Does this sound familiar…..you’re talking to your class about a particular concept and your students look back at you with blank looks on their faces or you ask a question…..and all is silent. This is just the time to implement some quick and easy classroom games to re-energize your students and get them back on track for learning.
Classroom games – books
Over the years I’ve used many books to help me find inspiration for fun classroom games. Below are a few options that you may like to try out.
Some of the links below are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
101 Great Classroom Games – The games in this book cover a range of areas from science, to math and reading. And they’ve even ranked the games according to noise level, so if you need some chill out time and a quiet game, then you can pick them easily with the noise level indicated.
101 Classroom Games: Energize Learning In Any Subject – The games in this book work well as starter activities, for the middle part of a lesson or even to re-energize kids when you see them tuning out.
Energizers! 88 Quick Movement Activities That Refresh and Refocus, K-6 – This book is suitable for grades K-6 and includes many different ways to get your kids moving. The energizers are labeled by grade level and they also include variations and suggestions to help adapt them to fit other grades.
I also wanted to share with you some of my favourite classroom games. Below are my six favourite classroom games that you can use to get your students energized and ready for learning again.
1. Red elbow
This game involves the teacher calling out a colour and a body part. Students must find an object in the room that is that colour and then touch the selected body part to that object. For example, if the teacher calls out pink thumb, then students need to find an object that is pink and touch it with their thumb. The teacher continues calling colours and body parts.
To make this into a game students that are too slow in completing the instruction can be asked to sit down. The last student remaining is the winner.
I have used this game with every class I have ever taught and they have all loved it. This gets students moving around the room and using all parts of their bodies, a great energizer.
2. Copy me
This is simply a game of copycat. The teacher uses a combination of clapping and sounds to make a pattern. Students need to copy what the teacher says/does. This can start with a simple pattern of only 2-3 and can extend to add more. To make it even more challenging complete the pattern quicker and see how many students are able to keep up and remember all the parts. An example pattern could be: clap, slap, snap, click and yell.
3. Hear me
This game is an extension of the one above. This time students need to keep their eyes closed and use their ears to listen to the pattern and then copy.
4. Beat the teacher
This is probably my favourite game to play in the classroom. Essentially it is the class against the teacher.
The students must copy four beat patterns that the teacher claps, except for one. The teacher claps the forbidden pattern to the students at the start so they know which one not to copy. For instance, the pattern not to copy is: ta, ta, ti-ti, ta. The teacher then claps various four beat patterns that students must copy. At a random time the teacher claps the forbidden pattern. If even one student copies this, then the teacher wins 1 point. If no students copy, then the class scores 1 point. The first to 5 is the winner.
This is another game that I have done with every class….and I think I’ve only ever been beaten a couple of times 🙂
5. Chopsticks
For this game your students will need access to chopsticks. This can be completed in a couple of ways. Firstly the teacher can say different patterns, and then the students copy by using the chopsticks. For instance, the teacher may say ti-ti, ti-ti, ta, ta, then the students would clap this out with the chopsticks.
Alternatively, the teacher can clap out a pattern on the chopsticks and the students copy. The teacher can make the patterns progressively harder, faster and longer until the students find it too difficult to keep up and follow the pattern correctly.
6. Rhythm race
This is a race between 2 students. The teacher claps out a rhythm using some common patterns, such as ti-ti, ti-ti, ti-ti, ta. Students run to the board and then write the rhythm clapped by the teacher. The first student to write the correct pattern is the winner. The winner can stay in and a new challenger is selected.
I hope these six classroom games have given you some new ideas for how you can energize your class when you get those blank looks.
If you would like some more fun classroom games, fill in the form below and I’ll send you my Classroom Games Cheat-Sheets.
Get Email Updates

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive regular teaching tips and updates & get instant access to the free classroom games PDF:
Thank you for sharing these! I’m going to play Red Elbow with my class today 🙂
Teacher Kirra:Maestra Kirra
Hi Teacher Kirra,
My pleasure, I hope your kiddies have heaps of fun playing red elbow!
Cheers
Mel
Really love your games, I will surely implement this in my classroom!
Hi Marylou,
I’m glad you like the games. I’d love to hear how you go with them when you have tried them out 🙂
Thanks for leaving a comment
Mel
Thanks a million. It was lots of fun.
Thanks for these useful tips in order to break the silence in that terrible time!
thank u, i want to try one of tis game in my class in indonesia. i hope my student enjoy it.
Hi Vitgar,
I hope your students enjoy the games, thanks for stopping by 🙂
Mel
Thanks. The tips are of great help
Hi. Thanks for this games.I’ll try Red Elbow in my class :))
will share the games with my teachers great thanks a lot
That’s great Vaishnavi, I hope you all enjoy playing them with your students 🙂
Thanks for stopping by
Mel
Thanks for sharing!!!!
Many thanks really handy. Will share site with my pals
I really like red elbow .thanks for your nice website
This site was… how do you say it? Relevant!!
Finally I’ve found something which helped me. Cheers!