5 Minute Games Bundle: Super Simple No-Prep Games for Elementary Students (ELA & Math)

Here are four quick no-prep games for any elementary classroom.

They address topics including math, spelling, syllables, rhyme, vocabulary, parts of speech, geography, & critical and creative thinking.

Each of the 4 games has its own page of instructions including the skills taught, different player configurations, rules, a sample round, and extension ideas.

These games require NO PREP and NO MATERIALS other than writing implements. I suggest whiteboards to save paper.

Grades to Use With:

These games can be used in any elementary classroom (grades K-8). They are great for the following uses:

• - Morning/home-room warm-up

• - TOC back-up activities

• - To fill the 5 minutes before lunch or the end of the day

• - As a reward for small-group or one-to-one tutoring

The four games are:

-       4 Letter Word Game: Start with a 4-letter word on the paper/whiteboard. Players/teams take turns changing one letter at a time to make a new English word. Play until you are stuck or time runs out.

-       Guess My Number Game: Start with a range based on your students (ex: 1-20 for K, 1-100 for Gr 1-4, 1-200 for Gr 5-7). The teacher (or student if playing in pairs) thinks of a number in that range. The other student (or whole class) has exactly 5 questions of greater than or less than to narrow it down. After 5 questions, they must guess the number.

-       The Rhyme Game: Start with a word that has many rhymes. (For example: tent, rant, king, see, you.) Do NOT choose duck for obvious reasons. Each student (or each team) has two minutes to make a list of as many rhyming words as they can. Points are counted based on syllables. The longer the word, the more points. After two minutes, tally the scores to find the winner.

-       Categories: Start by writing 5 categories from the following options on the board: animals, cities, verbs, fruits, toys, pet names, countries, adjectives, beverages, colours, holidays, vehicles, movies, kitchen tools, flowers, books. Then choose one letter of the alphabet. Students get two minutes to think of a word for each category staring with that letter.

5 page PDF: Title Page and 4 single-page game instructions