[00:00:20] Ellie: Hey, teacher friends. Welcome back to the Teaching Toolbox. I'm Ellie, and I'm here with my buddy Brittany,

[00:00:27] Brittany: Howdy.

[00:00:27] Ellie: and today we are jumping into an episode that's all about bringing the joy, energy, and laughter back into your classroom.

[00:00:35] Brittany: Because

[00:00:35] let's face it, between testing season, grading piles, that never ending to-do list, sometimes the fun disappears.

[00:00:45] Ellie: Yeah, not today. Today we're talking games, creativity, laughter, and a whole bunch of classroom tested ideas that are as easy to prep as they are fun to use.

[00:00:59] Brittany: We will also be diving into Ellie's very own platform, cognitive cardio math digital games, which are like the unicorn of math review. Magical and actually effective.

[00:01:16] Ellie: So whether you're in need of a midweek, pick me up or a full on classroom refresh. This episode is packed with ideas to spark engagement, joy, and maybe even a little chaos. Just a little. The good kind.

[00:01:30] Brittany: Let's shift gears and talk about games that get students moving and laughing in the classroom. Minimal prep, maximum fun.

[00:01:40] Ellie: Okay, so we've got a dice game called Roll and Respond. Each pair of students gets a die.. You prep six questions, label them one through six. Students' roll answer the corresponding question, and keep going. And you could add a twist. After each correct answer, they do something silly like clap five times or do a desk dance or something.

[00:02:02] Brittany: Oh, cool. You can use this idea in math to practice with different types of problems, like fraction addition, converting decimals to fractions, and so on. In ELA students could identify story elements, point of view, character traits. In social studies, the questions could be defining geography terms or map features.

[00:02:26] Ellie: so like anything you want or even review stuff.

[00:02:29] Brittany: We have a card game. Using a regular deck of cards, each student flips two cards and then adds, subtracts, or multiplies. Their opponent does the same. Highest number wins the round. Jokers are wild. They let you skip a turn or challenge your opponent to a double round. And you could adapt this to different subject areas.

[00:02:54] So in math you could do addition, subtraction, multiplication facts, obvious choice.

[00:02:59] You could do integer operations where like red are negatives and blacks are postitive.

[00:03:04] Ellie: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:05] Brittany: You could simplify fractions where you flip two cards and one's a numerator and the other is a denominator.

[00:03:12] Ellie: I like

[00:03:12] those.

[00:03:13] Brittany: In science, you could create atomic numbers. Flip cards and form elements, and identify the element from the periodic table.

[00:03:22] Ellie: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:24] Brittany: And in ELA, you could do a part of speech race where you flip a card, match a word with the correct part of speech.

[00:03:33] Ellie: Mm-hmm.

[00:03:34] Brittany: In foreign language, you could do vocabulary practice. Flip two cards, form a sentence using the assigned vocabulary.

[00:03:43] Ellie: I like that. Okay. We have some beach ball game ideas like tossing and talking. You could write review questions or prompts all over a beach ball, toss it around, and whoever catches it, reads and answers the prompt under their right thumb. Or left thumb or whatever hand, or finger, you decide you wanna choose. it's great for vocab, math terms, or even just would you rather fun to build relationships. So in math, you could do things like vocabulary review, include terms like equivalent fractions, acute angle, or prime numbers. For ELA, you could do the literary elements. The question could be name a conflict type, or define a theme. Science, you could include the scientific method steps, or types of energy, or body systems, and have questions about those. In social studies, you could include the branches of government, causes of the Civil war, economic terms. Social emotional learning could be kindness prompts, growth mindset questions, or conflict resolution ideas. So we actually have a beach ball episode, which is episode 16, if you wanna check that out for some more beach ball ideas.

[00:04:58] Brittany: I don't know why this came up my head, thinking about catching the beach ball.

[00:05:02]

[00:05:02] Brittany: My daughter's best friend, was born without all of his fingers. He has like three on one hand and four on the other.

[00:05:12] Ellie: Hmm.

[00:05:13] Brittany: and they actually had to cut off his big toe and make it into a thumb because they felt like a thumb was more important than a big toe.

[00:05:22] Ellie: Wow.

[00:05:23] Brittany: But I was thinking about him trying

[00:05:27] Ellie: Catch the beach ball.

[00:05:28] Brittany: up the thumb under, know, the question under the thumb. And was like, would he be able to catch it?

[00:05:34] Ellie: Oh goodness. So you have to think

[00:05:35] about those things.

[00:05:36] Brittany: you might have to make adaptions for children.

[00:05:38] Right

[00:05:39] If your students are hands-on learners, these next activities are for them. So let's build something. And let's be honest, probably for you too, are fun and hands on And so you could do a straw and tape challenge.

[00:05:55] Ellie: In this one, each group gets 10 straws and a yard of tape, and the goal is to build the tallest free standing tower in 10 minutes. And as an extension of that, it could be to try to balance a small object on top or see which tower survives a wind test, like a fan or a teacher blowing on it. That sounds like fun.

[00:06:16] I wanna do that. Maybe I'll do that after this.

[00:06:20] Brittany: You could create a game, let students invent their own review game. You could pick a topic, design the game format, whether it's a quiz game like that one that's on TV by Ken Jennings. It might be a board game or a card game, or a dice game.

[00:06:41] Ellie: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:42] Brittany: Then you write the rules and the questions. Then let your classmates play it to test it and give you feedback.

[00:06:50] This is an amazing outlet for creativity and content review in disguise.

[00:06:56] Ellie: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Students always love doing that.

[00:06:58] Brittany: Yeah, so creative too.

[00:07:01] Ellie: Alright. You could also create an invention box and basically fill a bin with random craft or classroom supplies, like foil, string, cups, tape, rubber bands, and give students a challenge of building a bridge or making something that moves or designing a Rube Goldberg style contraption, which is open-ended, low risk, and perfect for brain breaks or stem time.

[00:07:32] Brittany: So let's start with the digital side, because if our students are going to be staring at screens. We might as well make it meaningful and fun. And Ellie, you've nailed that balance with your cognitive cardio math digital activities. I've seen these games in action and kids are seriously engaged.

[00:07:52] Ellie: well, thank you. My goal was to create math activities that feel like games, so students are thinking critically, practicing key skills, and enjoying every second.

[00:08:02] Brittany: And what I love is that they're self-checking, interactive, and super easy for teachers to assign and manage.

[00:08:11] Ellie: Yeah, you can find drag and drop games, truth or dare games, matching, and even some mini lessons and quizzes at cognitivecardiomath.com slash digital math activities. It's not about drill and kill, just about building skills through math practice with real engagement.

[00:08:32] There are even some pixel art and color by numbers in there, which are

[00:08:35] digital as well.

[00:08:36] Brittany: Sometimes the most powerful classroom tools are the silliest, so here are a few simple ways to inject some daily joy.

[00:08:46] Ellie: So you could have students rewrite lyrics to a song in order to explain a concept and then sing it in front of the class. And as an optional bonus, you could join in with a mic and some dramatic flare.

[00:09:00] Brittany: You could have a joke of the

[00:09:03] day jar. Let kids submit jokes all week and pull one out each morning. It's an easy mood booster and they'll beg to be the one who gets to read it aloud.

[00:09:14] Ellie: That sounds like fun. Laughing is just excellent for everybody.

[00:09:20] . You could have a mystery balloon time. So before the week starts, stuff balloons with slips of paper that say things like extra recess or Kahoot break or read outside or dance party and then pop a balloon when the class earns it. It's a positive reinforcement with a pop.

[00:09:39] Brittany: So real quick, let's try to list some fun ideas we can think of to add joy to the day. I'll

[00:09:47] start. Mystery student

[00:09:50] Ellie: Okay. How about Puzzle Table?

[00:09:52] Brittany: quote of the day or quote wall.

[00:09:55] Ellie: Two minute talent show Tuesday.

[00:09:59] Brittany: Monday meme day.

[00:10:02] Ellie: Mystery sound.

[00:10:04] Brittany: Pat on the back or a positive sticky note day.

[00:10:07] Ellie: Um, how about share a story or share a doodle?

[00:10:11] Brittany: Ooh, good one. This is getting harder. I used to do an egg hunt at Easter time, but you could do quarterly reward hunts

[00:10:19] where you hide little rewards around the classroom and the kids have to find them.

[00:10:25] Ellie: That sounds fun.

[00:10:27] All right. And then to wrap it up, how about would you rather Wednesdays?

[00:10:32] Brittany: oh, those are some great ideas.

[00:10:34] Ellie: So whether you try out one of these ideas tomorrow or plan a full fun day Friday, we hope today's episode inspired you to bring the joy back to learning.

[00:10:43] Brittany: And don't forget, check out Ellie's awesome digital games at cognitivecardiomath.com slash digital math games. Your students will thank you. Possibly with less groaning during math class.

[00:10:58] Ellie: Yeah, right. One can dream. If you try any of these activities tag us at Teaching Toolbox podcast. We love to see the fun in action.

[00:11:08] Brittany: Until next time, keep teaching, keep laughing, and always remember you've got this.