What are some fun board games for English class? If you have never used the game Snake Oil…You need to start. My students LOVE it, and it’s about arguing your point. It’s perfect for argumentative writing. It is also MENSA-approved. But let’s look at other board game options, too— and they’re each approved and school-appropriate for middle school ELA students!
ALL these games are linked directly in my Amazon store so it’s perfectly organized for you by best-rated versions. Click Here to browse, and know that any purchase through that link results in a small affiliate commission to me at zero cost to you–it’s a win-win 🙂
- Snake Oil – Point of view, argument, facts and evidence, persuasion
- Funglish – Adjectives and descriptions
- Boggle – Word search creation
- Superfight – Super silly arguments that must be supported and proven to win
- Scattergories – Creativity with categories of items and words
- Taboo – Words and descriptions guessing game
- Bananagrams – Who can build crossword ‘grids’ the fastest
- Parts of Speech Bingo – Call out the part and they find a word, or vice versa
- Trashketball – So many uses for these inside-friendly hoops, baskets, and soft balls
- Scrabble – The ultimate word-creation game (and now the tiles ‘lock’ together)
- Apples to Apples – Really funny comparisons
- Wordle – Like the original App, but now for real-life word guessing with cards
Next Step:
When, exactly, do students play these games in the classroom? . . . Because there’s NEVER enough time for all the reading, writing, speaking, grammar, vocabulary, research, novels, and on and on, right?
Here are 6 times I rely on ^those^ games, and these situations come up again and again all year long to where I’m always looking to grow my classroom game board collection⤵️
- “Fun Friday” Game Day: Whole class reward for meeting a particular goal we’ve been working towards.
- Small group station: I like to have one of my station rotations be a fun, yet educational word game because I want my students to LOVE words, language, and learning.
- Mid-Year Parent Night: Instead of listening to me talk about ‘what’s new’ and bore everyone, I set up “stations” in my class and invite parents and students to play.
- After-School Student Club: If you’ve been told you MUST sponsor something, choose this! It’s literally the easiest, and most fun club you could ever do—Board Game Club!
- Teacher Table: When my students work in small groups, I like to work with a group, too. Sometimes, I’ll have a game at my “teacher table station” simply to build relationships with my students and to gain insight into how they think.
- Awkward Class Times: You had a field trip and now there’s just 30 minutes left in class. Or all the band / football / cheer students are out and you’re left with 11 students. What to do, what to do . . . Fun, educational games are the solution!
