In a rush to complete your lesson plans on time, it’s easy to overlook the importance of incorporating fun activities into your teaching. Planning for interactive games and engaging experiences for students fosters a sense of togetherness and encourages creative expression. Moreover, it helps break up the monotony of the school day, which in turn helps their overall focus and attention span. Get ready to shake things up with our list of 49 fun activities for middle school students!
1. Name, Place, Animal, Thing
You only need a piece of paper and a pencil for this game! Your students will make columns with ‘name’, ‘place’, ‘animal’, ‘thing’, and ‘points’ as the headings. Call out any letter and they’ll have 60 seconds to add information that begins with that letter. The person with the most points wins!
Learn More: Instructables
2. Jeopardy Style Revision
Have a quiz coming up? Spruce up revision by asking your kiddos review questions in a jeopardy-style format. Divide your class into teams and turn the whole lesson into a game show. This fun classroom activity is bound to capture everybody’s attention while also preparing them for their next exam!
Learn More: Play Factile
3. Exit Ticket
Add style to your exit tickets with cute templates that will delight your learners. After your lesson, distribute these cards to ask a question about the lesson, about what they want more or less of, or about how they’re feeling for a quick check-in – a little feedback can go a long way!
Learn More: Twinkl
4. Student-Led Review
Switch things up by having your middle schoolers take the lead. Provide them with an actual lesson plan template to get into the role of facilitating a class review or discussion. This will give you an opportunity to see what they know while giving them agency for their own learning!
Learn More: Canva
5. Pictionary
This game can be used across all content areas! Have your students write concepts that they are learning about on slips of paper. Separate them into teams and give one member from each team a concept to draw for their team to guess. The team that guesses first wins a point!
Learn More: The Teacher Toolkit
6. Dancing Competition
Dancing is a great way to release stress and energy! You can use these videos for a follow-along dance competition, or for a twist, have your class make their own playlist. Ask for volunteers to compete in a dance-off while their peers act as judges and vote for the best performer!
Learn More: Kidz Bop
7. Write A Poem
You’ll be surprised at how much your kiddos will gravitate to poetry. Use any prompt to get them going, but to support them even more, provide a broad category like astronomy, or narrow it down to a specific sub-topic such as planets or asteroids. Encourage them to include facts to reinforce their learning!
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8. Make A Musical Instrument
Your middle school scientists will love learning about how sound travels and about the rules of acoustics. This activity involves challenging them to make musical instruments from items commonly found around the classroom and at home! This will surely spark their curiosity!
Learn More: Science Sparks
9. Spelling Race
This one is more effective for your younger middle schoolers who are struggling with spelling and is the perfect small group activity for when they’re already pretty comfortable with one another. Give everyone a set of paper letters, call out a word, set a time limit, and the race is on!
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10. Cabbage Science Experiment
This experiment is not only fun, but it will get your kiddos thinking about the scientific method! Place cabbage juice in separate containers and have them add different ingredients to each cup. Since cabbage is a pH indicator, the juice will help determine whether the ingredients are acidic or alkaline.
Learn More: What Do We Do All Day
11. Make A Pen Pal!
Revive the age-old tradition of pen pals! The best part of this virtual approach is that it allows your students to connect quickly with kids from around the world. They won’t have to wait weeks for letters and you can rest easy knowing that they’re communicating via a safe platform.
Learn More: Go Pangea
12. Make A Thaumatrope
This is an excellent visual and tactile project to teach your children how their brain processes visual cues and motion. This old-school toy is easy for you to implement and will also improve their art skills while giving their motor skills a little workout, too!
Learn More: What Do We Do All Day
13. DIY Projector
This smartphone projector activity is great for getting your younger middle schoolers excited about STEM. It’s a very simple project in terms of the materials required – all you need is an old shoebox and a magnifying glass. This is certain to get your kiddos thinking about the potential of other everyday objects!
Learn More: The STEM Laboratory
14. Spell Using Yarn!
The tactile experience of yarn will encourage even your most reluctant learners to practice their spelling. Distribute colorful pieces of yarn at the end of your class period, and call out words for them to practice to reinforce vocabulary and to create a calming way to transition to the next subject
Learn More: Pinterest
15. Marshmallow Challenge!
This brilliant activity teaches your young scientists about the basics of physics. Give groups of four or five students a marshmallow, tape, and a few pieces of spaghetti. Their goal is to be the first team to successfully build a structure that can support the weight of their marshmallow!
Learn More: Digital Lesson
16. Anime Drawing
Like most teens, your students are sure to have fallen in love with this genre, so tap into the anime craze with a drawing brain break or group bonding activity. They’ll love brushing up on their artistic skills by drawing their favorite anime character or transforming a classmate into one!
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17. Cooking Club
Many schools have stopped including life skills such as cooking into the curriculum, but you can undo this by getting a hot plate and starting a cooking club in class. You can also get creative by teaching recipes as procedural texts, or tying cooking into chemistry or lessons on math measurements!
Learn More: S&S Blog
18. Comedy Skit
Staging comedy skits is a wonderful way to get your introverted kiddos out of their shells. Use this approach for morning meetings or for your advisory group and have them work as a team to put on a show that encourages camaraderie and boosts confidence.
Learn More: Ice Breaker Ideas
19. Blog!
Social media is the future and your techies will surely love an opportunity to publish their own blog articles. Offer them a pick of any niche to help them clarify their passions and develop their technical writing skills. Who knows – they might even monetize their efforts down the line!
Learn More: Cool Tools for School
20. Chess
Chess is a timeless game of logic, strategy, pattern recognition, and concentration, and it’s the perfect activity for your middle school students. Just grab a few chess boards, give them a lesson in strategy, and watch as the games begin. This is a lifelong skill that they’ll remember learning with you!
Learn More: US Chess Federation
21. Debate Club
Build communication and argumentative skills by encouraging live debates. Give your learners relatable and controversial topics, and make sure to provide pointers on how to politely convey their points of view. Award points based on the quality of the argument and tact of the presentation.
Learn More: Thought Co.
22. Wacky Inventions
Entrepreneurial ventures are great for helping students develop skills related to entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and of course, creativity. This activity will get your little inventors’ wheels turning as they think about how to transform familiar objects into rather extraordinary inventions!
Learn More: Venture Lab
23. Solving Problems Through Invention
This is similar to the previous activity in that it focuses on inventions, but this time, your kiddos are faced with a real-world challenge. Follow this engaging cross-curricular lesson plan from STEM and humanities that lets them choose a current event and apply critical thinking skills to create a problem-solving invention!
Learn More: PBS
24. Community Service
There’s no better way to teach your children empathy than through community service. This could include a field trip to an assisted-living home or hospital, but you also don’t need to leave school. They can start an eco club, mentor younger students, or volunteer to pick up trash from the football field!
Learn More: Create The Change
25. Code Your Name
Coding has become an increasingly popular activity and your students will love putting a personal spin on coding by using colored beads to create their names in binary code! They can then extend this activity to art by using the beads to make necklaces or bracelets!
Learn More: Fifth In The Middle
26. Padlet
Padlet is a multi-functional tool that you can use in a variety of ways in the classroom. From vision boards to interactive discussion posts, your kids will love collaborating with the colorful digital sticky notes! Plus, you can easily integrate Padlet with your Google Classroom or other LMS!
Learn More: Padlet
27. Taboo
This game is great for encouraging your children to use creative thinking skills while also giving them a little practice with synonyms! A player draws a card and must describe a word for the others to guess, without using “taboo” words. It’s a perfect game to pull out on rainy days!
Learn More: Amazon
28. Plan A Road Trip
Planning a road trip can be an exciting way for your globe trekkers to explore a new state, country, or landmark! They’ll develop geography and math skills and, if you include activities like creating travel brochures or postcards from the places they ‘visit’, they’ll build their writing skills, too!
Learn More: Appletastic Learning
29. Classroom Escape Room
Escape rooms can be virtual or hands-on, and can be used with almost any subject area or topic! Use one of the many templates found online to create clues for your kiddos to follow while they exercise problem-solving skills and work collaboratively to make their escape!
Learn More: Ditch That Textbook
30. Virtual Field Trip
If you can’t take your middle schoolers on a field trip, then bring the field trip to them! Virtual field trips provide access to landmarks, museums, and different countries, and are an excellent way to build background knowledge or get them prepped and excited for your next topic!
Learn More: The Nature Conservancy
31. Create Thank-You Notes
Expressing gratitude is a component of social-emotional learning that takes explicit teaching. Guide your preteens in how to write thank-you notes and challenge them to make this a weekly practice – it will make a difference in their lives now and down the road!
Learn More: Essentials In Writing
32. The Unfair Game
In this game, you’ll divide your students into teams and then have them take turns answering questions that are assigned a certain amount of points. But, the points can be positive or negative, and the team must decide beforehand to keep or give their points to the opposing team!
Learn More: Comprehensible Classroom
33. Crumple And Shoot
Crumple and Shoot is another fun game for reviewing content. Your kiddos will work in teams to answer questions on a slip of paper. The teams with the right answer will have the chance to score a basket with their crumpled-up slip of paper, winning points for that round!
Learn More: Cult Of Pedagogy
34. Coping Skills Jeopardy
Teaching your middle schoolers appropriate ways to cope with emotions is key to your classroom management and their social-emotional growth. Using Jeopardy as a teaching tool will reinforce their knowledge of the positive things they can do to better cope with life’s challenges!
Learn More: Love City Counseling
35. Bop Or Flop
This activity can be used as a quick-write prompt or a brain break to encourage your music lovers to share their opinions! Start by playing a song and they’ll decide if they think it’s a “bop” or a “flop”, but they’ll have to use academic vocabulary to provide evidence for their choice!
Learn More: Instagram
36. DIY Board Games
Build your learners’ critical thinking skills by having them create their own board games! You can recycle old games or make them from scratch. It’s the perfect project-learning approach to reviewing anything from historical figures to animal biomes!
Learn More: Student Savvy
37. Scoop It Up
This game will quickly become a class favorite and is great for a celebration or class reward! You’ll need bowls, spoons, and some ping pong balls to challenge your kids to transfer as many of the balls as they can from one bowl to another in just one minute while holding the spoon with their mouth!
38. Time Capsule
Making a “time capsule” at the beginning of the school year is a great way to demonstrate your students’ growth over the year. Fill out a time capsule printable about their favorite things, friends, and activities, and then tuck them away until the last day of school.
Learn More: Sunshine Whispers
39. A Bit Dicey
In another fun minute Minute-to-Win-It game, your children will hold a popsicle stick in their mouths and try to balance five dice on the other end! The first one to accomplish this for three seconds is the winner! Use this as a great icebreaker or team-building activity!
Learn More: Math With Meaning
40. Pencil Bridges
Learning about historical figures is more fun when you pair it with a hands-on activity like building this Da Vinci Bridge! Place your budding engineers into teams and challenge them to follow directions and work together to build a functioning bridge from only pencils and rubber bands.
Learn More: iGameMom
41. Learn About Math Through Movies
Every middle schooler loves a movie day, but you can make sure they’re still exploring academics by showing films that actually incorporate math! From Queen of Katwe to Hidden Figures, you’re sure to find a math or STEM-related film in this carefully curated list.
Learn More: Mashup Math
42. DIY Paddle Boats
Your students will have a blast exploring engineering concepts like simple machines and forms of energy with this paddle boat project! You can vary how much direction to give them from explicit step-by-step instructions to simply providing a general objective. Either way, they’ll love the challenge!
Learn More: Rookie Parenting
43. Ocean Currents Experiment
The concept of ocean currents will come alive for your scientists with this simple experiment! All it requires is recycled bottles, food coloring, water, and index cards. They’ll watch the process of water convection as the densities of cold and hot water change the makeup of the bottles!
Learn More: Rookie Parenting
44. Reverse Grammar Charades
Energize learning by letting your kiddos play Reverse Grammar Charades! One student will leave the room while the others are given a part of speech to act out. The returning student will then have to use the action clues to guess whether this is a noun, verb, or adjective!
Learn More: Building Book Love
45. Public Speaking Problems
Another charades-like game for teaching your middle schoolers ELA concepts is this clever game. They’ll draw a card with a common public speaking mistake, like not making eye contact or talking too quickly, and then make a speech demonstrating that while others guess the problem!
46. Self-Portrait Collages
This longer-term art project will keep your students engaged during their free time! They’ll hunt for bits and pieces of images to cut from magazines that they’ll use to make a self-portrait. This is a great project for exploring identity and is perfect for sharing during advisory groups or morning meetings.
Learn More: Hip Homeschool Moms
47. Edible Cells
Rather than learning cell vocabulary through flashcards, make things more exciting for your budding scientists by challenging them to create edible cells! They’ll love to use food items such as avocados and gummy worms to demonstrate their understanding of the parts of the cell!
Learn More: Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
48. Dragon Paper Airplane
Who would have thought that a paper airplane could teach your kiddos so much about engineering and problem-solving? This one takes the traditional foldable plane to a whole other level with the dragon paper plane that’s perfect to use as a Chinese New Year activity!
Learn More: Hessun Academy
49. LEGO Pendulum Painting
The magic of LEGOs extends even to middle school, and your kids will love combining engineering and the arts to make this pendulum. They’ll have to carefully follow directions to develop a functional pendulum, and then use it to create unique paintings for classroom decor.
Learn More: Stir The Wonder
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