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20 Plastic Cup Games for Kids of Any Age

June 28, 2023 //  by Rachel White

Keeping up with the cool new classroom game trends can get a little expensive. If you’re wanting to add fun games to your class without breaking the bank, look no further than the plastic cup.

The cup is versatile and inexpensive and can be used in a multitude of games. We’ve got 20 cup games you can play in any classroom.

Cup Games for Preschool

1. Blow the Cups  

This vocabulary review game involves the students blowing a line of cups across the table and then racing to find the vocabulary flashcard that is assigned to them. These are simple learning games but very effective and fun for the students.

Watch Zion Love play this with her students.

Learn More: Zion Love

2. Cup Grab

This game tests the students’ knowledge of their colors. Using different colored cups, the teacher shouts a color, and the students will race to grab that cup first.

Watch the students in Muxi’s classroom play.

Learn More: English Teaching Games

3. What Do You Want?  

In this game, the teacher tells the students what he wants and the students must place a ping pong ball in the cup matching that vocabulary word. These are great game ideas for any subject in school.

Learn More: English Teaching Games

4. Speedy Stacking Cups 

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This is a speech therapy game but can still be helpful as a fun sound learning activity. Sparklle SLP created this activity that combines target speech sound practice and cup stacking.

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

5. Mini Cup Stacking

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Your preschoolers will adore these mini plastic cups that are just their size. Have a cup stacking competition for them using the mini cups. The one that can make the tallest stack wins.

Learn More: Amazon

Cup Games for Elementary

6. Cup Pong 

After putting your students in pairs, give them each one cup. As a pair, they must land six ping pong balls inside the cup. If one student misses a toss, they must restart.

Learn More: Outscord Games

7. Stack It 

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Elementary Littles created task cards meant to test your students’ critical thinking skills. The students try to recreate the towers shown on each card and even attempt to build the tallest tower and be the last tower standing.

You’ll definitely want these for your classroom!

Learn More: Teachers Pay Teachers

 8. Pass the Ball 

This is a great game with sight words or vocabulary words. Assign each student a word and then the students will race to pass a ball through their cups one by one and find their word first.

Learn More: Zion Love

9. Bowling 

Bowling is a fun game for kids that you could do with so many objects. With cups, you could simply place them in a pyramid, or you could make bowling pins with the cups. Why not create a tournament and assign points to your kiddos for the number of cups they knock down? This is a great way to keep them busy!

Learn More: Tales Of A Teacher Mom

10. Toppling the Pyramid 

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Let the students build a few cup towers. Then, give the students rubber bands and staples. The students shoot their staples at the tower and see whose stack of cups falls first!

Learn More: Games 4 Youth Groups

Cup Games for Middle School

11. Ping Pong Bucket Bounce  

Here’s an exciting cup game to break up your middle school lessons. Your game supplies are 8-10 ping pong balls, a rectangle table, a strip of masking tape, and two cups (or buckets). Students try to bounce the ping pong ball into their opponent’s bucket. The first student with three balls in is the winner.

Learn More: The Kevin J. Butler

12. Stack It 

This is a perfect group activity game. Give your students 10-20 cups and see who can stack the tallest tower on top of their heads.

Learn More: Shawn Howell

13. Flip Cup Tic Tac Toe 

If you have middle schoolers, they probably know how to play flip cup, but we’re combining that with Tic Tac Toe. Students flip a cup until it lands face-down on the table. Students then get to make their mark on the game board.

Learn More: Shawn M. Howell

14. Cup Stacking

@tonjateaches uses this review game with her eighth-graders and colored cups. Each review question has the answers listed in different colors. The students must make a cup stack with the top cup color corresponding to the correct answer color.

Learn More: Tonja Teaches

Cup Games for High School 

15. Math Pong

Here’s a twist on the normal cup pong game. Pair it with a math review and assign points to each cup. If a student gets a question right, they can shoot their shot in hopes of scoring big.

Learn More: The Teaching Files

16. Trashketball

Who thinks of trashketball as a game with cups? Instead of using a trash can, switch it out for some plastic cups. The smaller target makes this a more challenging game.

If you’re not familiar with trashketball, check out this teacher’s explanation.

Learn More: Surviving Grade 5

17. Target Practice 

swinging-targets-2.jpg

For an exciting game with your high schoolers, all you need are some PVC pipes, nerf guns, string, and plastic cups. Assign point values to the cups, hang them from a PVC frame, and shoot! You can keep the target game basic or build a more elaborate setup.

Learn More: Frugal Fun 4 Boys

18. Cup Ballet

Outscord has great party game ideas and the next three come from them. For this game, separate the students into pairs. One student will flip a cup while the other student tries to catch that cup with a water bottle. Add an extra challenge by not allowing the catcher to move past a certain point or out of their original position.

Learn More: Outscord

19. Leaning Tower of Cups

This game will really show your students’ skill level. The students bounce a ball into a cup, then place an index card on top and another cup on top of the card. The next student bounces the ball into that cup and then repeats with the index card and cup stacking. Once you have four cups stacked, that student must remove each index card without the tower toppling.

Learn More: Outscord Games

20. This Blows 

This will be one of your next go-to party games. Make a line of cups on one side of a table and the students stand on the other side with a balloon. Students must blow air into the balloon and then release the air towards the cups with the purpose of blowing the cups off the table. The first to blow all of their cups off wins.

Learn More: Outscord

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