Games for Middle Schoolers: Fun Games to Play in School

Playing Educational Games in the Classroom

Middle schoolers enjoy playing games to learn just as much as elementary students do, but games are sometimes excluded from middle school curriculums. Include these games in your classroom to give your students a break from taking notes and sitting in their chairs. Middle schoolers may have so much fun playing these games that they may not even realize that they are learning!

Book Tag

Have each student read the same book during silent reading time, then play a game of book tag. Since every student reads at a different pace, this is a fun game to ensure reading comprehension. Go outside and have each student remember what chapter they left off on.

Call on one student to be 'it' and give that student comprehension questions along with the answers that you created for each chapter. The student who is 'it' should chase the other students around. When a person gets tagged, 'it' will ask that student what chapter he is on, then ask a comprehension question about that chapter. If the tagged student gets the answer correct, he is free to go; if not, he is out. You can give the kids that are out the book so that they can reread the chapter and look for the answer to the question that they missed.

Shoe Quiz

This is a fun game to play during math class. Have each student put one shoe into the middle of the room and have them sit in a circle around the shoes. You will then pick a shoe from the pile. The child whose shoe you have picked must solve a math problem.

If she gets the answer correct, she will get her shoe back and get to return to her desk. If she does not get the answer correct, she will have to put her shoe back into the pile. Keep pulling shoes out of the pile until all the students are back at their desks. This game can be adapted for any subject.

Help Your Row

This is a fun way to have your middle schoolers practice their spelling words. Have your kids line up into rows of five. Have each row create a team name to build a sense of team unity. Next, call on a student and ask her to spell a word.

If she gets the word correct, then that row is safe and the students should change who is in front of the row. If she does not spell the word right, the entire row must take a seat. Keep going until there is only one row left standing. The students in that row will be declared the winners and get a prize.