Fresh Ideas for Content Review: Review Games

Would you like to infuse some fun into your content review?  This post talks about six quick and easy games that are guaranteed to get your students interested in reviewing!

All of these games are included in my Review Games Packet with more details on how to play them.


Memory Game
In this game, you would put out a collection of flash cards or related items.  Students have a short amount of time to memorize the items.  Afterward, students would need to recall as many of the items as possible and be able to tell how they are related.

In the example picture below, I have a collection of cell organelle flash cards.  The student who recalled the most words and made the connection that these are cell organelles would win the round.

Timeline Game

Another name for this game could be "Silence" because students must arrange themselves in order without making a sound!  The game can be adapted with very little preparation to fit almost any curriculum or theme.

The first step is to count out enough sticky notes/papers for each student.  Then, choose a topic related to your curriculum and get started letting the students line up according to your topic!

Puzzle Pieces Review Game

This game requires a little preparation.  To prepare, laminate five pictures.  You might laminate pictures relating to a teaching theme and then cut each picture into four to six puzzle pieces.

Goal:  You want to end up with one puzzle piece for each student in your class, so you will want to create a variety of four-piece, five-piece, and six-piece puzzles.

In the example below, the deciduous tree matches with the acorn and the coniferous tree matches with the pine cone.

Four Corners
I talk in more detail in this post about this game, but the idea is to be able to use a multiple-choice test have students moving to different corners of the room, marked with the letters of the test choices.  I made letters big enough to see from anywhere in the room with PowerPoint.  I decided to laminate them so they would last longer.

I include the letters and step-by-step instructions in my content review packet.

Pass the Chicken

Goal:  In this game, no one wants to be stuck holding the chicken.

Directions:

1. Prepare some themed topic ideas ahead of time 
2. All students stand in a circle.
3. One student is "it" and holds the rubber chicken.
4. The teacher or "caller" says to the person holding the chicken, "Name three organelles.  Pass the chicken!"As soon as the caller says, "Pass the chicken!", the person holding the chicken passes it to the right.
5. Students quickly pass the chicken around the circle.  If it makes it back to the original person holding the chicken before he or she can name the amount of things named at the beginning, the holder is still "it".
6. Otherwise, the person holding the chicken when "it" finishes is the new "it".

Knowledge Tag

Goal:  Review content knowledge with physical activity.

Directions:

1. Designate three or four "taggers" and three or four "thawers".
2. The thawers each have a set of knowledge cards with answers. 
3. On the "go signal", students begin the tag game.
4. When tagged, the student stops and begins doing jumping jacks or running in place.
5. The thawer role is to find a student who has been tagged and ask that student a question from the cards.
6. If the question is answered correctly, the student goes free.  If not, he or she is given another question.

If you are interested in learning more about these games and downloading a copy, CLICK HERE.


Have you tried any of these review games?  Which of these sounds the most applicable for your class?  I'd love to hear your ideas!