On mini-white boards or post its, pupils have 1 minute on their own to write down two things learnt (last lesson or this lesson). Then in pairs, they have 1 minute to make it 4 things. Then two pairs combine and have to make it 8 things. This could also be used to generate ideas …
Pupils choose a card from a bag that contains a term they have learnt in the lesson (it might also have other associated words that they cannot use). They must describe this term to the class or their partner, without using the word itself. The class/partner must write down what they think it is on …
Pupils have to make as many words they can related to a topic using scrabble tiles. Then calculate how many points each word is worth! They can’t repeat letters- they can only use what is shown!
In teams, give pupils a letter and some categories of things to come up with that begin with that letter. If they think of an answer no one else has they get points (5 per word).
Hold a ‘press conference’ where pupils interview either the teacher or another child about their knowledge on the new topic for 1 minute.
Pose a statement/question to the children. Get them to think creatively in response to an ‘out of the box’ question and are encouraged to think of more than one perspective i.e. what are all the positive, negative and interesting impacts of that question.
Give pupils a set of 3 or 4 statements or images. They must prepare to say which the odd one is out and why. Can be a challenging starter, and quick to engage all if they respond with A-D cards.
9 keywords or questions are placed into a 3×3 grid. Pupils play 0/X against each other to answer or define the key term, the first to three in a row wins!
Half of the class are given questions and half are given answers, or half given one word of a key term and the others the other half. Pupils must silently go around the room trying to find out who their partner is. Once they have found one another they can either see if they can …
Pupils have to talk for a minute recapping a topic without pausing or hesitating and no repetition is allowed. Great to play with a timer on the board, pupils can ‘buzz’ one another out should they do any of the above!