Having kids learn online this year has not only been a struggle for students but also teachers. Add some fun and excitement into the Zoom classroom with these fun games to play on Zoom with Students.
15 Games to Play on Zoom with Students
Zoom is not only for teaching but also for interacting with students and having fun! Your Zoom room is essentially your virtual classroom so you will want to break up the learning with fun brain breaks with the kids.
These fun games to play on Zoom with Students will have them loving Zoom life and get them excited about learning.
#1. Follow the Leader
Draw a name out of a hat, or however you normally choose kids to help and participate, let this child be the leader. They can play a fun game to get warmed up, get energy out, or they can be the leader for a warm-up activity for a lesson.
#2. Red Light Green Light
Getting kids to work can sometimes be daunting, especially over Zoom, so play red light green light with the kids. Have them all pull out an activity, say math facts and tell them when you say green light work as fast as you can; when you say red light, they have to stop. See who can finish the fastest with the most right answers. This is a great game t get kids to learn facts quickly, even over Zoom.
#3. Freeze
Sometimes kids need to move! So freeze is the perfect game for that! Grab some of your favorite kid-appropriate music and play it! While the music plays, let them stretch, dance, do whatever they want, and then when the music stops, everyone freezes.
Anyone who forgets to freeze is out for the next round. This helps reinforce listening skills and following directions.
#4. Rock Paper Scissors
A classic game that everyone loves is rock paper scissors, so why not turn it into a fun Zoom game for students. As you play this version, the idea is to beat the teacher. If you beat the teacher, you keep playing; if the teacher beats you, then you sit down.
So if the teacher picks rock, then everyone with paper stays in the game. Rock will also for the tie, but everyone that picked scissors has to sit down. You will play each round until there is only one person standing. If the teacher wins, the whole class has to do 20 jumping jacks, and if the kids win, then the teacher does 20 jumping jacks.
#5. Scavenger Hunt
Create a fun Zoom scavenger hunt with the kids. How to play is you will want to choose an object that you know most kids have in their homes. This can be as simple as a pair of socks or a piece of fruit. Once you tell them the object, give them a set amount of time to bring it back to the computer and show everyone. The first person that brings it back gets 2 points while the other kids will get one. Play this multiple times for unlimited fun with the kids.
#6. Show and Tell
Just because you are doing virtual schools does not mean that you have to go without show and tell! Plan a fun show and tell day for the kids. Have them have their thing ready to go so when it is their turn they just have to pick it up and show the class.
Have the kids ask questions about what they are showing them and express interest in it. This is a great activity to have a few students share each day.
#7. Blind Draw
Kids love to draw, so have them all grab their whiteboard or a piece of paper. When you tell them something to draw, have them all close their eyes and draw the object. When you say stop, they will open their eyes and look at their picture and show the class over Zoom.
This game will for sure give them a laugh about some of the creations they have made.
#8. Bingo
Bingo takes a little bit of prep work, but you will want to download a class set of Bingo cards. Once you have your set, email each of the students a different card. When you are ready to play, have each student pull out their card and then play Bingo. The person that gets a Bingo first can choose for the whole class to do something like hop on one foot, spin around 5 times, or some other fun activity.
#9. Guess the Sound
If you are trying to entertain Kindergarteners over Zoom, you might be really scratching your head on how to do this! Play guess the sound with them! This can be played in two different ways.
The first way to play is by choosing animal noises or other simple sounds and playing them for the kids so that they can guess what it is. If they get it right then, the class gets the point. If they can’t guess it then you, the teacher, get the point. The team with the most points wins.
The second way to play is to have kids gather something from around their house that makes noise. When it is their turn, have them play the sound or shake the object without showing the class. The class will then guess what the thing is making the noise is. If the class can’t guess it, then the student gets to pick something for the class to do.
#10. Scattergories
For older kids, Scattergories is another great game to play over Zoom with the Students. You will want to create a list of 10 different topics, then you will pick a letter, and they will have 2-3 minutes to write down one thing per line that starts with that letter. Once the timer is up, everyone will say what they have for each line. If anyone has the same answer, they cross it off; for anyone who doesn’t have a match with someone else, they get the point. The students that get the most points wins!
#11. Trivia Questions
Trivia questions for kids is a great way to test your kid’s knowledge and have fun. You can choose certain questions or themes based on what you are learning about or do general questions. Use the teacher raise my hand setting for kids to buzz in to give the answer to the questions as you play.
#12. Kahoot!
Suppose you haven’t heard of Kahoot! You will want to grab it ASAP. This is a free, fun game that you can do with the kids. Kids will join the game with a code, and you can play Kahoot with either the premade questions or ones that you create yourself. The kids will want to log in their answers as quickly as possible as they play to ensure they get the most points possible. The one with the most points wins!
#13. Jokes
It is important that you always have some way to make the kids laugh while you are playing over Zoom with students. That is why we love to have some good ol’ jokes on hand to be able to tell them. It is hard to comfort kids across a computer screen, so jokes allow you to help lighten the mood if you feel like someone is getting a little sad.
#14. Charades
Charades is a great game to play on Zoom with the students in your class. You will want to type a secret message to one of the students in your class or allow them to pick what they are going to act out. Once they start acting it out, set a timer for 1 minute for the class to guess what they are. If they get it right, the class gets the point. If they don’t guess it the student acting it out gets to pick something for the class to do like jumping jacks, invisible jump rope, or another activity that can be done right next to the computer.
#15. Story Chain
Who doesn’t love a good story and it is even better when the kids get to build the story together! How to play story chain is you will want to begin with a fun sentence starter. It can be as simple, I woke up and I rolled out of bed, and I saw… Then at that moment, the students get to take over coming up with the ridiculous, funny story that they can. Call on one student at a time, but the catch is they can only say 5 words, then it has to move on to the next person.
Trust me! The students in your class will be begging to play this again and again, and it will leave the whole class laughing with the story they create each and every time they play.
What are some of your favorite games to play on zoom with your students? Share in the comments!