choose a word from the text that ...
8 Literature Review Games for Students
With the right classroom review games, you can turn those yawns into 'Yays!' and make learning literary concepts a blast. This article is your go-to guide for teachers searching for fun, interactive ways to jazz up literature reviews in the classroom. ... Fun and Low-prep Literature Review Games to Play With Students 1. Story Elements ...
10 Fun Classroom Review Games
Review Bingo is a classic classroom game that will go down well. Start by asking students to fill out their bingo cards with words relevant to the chosen topics and pull questions randomly. 8. Spin. Another classroom classic, this is a fun game that requires a little preparation from the teacher.
5 Games for Reviewing Any Content
Students play until all the questions are answered or time is up. The team with the most points win. 3.) Sink or Swim. I love this game for reviewing. Break your class up into two teams and place them on opposite sides of the room. The middle of the classroom is an 'ocean.'. Have team 1 answer a question.
14 Great Review Games to Engage Your Classroom
To create the best word ladder review game, start with a word at the bottom of the ladder. Write that word in huge letters on a piece of chart paper or poster board. Then, write a new vocabulary word above it, changing only 1 letter of the first word. So, if your first word was 'cat', your second word could be 'cot'.
The Perfect Review Game for High School
As this is a literature review game. So your students will need to know about your text. It is essentially a 3D game of dominoes. Here are the instructions I give to my students: Your job is to make the tallest card tower, but you must follow these rules or you will be disqualified. Rule 1: each card must have a sticky note on showing ...
12 Best Review Games and Activities for the Classroom
Watch this teacher who explains how he plays the "beach ball" in his classroom after the summer break. 10. Spin the Wheel. Similar to the "Beach Ball" game is the "Spin the Wheel" review game. Put review terms and concepts on this wheel that the student can spin and then be queried on the topic or term.
10 Teacher-Approved Online Review Games
If there is one review game platform on this list you've heard about before, it's Kahoot!. Kahoot! is popular and boasts millions of users and more than 100 million ready-to-play games, according to its website 2.Kahoot! launched in 2012 and is designed for social learning. 3 Kahoot allows you to create multiple-choice games, polls, and quizzes quickly for an exciting gaming classroom ...
9 Best Online Review Games for Teachers to Play in Class
9 Best Online Review Games for Classroom. 1. Kahoot! Kahoot! is a free online game platform that allows teachers to create and share their own quizzes and games with their students. It is an easy-to-use, interactive way to review concepts, and it can also be used to teach new material. With its customizable options, teachers can tailor the game ...
9 Engaging Review Games that are Quick & Easy and Aren't a Waste of
For example, a) a student who records responses, b) ideas people, c) scorekeeper etc. Group contests work best with no more than 4 or fewer students in a group. 2. Around the World. This is a very classic and well-loved game. Many teachers use 'Around the World' for many quick-response types of questions.
Classroom Review Games For Any Subject
First, you put all the letter choices on the board. Call on a student to answer a reading question. If they get it right, THEN they get to guess a letter on the Hangman (or "Build A…") game. Each time a student gets called on, they can either A-guess a letter or B-try to solve the entire puzzle. They cannot do both.
10 Low-Prep Classroom Review Games Your Students Will Beg For More
All the classroom review game ideas above are easy to adopt in your classroom. After a long session of lecture, using classroom review games can help you and your students relax while still revising the knowledge. If you don't have time to prepare all the review questions for your lesson, then an AI quiz generator might be just what you need.
4 Review Games to Keep Test Prep Engaging
Hot Stew Review. Hot Stew Review is a PowerPoint review game where students work collaboratively to answer questions and earn points towards their total. There are 20 questions and answers slides. After each question, there is an opportunity for students to choose a vegetable from the pot of stew and write down their selection on the recording ...
Review Games
How to set up this review game. So for this activity, you will need some packs of playing cards (although other cards will do) and sticky notes (mini ones if possible). I place students in groups of 3 - 4 and then I give each group about 8 - 12 playing cards. As this is a literature review game. So your students will need to know about your ...
12 Activities to Use During Literature Circles or Your Next Novel Study
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.6: Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text. 7. Literary Postcards. Literary postcards are a great writing activity to reinforce the ideas of character and point of view in any novel or short story and can be used with any grade level.
Interactive literature review
Instructions. Hand out parts of the readings for the topic - a different text for each group. Put up a set of questions or principles on the board. The students have to answer the questions or link ideas to the principles from the text they have been given. Get them to write on a piece of paper with correct referencing.
10 of the Best Literary Analysis Activities to Elevate Thinking
2. Graphic Organizers. Graphic organizers are one of my go-to strategies for elevating thinking. We can use them to differentiate and to guide students as we work in small groups. I like to keep a variety of literary analysis graphic organizers for any text on hand so that I can be responsive.
23 Review Activities For High School: Video Resources, Games, Flash
Here is a great video with 10 fun review ideas for online learning. Learn More: YouTube. 3. Bingo Board Review Game & More. This resource starts out with a game of BINGO with review questions and goes on to give four other fun review activities for students. Learn More: Hopefully Home. 4. Graffiti as Review
17 Test Review Game Ideas for Middle & High School
This is a REALLY old school game, but perfect for review. Students get riled up when playing this — to the point where they sometimes shout out the answer for the other team! How it Works: Divide the class into 2 or 3 teams. You need a student to be the clue giver — they can rotate or choose one for the whole game.
Literature Review in Games and Learning
This review considers the findings of research into the relationship between games and players, and the theoretical and actual implications for learning. The research evidence is complex, and thinly spread. The study of computer games, or game players, cannot be mapped onto one research discipline.
A qualitative literature review of educational games in the classroom
game; that is, they are not separa te from the game or the game-based learning environmen t' (Foster & Shah, 2015 , p. 75). T eachers create activities based on gameplay to s upport the

14 Fun Literature Review Games for Students

1. Character Bingo

2. Quote Match

3. Literary Terms Jeopardy

4. Story Sequence Scramble

5. Literary Pictionary

6. Theme Park

7. Character Hot Seat

8. Plot Twist Challenge

9. Literary Speed Dating

10. Vocabulary Crossfire

11. Literary Maze

12. Fictional Family Tree

13. Synonym Synthesis

14. Book Cover Redesign

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10 Fun Classroom Review Games

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1. The points game

2. Monopoly

3. The Hot Seat

4. Family Feud

5. Jeopardy!

6. Ping Pong

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10. Headbands

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