Give pupils a start word and in pairs or teams they have to find the next word in the list. It must start with the last letter of the previous word. Eg. Sheep à Panda à Anteater. To make it harder you could set the subject area or word type (ie. adjective).
Give 9 letters and get pupils to make as many words as they can. If it works for the topic you are teaching, hide a key word in amongst the letters and see if anyone gets it!
Key words (9) are placed in a 3×3 grid. Pupils describe as many words as possible on the board to their team mates in a minute to try and win. Behind the words is a catchphrase that there are bonus points for guessing!
Get pupils to review their learning by choosing 9 out of a possible 12 numbers or words and complete a grid. The students can then cross out the words as the teacher describes them; first to complete their grid wins! Another way this can be used is to focus the children’s learning on a particular …
Everyone (teacher included) has a mini-whiteboard and pen. The teacher gives a calculation or anagram and everyone starts doing it. Either set the timer or give the pupil your time plus 1 minute. When they think they have the correct answer they must hold up it up on their whiteboard. Another version involves having a …
Provide pupils with a number of clues for them to decipher, they must use the first letter of the answer each time to solve the word.
Unscramble keywords presented to pupils at the start of the lesson. Scaffold this by providing clues.