Teacher Tips
5 No-Prep Classroom Games to Get Students Talking and Moving
Aug
Some classroom activities sound simple until you realise how much preparation they require. Cards need to be cut, worksheets need to be printed, materials need to be organised, and suddenly your “five-minute activity” has created another twenty minutes of teacher preparation.
That is why I like keeping a few no-prep classroom games ready to use. These activities need little more than a projected question and a class willing to participate.
They work especially well during the first weeks of school, form time, advisory, brain breaks, transitions, cover lessons, and those unexpected few minutes at the end of class.
Here are five that are easy to use again and again.
1. This or That
The basic idea could not be simpler.
Give students two choices.
For example:
Sweet or salty?
Books or movies?
Summer or winter?
Individual work or group work?
Students choose one.
That is already enough for a quick activity, but you can change the way students respond depending on the amount of time and energy you want.
They can raise their hands, point left or right, stand up, move to a side of the classroom, or discuss their answer with a partner.
I keep a ready-made deck of 40 This or That questions for exactly this purpose.
The advantage of a projected deck is that you can run the activity for two minutes or twenty minutes without changing the setup.
2. Move to a Side
This is one of my favourite ways to turn a quiet class into a more active one.
Choose a question with two answers.
Designate one side of the room for each choice.
Then tell students to move.
For example:
THIS: Stay Home
THAT: Go Out
Students move to their side.
Once they arrive, give them thirty seconds to talk to someone nearby about why they chose that answer.
You have now turned one simple choice into both a movement break and a speaking activity.
3. Class Prediction Game
Before students vote, ask them to predict what the rest of the class will choose.
For example:
Dogs or cats?
First ask:
“Which answer do you think will win?”
Students predict.
Then hold the actual vote.
You can add the results to the board and compare the prediction with the final total.
This small change makes a regular classroom poll much more interesting.
4. Find Someone Who Agrees
Ask students to choose between two options, but do not stop after the vote.
Tell them:
“Find someone who chose the same answer.”
Give them thirty seconds to explain their reasoning.
Then change the challenge:
“Now find someone who chose the opposite answer.”
Students hear two different perspectives without the discussion becoming formal or intimidating.
This works particularly well with questions such as:
Plan ahead or be spontaneous?
Talk or listen?
Try something new or stick with favourites?
Students usually discover that classmates have reasons for their choices that they had not considered.
5. Rapid-Fire Partner Questions
Put students in pairs and display a series of questions.
Give each pair about thirty seconds per question.
For example:
Music or podcasts?
Beach or mountains?
Video games or board games?
Explore space or explore the ocean?
Students choose and briefly explain why.
After two or three questions, rotate partners.
The rapid pace prevents conversations from becoming awkward and gives students something specific to talk about.
The Trick Is Keeping the Questions Simple
The most effective quick classroom games usually have very simple instructions.
Students should spend their time participating rather than trying to understand the rules.
That is why two-choice questions work so well.
There is always an answer available.
Students can participate without needing specialised knowledge.
There is no correct response.
And the teacher can decide how much discussion to add.
A question such as:
Fly or be invisible?
can take ten seconds if students simply vote.
Or it can become a five-minute conversation if students move, compare answers, and explain their reasoning.
Keep a No-Prep Activity Ready
I like having activities like these prepared before I need them.
They are useful when:
- students need a quick brain break
- a lesson finishes early
- a new group needs an icebreaker
- the class needs more movement
- students need a speaking prompt
- form time needs a quick activity
- a substitute teacher needs something simple
- you want an easy end-of-week game
My This or That Classroom Icebreaker Game includes 40 ready-to-project questions plus 6 bonus activity slides, including Move to a Side, Turn and Talk, Class Vote, How to Play, and two blank templates for creating your own questions.
You can take a closer look here:
It is designed to be the kind of resource you can open, project, and use immediately whenever your class needs a quick change of pace.
