Depends on the grade level.  UNO seems to be universally popular though (I teach elementary and middle school levels). 

Some of my middle school classes love Apples to Apples (I play a simplified version with pictures and adjectives).  I've also taught PIT and a class of grade 3s went kinda raucously nuts over it. 

JENGA is pretty popular too (I tape questions and key expressions w/fill in the blanks on the blocks). 

It just depends on the class.  One of my classes really got into Battleship. 

Jenga has been super popular for me, especially when I institute a time limit on how long they can take on moving the blocks and penalize them a point for failing to move a block in time. I have enough sets to create 6 teams to compete against each other. I've colored my blocks so that I can turn it into a listening activity -- so if I say one phrase, they know they've got to move a blue block or something. To make it harder, I might ask a question where a certain colored block represents the answer to that question, and give teams bonus points for creating a correct complete sentence after moving their blocks.

Anything to do with memory always goes over well, especially ones where the students have to look at a picture for something like 20 seconds and then write down the answer to a question about the picture (EX: What color was so-and-so's shirt? or What was the girl holding? or How many fish were in the picture?). They get a point for every right answer.

Scattergories have also gone over well, especially when I enforce weird "upgrades" like making one student from every group switch teams at different intervals until they all eventually end up on completely different teams.

Also, pass the ball is pretty universally loved among my students as is musical chairs.

Also, pass the ball is pretty universally loved among my students as is musical chairs.

Musical chairs is great. I usually make it an A/B conversation musical chairs by creating two circles, one for boys and one for girls. When the music stops there are then two people with no chair, and they are able to practice the short dialogue that way. I usually don't remove chairs either, I just let them all stay and continue. They think it is hilarious when the same person has to do it again...Something similar can be done with putting erasers in the middle of the table. When the music stops, everyone grabs and eraser, if you are the person without one, you potentially have to do the dialogue. We typically have 6 teams, so I just roll a big die twice in order to see who has to speak.

Quote from: lifeisgood6447 on July 20, 2017, 01:38:34 PM

Quote from: yirj17 on July 20, 2017, 12:10:02 PM

Also, pass the ball is pretty universally loved among my students as is musical chairs.

Musical chairs is great. I usually make it an A/B conversation musical chairs by creating two circles, one for boys and one for girls. When the music stops there are then two people with no chair, and they are able to practice the short dialogue that way.

Yeah, your circle game! It's been a while since I've done it because I don't have enough space to use it at my current schools, but it's been a big hit in the past.

Yay for useful! 

The all time best game I've ever played with my 1st and 2nd graders boys and girls classes is the board race game. I have never played a game where every single student in both second and first grade paid so much attention and asked to play it again and again and stayed late so every student could go.

It works best if you have a key phrase in which you can interchange the last word. For example, I've used: Do you remember __________? Could you pass the ________? Do you know how to ____________? I write the key phrase at the top of the board. I make two identical sets of cards with a word or phrase written on it and split the class into two even teams - one to to the left of the board, one to the right. I pass out one set of cards to the left half of the class and the second set to the right half. Each student has to have one card. If you have an odd number of students, you have to give a student two cards - I usually pick a strong English speaker, but in the second round, one team usually ends up fighting over the extra card because they want to run. I stand at the front of the board with a cup of the words written on small pieces of paper. Also make sure each team has a marker and eraser at the front. When they know their word, I draw a small piece of paper. The students have to look at their word or phrase, run to the board, and write the full sentence including the question mark. I judge as getting a point by the first student who says the completed sentence. If their handwriting gets too messy (i.e. you can't even read what they wrote) I usually give the other team a point. I did this game for a whole class period once and changed it up each round having the students change cards. For the second round they had to write the sentence and the answer to the question and then speak. And for the third round, they had to write the sentence, then answer the question without writing it. Only my 2nd grade boys had the stamina to play 3 rounds. My girls wanted to stop after two rounds.

Seriously, in my entire one year of teaching, this is hands down the most fun, most competitive, most lively game I have done. It works the best if your board is split into two.

notboringenglish.com has some great materials for elementary and middle school.

Trashball is great for review (esp. this time of year). super competitive, fun, and takes up the whole 40 minutes.

Title sums it up: what's the most hard-hitting game you've played with your kids?

My summer camp is only one hour long. For one day.
So I'm looking for something that'll make them really enjoy the time their parents are forcing them to spend in the classroom on their holidays.

The one that's gone over best for me was the "permission chicken" PP someone posted for level 2 lesson 3 I believe (middle school). The game was essentially employing the new phrase "is it okay if" with a series of chicken dares the students would have to complete or the other team would get points. Loser of rock paper scissors would read the dare (ie. "is it okay if I stand on one leg and sing the ABC's") and the winner would answer. Boys vs. girls made it ridiculously competitive. The funnest part was watching kids that are typically painfully shy and refuse to speak doing k-pop dances in front of everyone and telling girls they are beautiful just so they didn't screw over their kin.

Did you write the dares or the students? This sounds like it would be a lot of fun, once they break the ice. Also, for my money hot seat or family fued never failed me. Dixit is pretty good but there are some rare times that kids are not into it.

"The Chair Game" (I didn't name it) is highly requested around here. Everyone sits in a circle facing inwards with one student standing in the middle who says something true about themselves. Anyone else that it's true for must change seats. It also allows for a lot of English level disparity. Lower levels can use simple sentences. (I'm a boy!) Higher levels can make more elaborate ones. (I had rice for breakfast!) Appallingly low levels can just say a color they're wearing or something.

This is a great ice breaker. I find that it works best with 15ish students. It actually does have a name though. It is called the "Circle of Truth" ice breaker. I am pretty sure that I have seen it called something else, too, but I can't remember off the top of my head.