22 Awesome Games to Play on Zoom with Students 2023

Teachers can choose games to play on zoom with students of all ages to make learning fun, exciting, and interactive.

Remote or online learning can be as fun and interactive as classroom learning, the remote style of teaching was never designed to be boring in the first place and to disrupt the traditional learning style. Doesn’t matter where you are in the world, with a computer or tablet and a stable Wi-Fi connection you can learn whatever you want from any institution in the world.

At the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic where business places were shut down and schools too had to follow, remote learning came to the aid of every student. With video chat tools such as Zoom and Google Meet, students and teachers were still able to interact, pass knowledge, skills, and have fun.

ATTENTION: While you have fun playing these games online, we’ve made a list of online colleges that pay you to join their classes.

With a vast number of awesome features and a friendly user interface, the Zoom video chat app rose to popularity real quick. It started with connecting family and friends to business people making use of it but the video chat function also allows teachers and students to transition from traditional classroom learning to remote learning from home.

How do you make Zoom meetings fun for students?

Zoom online video chatting platform has served a number of purposes including using it as a remote learning tool for students to learn as if they were in a classroom. However, it is very easy for students to lose focus during remote teaching they can get bored, tired, or not find the class as engaging and interactive as classroom learning.

To make Zoom meetings fun for students, teachers can play a number of the games or other activities listed here with their students to create engaging learning thereby enhancing their learning process.

Why you should consider playing games with your students?

There are many reasons why you may want to consider playing games with your students whether via remote learning or in the classroom:

It boosts students’ motivation and makes them pay more attention
It relieves them of their stress
Boosts class cooperation
Provides students and teachers new knowledge they also get to learn something new about themselves
Enhances students’ memory
Develops students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills
It helps in controlling competitiveness among students
Learning becomes fun, exciting, interactive, and engaging

As unrealistic as it may seem, virtual learning is our reality now and with tools like Zoom, teachers can efficiently reach students without physical contact and provide them with quality instruction. To keep your students engaged, give them a short break after working hard, or reward them for reaching a class goal, there are varieties of games you can play with your students via Zoom.

In this article, we have compiled the top awesome games to play on zoom with students along with instructions on how to play these games with your students, that is, if you don’t already know how the game works. These games will make online learning fun and engaging making your students look forward to a new class.

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Games to Play on Zoom with Students

Scavenger Hunt
Follow the Leader
Freeze Dance
First Letter, Last Letter
Memory
Mystery Sound
5 Second Rule
I Spy
Show and Tell
Talent Show
Quick Draw
Guess the Sound
Crossword Puzzles
Category Is…
Charades
Two Truths and a Lie
Drawing on Your Head
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Story Chain
Simon Says

Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger Hunt is one of the games to play on zoom with students and it is designed to help students move around and stretch their bodies after a long time of sitting in front of the screen. It involves choosing a common household item e.g. spoon and telling your students to bring it to the computer screen, you can go ahead to set a time frame like 60 seconds and the first student to find and bring the item gets 5 points while others can be awarded 3 points.

Follow the Leader

This is also a warm-up game for students, simply choose one of the students to be the leader and have the leader do their favorite warm-up activities while the other students follow. The other students will copy the chosen leader until it gets to the next leader’s turn.

So, if you want to make online learning fun consider playing one of the games to play on zoom with students such as Follow the Leader.

Freeze Dance

Freeze dance is one of the games to play on zoom with students, it is a “groovy” game and it involves playing fun songs for kids to show off their dance moves. When the music stops, everyone freezes, and anyone still dancing is out and sits down to watch the others.

First Letter, Last Letter

This fun game among the many games to play on zoom with students and is designed to enhance student’s spelling and vocabulary skills and here is how it is played. Teachers will choose a category, for example, animals. The first player will name an animal like a goat the next player must name an animal that starts with the last letter in goat like toad. The next player will name an animal that starts with the last letter of toad and so on.

Memory

This fun game boosts your students’ critical thinking and reasoning skills and it is suitable for all ages. To play the game, prepare a board with random items such as a pencil, ruler, scissors, crayons, plastic bottle, etc. Instruct your students, telling them they have 30 seconds (or an amount of time you think is appropriate) to memorize the items they see and they must write down a list of the items nor take a screenshot, they must only memorize it by sight.

After 30 seconds, take the board out of sight and remove one item or object away then show it again to your students on the computer screen. Ask your students to name the missing item, the fastest student gets a point. Memory is one of the games to play on zoom with students to create an interactive, fun remote learning environment.

Mystery Sound

Mystery Sound is one of the games to play on zoom with students to make online learning almost as fun and engaging as face-to-face learning.

The game is a fun activity that tests students’ power of perception and here is how teachers and students can play the game. Move your hand out of sight from your camera and make a sound with something like crumple a piece of paper or snap your finger and have your students take turns guessing what they heard.

5 Second Rule

In this game, students have just 5 seconds to name 3 things that fit into a particular category, such as “Name 3 writers” or “Name 3 colors”.

Seeking a way to make online learning fun? Or don’t know any games to play on zoom with students? Try the 5 Second Rule game with your students.

I Spy

Don’t know how to make your class interactive and relieve stress off your students? You may want to try I Spy, it is one of the games to play on zoom with students and make remote learning exciting and vibrant.

I Spy is an interactive game that tests and develops students’ observation skills and here is how it is done. The teacher says “I spy something green” or “I spy something soft” which is in the student’s background, students now have to look around and take turns guessing what you described in their surroundings.

Show and Tell

As a teacher, keeping your class fun, whether offline or online, is your responsibility, and here on games to play on zoom with students will help you do just that. Fun, interactive classes help students learn better and faster, developing their skills in different areas.

The Show and Tell game is designed to develop and improve student’s speaking and social skills. In this game, you will pick a student and have them share something from home while the other listens you can do it weekly. Add this among the games to play on zoom with students.

Talent Show

Talent Show is one of the games to play on zoom with students and it is what it is, a talent show presented by each student to their teacher and fellow students. Doing a talent show at the end of a lesson can unlock your students’ potential and talent. Encourage your students to showcase their talent, it could be dancing, single, drawing, telling stories, or showcasing a book they wrote, and so on.

Quick Draw

Quick Draw is a game better played by older students, it is an online game that challenges students to draw an item or something else matching the prompt but they have to do it very quickly, often in less than 10 seconds.

Older students get bored and tired easily, adding this among the games to play on zoom with students and actually practicing it with them would help in reducing their stress.

Guess the Sound

Younger students will enjoy this game more but it is suitable for all student age, in this game you will ask each student to find an object in their house that makes a sound and have them bring it to their computer but keep it hidden from the camera.

Call on the student one after the other to make their object make its sound and have the other students guess the object they are hiding. This is one of the games to play on zoom with students to make online learning interesting.

Crossword Puzzles

Crossword Puzzles is one of the games to play on zoom with students and build student’s critical thinking and reasoning skills also suitable for younger and older students. To play this game with your students, share your screen and pull up a crossword puzzle, set a timer for so many minutes and each student can write on a notepad the words that stand out to them. When time is over, the teacher can call on different students to solve.

Category Is…

This is a simple fun game whereby the teacher chooses a leader, that is, one of the students, and have this leader choose a category. Category ideas could be animals, sports activities, song genres, or household items. After the leader chooses a category, each student will now list an item that fits into that category.

You can set a time frame for students to list an item, say 5 seconds, and it has to keep going round. Any student that fails to name an item within the category or wastes too much time mentioning an item is out of the game and will have to sit out and watch other students play the game. The game comes to an end when only one student remains.

The game is suitable for students of all ages.

Charades

Charades are usually played offline but it can also be played virtually among students and teachers. If you have no idea how it works virtually, here’s how…

To start, select a student and give him/her a topic idea, the selected student will then make movements or gestures related to the topic idea the teacher has given them. The gestures or movements made by the student have to meet that topic idea.

While the selected student makes these movements and gestures, the other students will take turns guessing the correct action, the student that gets it right gets to act out the next, and so on. The game improves students’ critical thinking abilities and it is suitable for all ages.

Charades is also one of the games to play on zoom with students to make learning fun, interactive, and engaging.

Two Truths and a Lie

Two truths and a lie are one of the games to play on zoom with students, designed to learn more about others and it works even better at strengthening student/teacher relationship, even students get to learn more about one another. It is also a game that strengthens student’s social abilities.

How does this game work?

Each student will list three facts which include two true facts about themselves and a lie, but they don’t say which is a lie or true that is the job of the other students. The other students will take turns guessing which fact is the lie until everyone has a chance.

You may want to encourage students to write down these facts ahead of time so they don’t stumble while stating the facts and make the lie obvious.

Drawing on Your Head

This has to be the most exciting game on this list and will have both teacher and students giggling in a few minutes. The game involves naming a common object which you are sure your students are familiar with, students will then proceed to put their whiteboard on top of their head and draw the named item. When they are done with the drawing, they take it off their head and present it to the group.

This game is fun and would cause lots of giggles among students and teachers can add them among their list of games to play on zoom with students.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Everyone knows rock, paper, scissors, it is a popular game played by adults, teenagers, and kids. Only this time it is done virtually between teacher and students, designed to be challenging. The objective of the game is not to win but to see how long students can stay in the game vs. the teacher.

Story Chain

Story Chain is one of the games to play on zoom with students, it is another engaging game that builds students’ critical thinking skills, and here is how teachers can play it with their students.

Start a story with an engaging hook, such as, “One cold morning, I went to the mall to…” Engage students to continue the story from where you left off. Any student that wants to continue should signify by raising their hands up, pick a student to tell the next portion of the story, which could be a line or two.

Let it continue until every student has contributed to the story, you can jump back and bring the story to a close if it is floundering.

Simon Says

Yes! You can play Simon Says with your students virtually, it is really popular among kids and one of the games to play on zoom with students. Students will stand facing their computers or tablet and begin the game by calling out actions. Students who fail should sit until the last man standing.

Red Light, Green Light

This is one of the games to play on zoom with students and involves choosing an action for students to copy while using the phrase green, red, and yellow to command the actions. When you say “green”, students repeat the action, “yellow” to slow down the action, and “red” stops the action. Mix up the colors to make the game fun.

Muscle Mix

Muscle Mix is also one of the games to play on zoom with students and is designed to relieve stress. The teacher selects a leader who calls out body parts to touch together. For instance, elbow to knee or hand to foot.

These are the awesome games to play on zoom with students, you can set a personal schedule or timetable on when to play these games with your students. It could be once a week, twice a month, or however you feel is appropriate.

Go through the instructions properly with students so they understand the game fully well before starting, so they don’t fall out because they don’t understand it properly. This will, no doubt, make learning fun, engaging, and interactive among students and look forward to your teaching every day.