21. Set up a quiz bowl tournament of quick questions and answers involving as many of your students as possible. To add interest, vary the level of difficulty, rules of play, way of scoring, and incentives.

22. When students have to read a passage, a nonfiction article, their text, or even a newspaper, give them a list of names, events, people, and other items to search for as a scavenger hunt activity. When students work in groups, this is particularly effective.

23. Have students move to work with a partner to interview each other about the topic under study. If they have already completed the day’s work, they can ask questions about the material they just studied. If they are just beginning the lesson, the interview questions can be designed to determine what they already know about the topic. The questions can be generated by their teacher or by students themselves.

24. Design your own board game to fit your topic. You can make small boards and photocopy them for students to use in a small group, or you can make a large board for the entire class to use. The tasks you assign your students in a board game can range from simply answering questions to solving problems. Students also enjoy creating and playing their own board games.

25. Play Twenty Questions. Write an answer on a slip of paper, then have students take turns asking a question each until they guess the answer. Keep track of the number of questions that they have to ask in order to guess correctly. In this game, the lowest number of questions wins.

26. Play Name That Person. This game is similar to Twenty Questions in that students try to guess answers with as few clues as possible. You should make up the clues in advance. On game day, you’ll call them out one at a time until someone can name the targeted person, battle, city, or other item.

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27. Chain Making is an educational version of the old alphabet game that small children play. One player begins thinking of an object relating to the unit of study and beginning with the letter “A.” The next student has to repeat that clue and add an object with the letter “B.” The game continues until students are stumped or until they reach the end of the alphabet.

28. Many teachers use Bingo to review vocabulary words. Photocopy a game board with sixteen or twenty-five blocks. Give students a list of words to place in the blanks. They can use bits of paper to cover the words when you call out definitions.

29. Play Hangman. In the traditional version, students guess letters in a word or phrase to keep the figure “alive.” In other versions, students can give correct answers to short-answer questions or define vocabulary terms.

30. Hold sporting events. Divide your students into teams, and use the chalkboard to play games of football, soccer, or whatever sport currently interests to your students. Students advance by correctly answering questions or completing assigned tasks