• Even prepared teachers occasionally need an emergency plan to fill the odd 10 or 20 minutes. Whether to fill the last 15 minutes of a stressful day or to reward the completion of a challenging task, having classroom games ready helps anyone who has to manage large groups of children.
  
  

Word Games

• Use spelling words to hold a classroom spelling bee. Write the words on 3-by-5 notecards. Have the moderator (teacher or selected student) randomly draw a word from the stack. Spellers who correctly complete their words move on to another round. Spellers who misspell their words are eliminated. Keep going until there is one student left or for a specific amount of time.
  
  The dictionary game also is a fun activity at school. The teacher chooses a list of unusual and obscure words from the dictionary and writes the word and definition on slips of paper. Cut out enough slips for every student to have three or four. Read the word. Each student makes up a definition and writes it down; the definition can be a serious guess or seriously silly. Collect and read all definitions, then have students vote on which they think is correct. Students get one point for a correct guess and one for every vote their definition gets. The person with the most points wins.
  
  

Active Games

• For heads up seven up, pick seven students to be it, and stand them at the front of the room. The remaining students hide their eyes and put one fist out with thumb up. Each "it" goes to a student and touch his thumb, which the student folds down. The "its" come to the front and recite, "Heads up, seven up!" and all students can now look. Those chosen stand and take turns guessing who tagged them. Correct guessers take the "it's" place. Continue the game until everyone has been tagged at least once.
  
  Button, button, who's got the button? works for groups of any size. Students sit in a circle. One student, button in hand, stands in the center. One student (the guesser) stands outside the circle with eyes closed. The button carrier passes it to someone in the circle. All students recite, "Button, button, who's got the button?" while holding out closed hands. At this point, the guesser enters the circle and has three guesses to find the button.
  
  

Other Classics

• Bingo requires a bingo set with cards enough for the class. Chips or balls (depending on your bingo set) with a number and a letter (B-I-N-G-or O) are drawn one at a time with the letter and number being called out. Cards that have that number in the row corresponding with the letter should be marked with a chip. Those who complete a row shout "Bingo!" and receive a candy or other small reward. If teachers prefer, they can just play for fun instead of a prize.
  
  Card games, checkers and chess work well for an indoor recess or filling in an odd block of time. Let students pick their own partners, or choose groups and partners at random. Encourage students to play with someone they usually do not spend time with so they get to know one another.