In a rush to complete your lesson plans on time, it is easy to overlook the importance of incorporating fun activities during teaching time. Planning for interactive games and activities for students is extremely helpful because it fosters a sense of togetherness and encourages creative expression. Moreover, it helps break the monotony of the school day, which in turn helps their overall focus and attention span. Here are 25 fun activities to try with your middle schoolers!
1. Name, Place, Animal Thing
This classic game needs only a piece of paper and a pencil. Tell your class to divide their paper into five columns as shown above. Then, randomly call out any letter from the alphabet. The challenge is to think of a name, place, animal, and thing beginning with that letter within 60 seconds. At the end of a few rounds, the person with the most points wins!
Learn more: Instructables
2. Jeopardy Style Revision
Have a quiz coming up? Spruce up revision by asking them revision questions in a jeopardy style format. Divide the class into teams and turn the whole thing into a game show. This fun classroom game is bound to capture everybody's attention!
Learn more: Play Factile
3. Exit Ticket
These are great to immediately engage with your students and how they're feeling. Towards the end of class, distribute these cute-looking templates and ask them to give you feedback- it can be a question that they have about the class or something that they thought they wanted to be done differently, etc.
Learn more: Canva
4. Role Reversal
These are great to immediately engage with your students and how they're feeling. Towards the end of class, distribute these cute-looking templates and ask them to give you feedback- it can be a question that they have about the class or something that they thought they wanted to be done differently, etc.
Learn more: Canva
5. Guess What?
Write out some key concepts that you're teaching in class on pieces of paper. Separate students out into groups of 3-4 students. One person from each team will come and draw something that visually represents the concept on their paper. The team with the most points wins! The best part is that this can also be played as an online game if your class is virtual.
Learn more: The Teacher Toolkit
6. Dancing Competition
This is a great way to release all your students' stress and energy. Ask for a few volunteers to come in front of the class and do a 30-second dance one by one. The rest of the class can vote on who they think should win!
Learn more: Kidz Bop
7. Write a Poem
Give your students a prompt to write a poem on a certain theme. For example, you can choose Astronomy as your broader sub-topic and tell the students to come up with a poem on the sun, moon, stars, and planets.
Learn more: Every Star is Different
8. Make a Musical Instrument
Teach your students about how sound travels and the rules of acoustics. This activity involves challenging them to make musical instruments from items commonly found around the classroom and at home!
Learn more: 30 Skill-Developing After School Activities for Middle Schoolers
9. Spelling Race
This is more effective for younger middle schoolers who are struggling with their spelling. Give everyone a set of paper letters and start calling out spellings one by one. Set a time limit - the person who can make the most words the fastest gets a prize!
Learn more: Confidence Meets Parenting
10. Cabbage Science Experiment
Get some Cabbage and juice it. Since cabbage juice is a pH indicator, adding items to it will help determine whether they are acidic in nature or alkaline. This experiment has many benefits for students as it gives them practical exposure to important science-based concepts.
Learn more: What Do We Do All Day
11. Make a Pen Pal!
Revive the age-old tradition of having a pen pal in a different country. The best part is that it's all virtual now and you won't have to wait for weeks for their letter to arrive! There are websites that will allow students to safely communicate and collaborate with students from other countries.
Learn more: Penpal Schools
12. Make a Thaumatrope
This is an excellent visual and tactile science project to teach students about how our brain processes visual cues and motion. Making this old-school toy will not only improve their art skills but also develop their motor skills.
Learn more: What Do We Do All Day
13. DIY Projector
Improvise your own smartphone projector by using an old shoebox and some magnifying glass. This is a very simple project in terms of materials required, but it does require some concentration skills on the part of the person making it.
Learn more: The STEM Laboratory
14. Spell Using Yarn!
This activity is bound to encourage even the most reluctant student to practice their spelling. Grab some colorful pieces of yarn and distribute them towards the end of your class period. Call out the spellings you want them to practice and get them to write the letters in yarn. The yarn is reusable for every word and the word can be customized according to the age group.
Learn more: Homeschool Hideout
15. Marshmallow Challenge!
This is a brilliant way to teach students the basics of Physics. Divide the class into groups of 4-5 students. Give them a marshmallow, some tape, and a few pieces of spaghetti. The aim is to build a structure that can support the weight of their marshmallow. The first team to successfully do so wins!
Learn more: Digital Lesson
16. Anime Drawing
Teenagers these days are very into anime. Get them to brush up on their artistic skills for something that they love. Have a competition where you ask them to draw their favorite anime character in under a minute. The best drawing gets a small treat!
Learn more: Teen Services Underground
17. Cooking Club
In the quest for knowledge and education, it is unfortunate that schools have stopped focusing on developing basic life skills such as cooking. You can undo that by getting a hot plate and starting a cooking club in class. Once a week, pick an age-appropriate recipe and teach students the basic skills necessary to survive in the kitchen.
Learn more: S&S Blog
18. Comedy Skit
Staging comedy skits is a wonderful way to get your introverted students out of their shells. Working as a team to put up a show encourages camaraderie and boosts confidence.
Learn more: Ice Breaker Ideas
19. Blog!
Social media is the future. Encourage students to publish their blogs and write in them regularly. They can pick any niche of their choice. This will sharpen their technical skills and hone their writing skills. Who knows, if they work at it regularly enough, they can even monetize their blog down the line.
Learn more: Cool Tools for School
20. Chess
Bring out a large chess board and give the students a lesson in strategy as you teach them some basic moves. Divide the class into groups of 2 and have them practice moves on a smaller chess board.
Learn more: Chess Site
21. Debate Club
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Build your students' communication and argumentative skills by encouraging live debates. Try to have a few controversial topics ready for debate- the more relevant to the current political situation, the better. Remind students to be respectful as they try to convey their point of view. Award points based on the quality of the argument.
Learn more: Thought Co.
22. Plan an Entrepreneurial Venture
Build your students' communication and argumentative skills by encouraging live debates. Try to have a few controversial topics ready for debate- the more relevant to the current political situation, the better. Remind students to be respectful as they try to convey their point of view. Award points based on the quality of the argument.
Learn more: Venture Lab
23. Create a Product
Somewhat similar to the previous activity, invite your students to think about what product they think the world lacks. The challenge is to create a new product from scratch, something that does not currently exist yet and something that the world needs.
Learn more: Venture Lab
24. Community Service
It's important to teach children empathy and selflessness, and what better way to do that than to dedicate one lesson to an act of community service. This could include a field trip to an old age home or hospital, but you do not even need to leave the school- make the kids volunteer to pick up trash from the football field at school, or give the janitor a break and make them clean and sweep their own classroom!
Learn more: Kid Activities.net
29 Fun and Easy 1st Grade Reading Comprehension Activities