Are you looking for some fun and easy games with whiteboards to play with your students? I’ve got just the stuff for you! The games I will be talking about are super quick to whip up, as all you need is a whiteboard and a marker to write on it. Students can also play them in small groups if you have little dry erase boards for them. It’s easy fun and students are still learning, and what teacher does not like that?
I will explain the following 7 games for whiteboards to you in a clear way below, but I’ve also bundled them for you in an easy PDF. You can just download it, save on your computer for future use, or even print out to keep on you at all times. That’s what I do, because weirdly enough I forget they exist sometimes.. And I need a reminder of what I can do with my kiddos in times of need. Anyway, grab that PDF of my 7 Best Whiteboard Games here if you want it!
7 games on whiteboards, here we go:
Categories
Out of all the games to play with whiteboards, I love Categories the most. Have students work in groups. Come up with 4 fun categories of words and write them on the board. One that’s always good as a filler is Countries or States. Tell students they must write down a word for each category, and all the words have to start with the letter you are about to show. Write down that letter on the board, and watch students go off. The first group to yell out they have all the words can read them to the group. If they have succeeded they win a point. Repeat with a new letter.
Meet me in Numbers
Choose 4 people in your life and 4 numbers that match those people or your relationship to them. For example: Irene and 67 (This is my mother and she is 67) or Julian and 4 (This is my boyfriend and we’ve been together for 4 years. Write the names on the board on the left side, and the numbers in a different order on the right side. Students have to ask questions, to which you may only answer yes or no, to find out what number matches what name and why.
Hangman
Choose a word that students came across recently. Write as many blanks on the board as there are letters in the word, like so _ _ _ _ _ . Students must guess a letter of the alphabet. If a guessing player suggests a letter that occurs in the word, you fill in the blanks with that letter in the right places. If the word does not contain the suggested letter, the other player draws one element of a hangman’s gallows. Game continues until the word is guessed correctly or until the gallows are full.
Taboo
Taboo is another of my favorite games to play with a whiteboard. Make two teams of students. One player must help the group guess a word without using the taboo words in their description. For example, the word is Kitchen, but the player may not say: Cook, Food, Cupboard. The group that guessed the greatest number of words, wins.
Who is it?
Write a name on the board, but the student that will guess may not see it. Students must ask their classmates questions in order to find out who they are. Classmates may only answer with yes or no.
The odd one out
You must come up with 3 or 4 words of which one must be the odd one out. For example, Pencil case, Pen, Pencil, and Typewriter, of which Type writer can be the odd one out because students don’t use this at school; or Pencil case can be the odd one out because you can’t write with it. Write the words on the board. Students must give good arguments as to why one of them is the odd one out.
Long word game
Have students work in groups or individually. Choose a very long word and write it on the board. Have students write down as many smaller words with the letters of this long word as they possibly can. The smaller words must of course be correct words. The group that came up with the greatest number of correct words, wins the game.
So, these are all the games with a whiteboard that I play with my students. Give them a try some time! Wanna keep these instructions on hand? Grab the PDF of my 7 Best Whiteboard Games for your classroom here!
You can play all of these games on the big whiteboard, or you can have students play on small dry erase boards that you give out to each small group. Check out these simple ones from Amazon!
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