15 Fun Online Games for Virtual Classrooms
Teaching online doesn’t mean giving up fun classroom activities. With the right ideas, you can keep students engaged, motivated, and interacting just as much as they would in person. In this post, you’ll find a collection of easy-to-use games and activities designed specifically for virtual classrooms. These games work well on Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or any other online teaching platform. And the best part is, these games are all free and require little to no preparation.
Quiz Games for Online Classes
Quiz games are an easy, low-prep activity that work perfectly in virtual classrooms. All students need is a pen and paper to write their answers. One popular option is the “Top 5” quiz, which kids and teenagers especially enjoy.
In a Top 5 quiz, each question has several possible answers. For example: “Name a zoo animal.” Students write down one answer, then hold it up to their webcam so everyone can see. The teacher reveals the actual top five answers, and students earn points if theirs is on the list. No points are given for answers not in the top five. Students really enjoy this game, especially when they guess the top answer. Download our Top Five Quiz PowerPoint Template to easily create your own quiz for you online class.
Liar Game for Online Classes
The Liar Game is a fun ice-breaker and a great way to get students talking in a virtual classroom. It works well for new groups or after a break to help students reconnect.
How to Play
- Ask the class a question, such as “What did you do over the weekend?” or “What’s the most interesting thing you’ve ever eaten?”
- Tell students they can answer truthfully or make up a believable lie.
- Give them a few minutes to prepare their story.
- One by one, students share their answers while the rest of the class guesses whether it’s true or a lie.
This activity is a lot of fun and can lead to some hilarious stories. Students especially enjoy it when they are able to make their classmates believe their crazy stories.
Word Association Games for Online Classes
Word association games can be easily played in a virtual classroom and they require little to no preparation. If you’re not familiar with word association games, they are simple games in which the teacher would choose a word and then ask students to say the first related word that comes to mind.
A great way to play this in a virtual classroom is to give students a particular topic, for example, ‘animals’, and then ask students one by one to name something from that topic. The first student who can’t think of a word, or says a word that was mentioned previously, must do a forfeit. The forfeit could be that the student has to pull a silly face, do a silly dance, or just lose a point. For some other word association game ideas, check out our other post, Five Fun Word Association Games.
Describe And Draw Game for Online Classes
This activity is a great way to practice listening skills. First, the teacher should find something they want the students to draw and place it off-screen where students cannot see it. Next, the teacher should start describing the object, and the students should listen and draw what they think the object looks like.
Once the teacher has finished describing the object and the students have finished drawing, ask the students to show their drawings to the other members of the virtual classroom. Next, show the students the object that you were describing and see whose drawing resembles it the most. After playing one time you can also let a student be the one who chooses an object and describes it. This game is a lot of fun, and kids especially find it funny when they see all the different drawings from their classmates.
Online Activity Videos
In your virtual classroom, if you are able to share your screen, then our collection of activity videos can be used when you want a fun, no-prep, ready-to-use game. On our activity videos page, we have over 1000 ready-to-use games on many different topics. All are free and be shown in your virtual classroom from this website or from our YouTube channel. Here’s an example of a simple guessing game:
Online Scavenger Hunt
An online scavenger hunt is a fast-paced, high-energy game that works especially well with kids and requires zero preparation. Simply name an item students are likely to have at home, such as something blue, a toy, or an object shaped like a circle.
Students race to find the item and return to show it on camera. The unusual or unexpected things they bring back often lead to lots of laughs and great conversation.
Online Guess Who Game
This fun warm-up or icebreaker is perfect for getting students engaged in an online class. Choose one student to close their eyes or look away from the screen. Then, pick another student to be the “secret witch” (or another fun character). The secret witch says something like, “I am a scary witch! Be very afraid! Wahahaha!” The student with their eyes closed then opens them and tries to guess whose voice they heard. It’s simple, gets everyone laughing, and works well for building listening and speaking skills in a virtual classroom.
Would You Rather Game for Online Classes
The “Would You Rather” game is a fun way to spark conversation and learn more about your students’ personalities. Ask a question with two choices, such as, “Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible?” Students can answer out loud or type their choice in the chat. This activity works for all ages, encourages creative thinking, and can lead to interesting follow-up discussions. For ready-to-use questions, see our list of Funny Would You Rather Questions for Kids.
Mystery Box Game
This next activity is a fun PowerPoint game that you can easily play online with students. For this game, you’ll need our Mystery Box PowerPoint Game Template. Simply add your own questions and/or pictures to the template before the lesson. To play this game, divide the students into two teams. The teams will take turns answering a question. After answering the question, students can then choose to keep the box or give the box to the other team. Inside the box is good points (e.g +1000) or bad points (-1000). Although this game takes a little preparation, it is worth it as students really love this activity.
Online Simon Says Game
The classic “Simon Says” game is easy to adapt for virtual classrooms and always gets students moving. Ask students to stand up and step back from their cameras so they have space to move. Give an instruction starting with “Simon says…”, such as “Simon says touch your head.” Students should follow only if you say “Simon says” first. If you give an instruction without it, and a student still acts, they’re out for that round. It’s a simple way to add energy and physical activity to your online lessons.
The Chain Game
This game needs no preparation and is great for when you have extra time in your online class. To play, one student should say a word, and then the next student should say a word that starts with the last letter of the previous word. To make it more difficult, you can introduce a category of words (e.g. animals) that students must focus on.
The Telepathy Game
To play this game, you’ll need to download our Telepathy Game PowerPoint Template or make your own. The idea of the game is simple. You ask students a question and give them two possible answers. Only one of them is the answer that the teacher chose. So, students must use ‘telepathy’ to read the teacher’s mind and guess the answer. If they guess correctly, they get a point. Students basically have a 50/50 chance to guess the answer. Although this game is so simple, kids really love it and love pretending that they have the power to read minds.
Make A Story Game
This simple activity often leads to hilarious and creative results. Start a story but leave the sentence unfinished, such as “Once upon a time, there was a …”. Ask one student to complete the sentence and begin the next one, also stopping before it’s finished. The next student continues in the same way, and so on.
In an online class, students can type their sentences in the chat while you compile them. At the end, read the full story aloud to the class for plenty of laughs.
Word Detective
Word Detective is a great activity for practicing reading and scanning skills. Display a text on screen, or have students use their own copy at home. Choose a word and ask students to act as “word detectives,” finding and counting how many times it appears in the text.
To make it more challenging, ask them to search for a specific type of word, such as nouns, verbs, or adverbs. This keeps students focused while strengthening vocabulary and grammar awareness.
Let’s Dance Game
This lively activity can be played online by sharing your screen and using our Let’s Dance PowerPoint Game Template. The template contains 30 boxes, each with space for a word or number. Fill in the boxes with the vocabulary or content you want students to practice.
Students take turns reading the words in sequence, choosing to say 1, 2, or 3 words at a time. The student who ends up saying the final word must do a silly dance on camera.