Board Game Hacks for the Classroom

Board games are the perfect classroom tools for helping students with critical thinking, problem solving, and more. But have you ever thought of transforming ordinary board games into ways to teach curriculum?

Here are some of our favorite board game hacks for the classroom. Plus, check out this video that shows three of the ideas in action.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCeQ6i_8nns[/embedyt]

1. Practice math with Jenga.

Take a Jenga game and add pieces of dry-erase tape to random pieces. Then use a marker to write different math problems for students to solve. Once you have several math problems on the pieces, set up Jenga like you’d usually play. Whenever students get a math problem, they have to solve it. If playing in pairs or teams, give a point for each correct answer until the tower falls!

2. Transform Trivial Pursuit into a curriculum trivia game.

SOURCE: Student Savvy

This teacher really got creative with this game. She completely transformed an old Trivial Pursuit game into a trivia game for her class. They were studying biomes, so all the questions related to the lesson. You could easily make this game work for other curriculum areas as well.

3. Use Connect 4 to practice sight words.

Sight words require so much time and emphasis, so it’s always good to have new ways for students to practice. All you need for this is a Connect 4 game and some small stickers (you can get the right size from the dollar store). Just write letters on different sticks that spell out sight words. Then encourage students to form as many words as they can.

[contextly_auto_sidebar]

4. Guess the dinosaur.

Guess Who? is a classic, and we love the idea of giving it a new spin. In this version here, we turned it into a dinosaur game. If you’d like to download our dino game board for free, you can get it right here.

5. Play multiplication checkers.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDV2O_p4Acw[/embedyt]

A checkers game board is perfect for adding questions and curriculum notes. Take a look at this example and learn how checkers became a fun and easy way to practice multiplication.

6. Make a giant Candyland.

SOURCE: Literacious

We’ve seen a few different versions of Candyland in school, and this is definitely one of our favorites. It celebrates books and literacy. You can also create your own giant board game to test out curriculum. (Try making it outside with sidewalk chalk, too!)

7. Put Scrabble on the bulletin board.

SOURCE: Unknown

This game of Scrabble is up in front of the classroom for everyone to play. It encourages kids to take breaks and play against their teacher. We also love the idea of removing certain letters or practicing spelling words.

8. Create a Homeworkopoly game.

SOURCE: Literacy Loves Company

This teachers uses a new take on this classic board game to reward her students when they do homework. Learn how it works on Literacy Loves Company.

9. Set up Jeopardy! on your whiteboard.

SOURCE: Kayce Morris

Jeopardy! is another giant board game that can fit on a bulletin board, whiteboard, or wall. It’s also another easy one you can create and use for just about any subject or curriculum area.