Keeping students engaged when teaching virtually can certainly be challenging. Here are some free games & activities for virtual class meetings.
I wanted to make sure I had fun, fresh resources to review skills and continue building our classroom community in engaging ways. I know not everyone can use Zoom. These activities are not specific to one platform. I would recommend getting familiar with the features of whatever virtual conferencing platform you are using and practice with a teacher friend before your class meeting.
Zip, Zop, Zap is a simple game where each of the words have a point value. It’s total chance! This would be perfect to pair with a set of task cards you already have available. Or, save yourself the prep and could ask your students to send in questions as an assignment prior to the meeting! In order to divide students into teams, I just keep a list of who is on what team either in the chat, on a piece of paper next to me or change students’ names (in Zoom) to indicate which team they are on.
Screen Share is the best! If you are feeling brave, you can even grant students control of the screen.
You may not win and choral competitions with this activity BUT it’s still fun! I invited our music teacher to come lead a song. I have found that inviting another adult to the meeting makes things go even smoother. It gives me a little break from being “on” the entire time. And, the students LOVE to see a familiar face!
I absolutely LOVE Scattergories. Students are challenged to be creative, expand vocabulary and practice spelling! They can write their answers on pencil and paper or type them in a private message to you in the chat.
This twist on Simon Says puts “Simon” in charge of guessing the secret movement. This would be a great one for younger students!
My 2nd graders were absolutely LOVING Reader’s Theater this year. You can totally adapt this wonderful fluency practice virtually. Choose a script to fit your readers and invite small groups so it’s less chaotic. Or, invite the whole class and wing it!
A Talent Show would make a create End-of-the-Year celebration or Fun Friday activity. Send out the editable invitation below to build up excitement!
You can download all of these for FREE by clicking here.
I hope you found something new you can include in your virtual class meetings.
For even MORE virtual chatting ideas, see my resource below:
Stay Safe & Sassy,
