Classroom activities and games

1. Activities and Games
Engr. Dr. Sajid Iqbal
CICOPS Fellow, Fellow IEP, Fellow IEEEP, Senior Member IEEE, Member STC
TRIZ (Level 2 Practitioner, Level 1 Instructor)
msi932@yahoo.com

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1. The Birthday Paradox
• The Birthday Paradox, aka the Birthday Problem, states
that in a random group of 23 people, there is about a
50 % chance that two people have the same birthday.
• It is strange, counter-intuitive, and completely true.
• It’s only a paradox because our brains can’t handle the
compounding power of exponents.
• We expect probabilities to be linear and only consider
the scenarios we’re involved in (both faulty
assumptions).

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2. The Birthday Paradox (Cont’d)
• In a room of just 23 people, there is a 50-50 chance of
two people having the same birthday.
• In a room of 75 there’s a 99.9% likelihood of two
people matching.

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Icebreaker questions are a fun way to get to know one
another.
Make up your own or ask your students to help you
brainstorm a list of interesting questions.
One at a time, students will roll a dice virtually with
this online dice roller and then answer the questions!
https://freeonlinedice.com/
https://www.weareteachers.com/online-team-building-activities/
2. Dicebreakers

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1. My favorite television show is…
2. Dicebreakers: Roll the Dice, Break the Ice
2. My favorite movie is…
3. My favorite singer is…
5. My favorite book is…
4. My favorite song is…
6. My favorite author is…

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1. My favorite actor/actress is…
2. Dicebreakers: Roll the Dice, Break the Ice
2. My dream job is…
3. If I were a millionaire, I would be…
5. If I could travel anywhere new, I would go…
4. For a hobby, I…
6. The thing that makes me the happiest is…

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1. My favorite sport is…
2. Dicebreakers: Roll the Dice, Break the Ice
2. My favorite food is…
3. The most important thing in my life is…

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Tongue twisters are great for lightening the mood, as an
ice-breaker, or way to begin each class.
Start with this quirky list of tongue twisters – some easy
peasy, some very twisted!
https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/teacherzone/eleven-classic-classroom-games/
3. Tongue Twisters

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1. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a
woodchuck could chuck wood?
3. Tongue Twisters (Cont’d)
2. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How
many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?
3. Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?
4. Frivolously fanciful Fannie fried fresh fish furiously
5. Black background, brown background
6. Which witch switched the Swiss wristwatches?
7. She sells seashells by the seashore.
https://www.ef.com/wwen/english-resources/tongue-twisters-english/

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Sports gallery is a very intensive example of an energizer.
The teacher calls out different sports skills.
The students have to mimic them for at least 10 seconds.
After a while the teacher speeds up the tempo.
https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2016/10/15-fun-classroom-energizers-for-students
https://www.edsys.in/14-fun-classroom-activities/
4. Sports Gallery

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4. Sports Gallery (Cont’d)
A few sports skills the teacher can call out:
1. Playing a badminton shot
2. Swinging a golf club
3. Playing basketball
4. Serving a tennis ball
5. Playing a squash shot
6. Playing hockey
7. Shooting an arrow
8. Downhill skiing
9. Batting a baseball
10. Playing Ludo

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Buzz groups are short discussions that are done in pairs or
groups of three people at the most.
Ask your participants a question; ask them to solve a
problem or to agree on a definition.
Other good types of questions for buzz groups include:
- asking participants to find similarities and differences between
concepts;
- discussing pros and cons or discussing the participants’ opinions on
something.
5. Buzz Group

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The question needs to be simple and to the point.
Write the question somewhere where the participants can
easily see it, such as on a board, a PowerPoint ppt slide or a
handout.
Buzz groups are best when they are kept short, so give your
participants up to 5 minutes and try to limit it to that
timeframe.
5. Buzz Group (Cont’d)

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At the end, ask each pair to report their answers to the rest
of the class and then you summarize them.
When to use Buzz groups: Buzz groups are useful to engage
participants who are shy and are not comfortable working
with big groups. They are also good for participants to start
reflecting on a topic.
https://symondsresearch.com/types-classroom-activities/
5. Buzz Group (Cont’d)

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Interactive brainstorming is mostly performed in group
sessions.
The process is useful for generating creative thoughts and
ideas.
Brainstorming helps students learn to work together, and
above all, learn from each other.
You’ll be surprised by all the great ideas they come up
with!
6. Brainstorming

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Brainstorming encourages participants to come up with
ideas to solve a problem or answer a question.
Brainstorming is done quickly as participants are
encouraged to say whatever first comes to their minds.
The aim here is not quality but quantity. The ideas will
be analyzed and discussed later.
6. Brainstorming (Cont’d)

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During brainstorming, ideas are not judged and the flow
of new ideas is instead preferred.
All ideas are welcomed.
Check out these 8 fun brainstorming apps you can use
in your classroom to structure thinking.
https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2018/06/20-interactive-teaching-activities-for-in-the-interactive-classroom
6. Brainstorming (Cont’d)

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You can run a brainstorming session with the whole class at
once, as you write down the answers, or in groups, so each
group writes down their answers and then they present
them to the rest of the class so the ideas can be combined
or improved.
At the end, the most useful ideas are chosen.
When to use brainstorming: Brainstorming is very useful
for problem-solving. Also, you can use a quick
brainstorming session to introduce a new topic, so that
participants come up with their own solution first before
you explain the topic to them. https://symondsresearch.com/types-classroom-activities/
6. Brainstorming (Cont’d)

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This activity is an adaptation of the old Simon Says game.
The game begins slowly, so the students think the exercise
will be easy. Then the teacher increases the difficulty.
Each student has a white board and marker, or, again,
notebook paper will do. We will use math for this example.
The teacher picks a number and says “the teacher says
four.” So the students all write down the number four,
either the numeral or the word.
7. “Teacher Says,” Otherwise Known as “Simon Says”

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Then the teacher could say, “Teacher says 320,” so
students write 320.
The teacher can further increase the difficulty by saying,
“teacher says three million, four hundred thousand, six
hundred twelve and six tenths.”
The students need to write 3,400,612.6 to be correct.
Place value, fractions, percents, and decimals are great for
this activity.
7. “Teacher Says,” Otherwise Known as “Simon Says”

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Obviously, teacher discretion is used when playing this
game and working with either a remedial, average, or
enriched group of students.
The wonderful aspect of this exercise is that it can really be
used to reach all levels of learners.
7. “Teacher Says,” Otherwise Known as “Simon Says”

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This is similar to a family tree but instead of just listing
relatives they included any diseases/illnesses that existed
within their family.
- What illnesses did our late grandparents have?
- How old were they when they died?
- What did they die of?
8. Family Health Tree

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For instance, if a student’s grandmother had cancer, the
student would place her in the appropriate spot and list
cancer as a disease.
If she had other diseases, then those would be added as
well. After the student constructed the tree, he would
examine it to determine the most common illnesses.
As an opportunity to reflect upon the activity, students
would write a report discussing the top two or three
diseases and ways to prevent those diseases in their own
lives.
8. Family Health Tree

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This is an activity that can be used on the first day of
school to help the teacher and other students to learn
everyone’s names.
This game is great because it starts to build a connection
with the teacher and students.
This activity is a word association game where students
choose something that begins with the first letter of their
first name. For instance, if a student’s name were Josh, he
would choose a word like “Jolly-Rancher.”
9. Jamaica Trip (Name Game)

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The game is played as if the class is going on a trip to
Jamaica and everyone is taking something with them.
The goal is to remember what everyone’s name is and
what item each person is taking with him on the trip.
The game begins with the teacher coming up with a word
for her first name as well. So let’s say the teacher’s name is
Gloria. Then she would come up with a word like “gloves.”
Then the teacher says, “My name is Gloria; I am going to
Jamaica, and I am taking gloves.”
9. Jamaica Trip (Name Game)

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Then the students go in order adding each person in front
of them.
For instance, if the first student after the teacher were
Josh, he would say, “My name is Josh; I am going to
Jamaica with Gloria and her gloves, and I am taking some
Jolly-Ranchers.”
The game progresses until each student has taken a turn,
and the game finishes with the teacher.
Here, she names every student and what each is taking on
the trip.
9. Jamaica Trip (Name Game)

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N.B: Don’t let students write down anything during the
activity.
Some are afraid they won’t remember, but since it is word
association, students usually do better than they expect to
do.
The name game is really a great way to begin developing
relationships with students.
9. Jamaica Trip (Name Game)