I’ve been asked for some games suggestions for live classes. Below are a list of games I’ve used in my classroom that I think will transfer over well to online teaching. I’ve tried a few so far and they’ve worked well.

You’ll find a quick overview of each game below. All the children will need is a piece of paper or a whiteboard for some games but many don’t require any resources. (I’ll work on a few powerpoints etc. for some of the games but most of them can be played without these.)

Children create a grid in their copies (boy’s name, girl’s name, food/drink, animal, place). You can include as many categories you like but I find 4/5 work well.

One child starts the alphabet, they say the letter A out loud and the rest of the alphabet in their head.

Another child says ‘stop’ and the child calls out the letter they land on.

The whole class then write down the boy’s name/girl’s name/ food and drink/animal/place etc beginning with the letter.

The first child to have an answer for all categories then shouts ‘Stop the bus’ and everyone must put their pen/pencil.

Scores/points system

• 15 points – the only person with an answer
• 10 points – if you have an answer that no one else has
• 5 points – if you have an answer than someone else also has

Choose a list of random words such as milk, bottle, fridge, ice.

Call out the word and children write down the first word they associate with it.

Then they can show their board/copy.

If they have a match with another child – they get a point.

This is brilliant for oral language. Share a list of questions – would you rather 1,000,000 euro or to be famous? Children can then choose one and discuss why. These are from Between the Covers of a Good Book!

Call out two children’s names and then a times table.

First child to write it down and show it on their board wins.

This can be used as a class challenge. Only one child can talk at a time.

Teacher starts with the number one. Another child calls 2/3/4 etc.

If two children say the same number or speak at the same time, then the class has to go back to the start.

Choose a topic/category and the child has 5 seconds to name as many as they can.

Topic examples

• Countries
• Capitals
• Landmarks
• Mountain ranges
• Currency
• Colours
• Family members
• Jobs
• Food
• Vegetables
• Hobbies
• Sports
• Boy’s names
• Girl’s names
• Drinks
• Body parts
• Football teams

Choose a topic (see list of categories above in previous game) or choose a grammar area such as adjectives, nouns etc.

Children have to take it in turns to list items within the category (A-Z)

e.g. food

A- apple

B- banana

C- cake

D- donut etc.

This would be perfect for younger classes or for building vocabulary in English/Gaeilge.

Have a selection of items (real life using a visualiser) or images on a powerpoint. Show the image with 10 items. Get the children to close their eyes (or just move onto the next slide). What’s missing?

This is a great oral language activity and chance for children to use their imagination. One child starts a story, says a line or two followed by ‘and then’, the next child continues the story … (Teacher could type up the story (removing all the ‘and thens’) and you’ll have a great collaborative story.

This is a great Maths game. Give the children a number e.g. 45 and ask them to think of as many ways as they can of making 45. (Depending on the age of the pupils they could use a range of operations e.g. addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, directed numbers etc.)

Give a question or statement such as

• Name something that is white
• Name something that rings
• Name something that is soft
• Name something that is colourful

(As an extra challenge, they could be asked to name 3/4 things within the category)

Choose a famous/well-known person. The children ask questions such as

Is it a male/female?

Is the person tall?

Is the person real?

Is the person a character on a TV show

The teacher (or child who is asked to be on) can only answer yes/no.

This is based on the game Hedbanz.

Ask one child to close their eyes. Show an image on screen (could be an animal/something you’d find in a house etc.) to the class. Then hide the image.

The child who has their eyes closed then asks a series of questions to try to get the correct answer.

The class can only respond with yes/no.